Setting up home on Mars
One day in the near future, astronauts will explore Mars and other planets in our Solar System. These planets however are extremely hostile environments with no air, food and very little water. Staying alive will require an advanced ′space house′ capable of supplying everything the astronauts need to survive. The SHEE (Self-deployable Habitat for Extreme Environments) project was established to develop a prototype habitat capable of supporting a crew of two humans for periods of up to two weeks. While the initial prototype habitat will only be used here on Earth, elements of the design could one day be used in disaster areas, the arctic, or even on the Moon or Mars. The SHEE was designed to pack itself away into a shipping container and then unpack automatically on reaching its destination. When deployed the SHEE measures approximately 5 metres in diameter and provides all of the food, water, hygiene, environmental control and living space the occupants require. Initially, the SHEE project studied a number of habitat designs and the most promising was selected for further work. The chosen design was reviewed by a panel of experts from Europe, USA, and Japan before entering into production. In the final year of the project the habitat structure was completed and outfitted with all of the systems necessary to support human life. The habitat prototype features rigid segment deployable petals, which provide a larger living space and a greater level of safety for the crew. These petals are easily modifiable to allow for rapid re-purposing of the SHEE to suit the needs of researchers. While each SHEE unit can support two astronauts, multiple SHEE units can be linked together to provide expanded capabilities, easily scaling up to accommodate any mission architecture big or small. Each SHEE unit contains two bedrooms, a common area, kitchenette, hygiene facility, and two workspaces. Entry and egress from the SHEE is made via suit port style spacesuits. SHEE also contains an integrated environmental control and life support system, waste storage system, and limited power capabilities. The working prototype has been extensively tested and then made available to the European scientific community for further study. Although the initial prototype will only be designed to work on Earth, the European designers envision a habitat based on this design may one day facilitate the human exploration of Mars.
Keywords
Mars, self-deployable habitats for extreme environments, SHEE, habitat design, deployable petals