| 1. |
- Amini, Kasra, et al.
(författare)
-
Design of a set of habitat units and the corresponding surrounding cluster for long-term scientific missions in the pre-terraforming era on mars
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Icarus. - : Elsevier BV. - 0019-1035 .- 1090-2643. ; 385, s. 115119-
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We are living in a point in the history of science and technology, where space travel for research and settlement is inevitable. As the utmost crucial technology pieces for leaving Earth and travelling into the cosmos is being established one after another, it is just a matter of decades, until it all gets integrated together, solving the engineering problems ahead of the way and being able to step on the planets and moons of the solar system. In this quest, as has been the case for most of the technological advancements so far, there ought to be mind experiments, in which one skips one step, assumes the availability of responses to the skipped-over step, and searches for the solution to the questions of the next level. This way, by getting passed the first, i.e. current step, the solution to the next one is already available. The current manuscript is addressing this very 'next step', on the long path to eventually colonize Mars and inhabit it for long-term research-based missions; let it be for terraforming, or other agenda to be defined by the research strategists, then. And as mentioned earlier, the current step; being setting foot on Mars, is well-deservedly taken for granted, as is to come forth undoubtedly. Having that realized, we might find ourselves faced by the engineering complexities of surviving and thriving on Mars, which is the subject matter of the current research, from the aspect point of space technological and architectural design. The design procedure beginning from setting the philosophy of design upon the concerns of sustaining in the hostile environment of Mars, to the stepwise emergence of the final design of a cluster of Martian Habitat Units (MHUs) considering the high-criteria of the case, is the subject matter covered in this manuscript.
|
|
| 2. |
- Amini, Kasra, et al.
(författare)
-
Lighting and illumination investigation of long-term residence on Mars for the case of a set of designed Martian Habitat Units (MHUs)
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Acta Astronautica. - : PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD. - 0094-5765 .- 1879-2030. ; 192, s. 210-232
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Addressing the subject matter of human missions on Mars, the Martian Habitat Units (MHUs) are presented as a comprehensive solution. MHUs are designed in clusters of 10 units, each capable of serving as long-term habitats for 9 scientific crew members. The life-style requirements of the units are targeted at an imitation of cultural thriving life we all know of, and not a mere survival-type shelter expecting the first people to step foot on Mars. One aspect of many challenging issues to be addressed in such complex settings is the lighting and illuminance condition of the said habitats, which in the context of Mars, and generally deep space missions being far from the sun will certainly lead to an arduous task. To check the validity of the argument and assess the extent to which the natural light level available on the surface of Mars will be sufficient for the daily requirements of the crew and mission in terms of illuminance, the current manuscript presents thorough and detailed simulations and analyses on the availability evaluation of natural lighting in the site location of MHUs, namely Valles Marineris, Melas Chasma. In this paper solar irradiation parameters on Mars are calculated based on the previous research which resulted in global, direct and diffuse irradiance at 12 different Martian solar times. The simulations are distributed over the Martian year and its day-time, and for two extreme orientations of MHUs in their circular surrounding cluster, namely East/West and South/North units. The distribution of illuminance for each case, and trend comparison studies are then accompanied by numerical values and analyses on the percentage to which the natural lighting conditions on Mars have been shown to be sufficient as a fraction of the whole lighting load of the habitats, which is to be compensated using artificial sources. The corresponding values are shown to fall well in the range of 35-45% of the total lighting loads. Also, as the results of the simulations show, due to the consistency of the glazed parts of the designed facade through all exterior surface of the MHU, natural lighting sufficiency percentage does not show a significant difference between two simulated orientations. This fact further approves the circular orientation premise of the MHUs in their cluster.
|
|
| 3. |
- Amini, Kasra, et al.
(författare)
-
Space-technological and architectural methodology and process towards design of long-term habitats for scientific human missions on mars
- 2023
-
Ingår i: MethodsX. - : Elsevier BV. - 1258-780X .- 2215-0161. ; 11
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Centered on the core idea of long duration habitat design for research crew on Mars, the Martian Habitat Units (MHUs) are designed as a cluster of 10 units each with the maximum capacity of 9 crew members to live and carry on with the local challenges of scientific and exploratory life, while enjoying their lives as intellectual, social individuals in the harsh environment of Mars for durations in the order of magnitude of several years. This approach to the concept of a living environment in sharp contradiction to that of a shelter with the minimal capabilities to meet the requirements of terrestrial life to the point of survival, has led the outcoming design to be a fulfilling environment for the inhabitants of the units to evolve and thrive culturally, while being on a years-long mission. This manuscript provides detailed insight on the lessons learned of the aforementioned comprehensive design attempt with, but not limited to, the following core concerns: • The initial stand-point of such a design procedure relies on an ever increasing and comprehensive list of concerns, be it classically discussed in the literature and predictable, or unforeseen on the face of it, but to be prevented anyhow. The manuscript discusses the most crucial ones of such criteria/concerns. • The infamous saying of “Whatever that can go wrong, will go wrong” demands a rather complex level of redundancies in all layers of the design and the thought procedure behind its all aspects. The manuscript addresses the adequate steps towards its realization. • Modularity in all layers of the design plays a key role in reducing construction, maintenance, and installation costs, as for any deep space mission the mentioned expenses are astronomically high themselves. The manuscript presents our solution for geometric modularity of the design.
|
|
