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Off-Earth Manufacturing and Construction

Concept


 

Process

ESA 7.jpg

Excavation

ExcavationProcess.jpg

1. First phase of robot-aided, downward progressing excavation and gradual tunnel reinforcement using 3D printing.

2. Completion of excavation in upward movement.

3. Pressurized inflatable for the living environment is placed in the created cavity between the spiraling tunnels.


Adaptive 3D Voronoi approach

                         Voronoi principle.jpg

Voronoi3.jpg For spatial allocation at neighborhood scale we considered using the Voronoi logic. The advantages would be:

1. Extension of neighboring living areas.

2. Economy of resources due to less excavation (shared connection tunnels, shared material).

3. Possible organizational model for internal subdivision of space.

850px

Experiments with ice caps as insulation medium from radiation

Keywords

Inflatable, ice cap, pressurization, radiation shield.

Abstract

The discovery of water ice immediately under the surface of Mars by NASA’s Phoenix lander in 2008 prompted in our team an idea. Due to the very thin atmosphere surrounding the planet, an inhabited space needs good shielding from radiation. Solid water presents an opportunity.


20191201 233809.jpg Fig.1: Experiment for an ice cap

Description

We have considered two options, both based on the act of excavating the soil. The first kind of excavation needs to go deep enough so that a thickness of 5 meters of Martian soil can act as insulation for the radiation. The second one, for the moment in its conceptual and experimental stage, still underground, would minimize the excavation effort and insulation from radiation will rely on an ice cap of 1 meter thickness. Because water does not subsist in liquid form in the atmospheric conditions aforementioned, the ice caps will be enclosed and pressurized to prevent loss of ice mass (for example during the day when temperatures rise to 20 degrees Celsius.

For the time being, the team considers also the capabilities of these ice caps to absorb and transmit (sun)light, functioning as skylights. Several geometries will be explored and made available to ‘take a shine to’.

First experiment, Inspired by diverging-lens geometry. The convex side as seen from top-view, collects light and transmits it. It was visible, through the experiments, that the point where this curved surface is cut by an arbitrary plane, the ‘cut’ edges will shine the light transmitted from the opposite side.


20191201 233828.jpg

20191201 233845.jpg20191201 233856.jpg 20191201 233950.jpg20191201 234010.jpg Fig.2: study of transmission of light in different illumination conditions

Future questions

Further research will explore the feasibility of this idea in terms of:

1. Capabilities of pressurization of this specific inflatable.

2. Availability of ice to be used.

3. Technology necessary to model the ice in the desired shape.

4. Structural challenges.


Stay tuned for more!


20200101 183951.jpg20200101 195055.jpg 20200101 195514.jpg20200101 195947.jpg Fig.3: Conditions of light transmission within fragmented mediums (top) and at sharp angles (bottom)

20200101 200145.jpg 20200101 195538.jpg