Questions tagged [habitat]
Questions on a place or enclosure in which humans and/or other lifeforms live.
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What is the prevalence of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in the asteroid belt and in comets?
As someone with a light background in controlled-environment agriculture, I'm familiar with the importance and use of N/P/K in growing useful plants. This got me thinking about how common these ...
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What was the first true inflatable space habitat : BEAM, Genesis I, Genesis II or none?
I'd wager BEAM (2016) is the first true inflatable space habitat because it was specifically designed for human habitation, and as such attached to the ISS, whereas Genesis I (2006) and Genesis II (...
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Aerostats in the outer solar system
Having read a lot lately about some preliminary studies of aerostat options on Venus and Earth (Semirigid gas bags filled with N2/O2 to allow for a dual breathable/lifting gas - sorry no source on ...
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Arctic underwater analogue?
Just want to know if the underneath of the arctic ice sheet is a viable analogue for underwater habitation on the larger moons of the gas giants? (Galilean, large Saturnian)
I feel like it would be a ...
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What space applications could benefit from batteries with much higher power densities than the common Li-ion type?
This Australian company claims the development of the Graphene Aluminium-Ion Battery that is up to 70 times faster in charging and has up to 3 times more battery life than current Lithium-Ion ...
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Would a sufficiently deep cavern on Mars provide habitable temperature and atmospheric pressure? Was Dick Tracy wrong?
Would a sufficiently deep cavern on Mars provide habitable temperature and atmospheric pressure?
Dick Tracy discovered minimally dressed Moon People living comfortably outdoors on the Moon. Their Far ...
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How large could manmade, domeshaped caves inside the ice dome in Korolev crater on Mars become without the danger of collapsing?
Would not the right exploitation of the ice dome in Korolev crater be the most economical way to create Earthlike room for living on Mars, if they were safe to use?
With "Earthlike" I mean ...
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Use of Starship Fuel Tanks in a Space Station
In this question, as to whether Reuse of fuel tanks as habitats is possible, it's mentioned that there were plans to do this for Skylab and for the Shuttle tanks.
However this is asking specifically ...
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Why has no space station or near-future space station use centrifugal force? [duplicate]
Since centrifugal force can be used to replicate gravity using the equivalence principle, why has no space station actually utilised this? When space station staff have to endure long periods of free-...
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Likely ways to move asteroids
Asteroids for mining and to make habitats: what are likely ways to move them?
Orion project nuclear explosions might be plausible, but would probably be expensive, use very heavy materials from Earth, ...
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Since Vesta is rotating, could you dig a habitat into it near the poles?
Would building a crescent shaped habitat work if you didn't want to go all the way?
Edit: I'm asking if this would be enough to provide artificial gravity, sorry not not being clear about it.
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Is it cheaper to build a habitat on the surface of the moon or dig a hole into the moon and build a habitat in there?
There was a space competition a while ago that had teams design the best habitat for either Mars or the Moon, and the winning design was a cone-like building using a large 3D printer. I saw it and ...
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Is space habitation a technology problem or is it really just a mass (cost) problem?
There are a lot of challenges with space habitation. Gravity, radiation, fuel for reactions to maneuver, water, atmosphere, food, etc. etc.
NASA and many others are working on all kinds of solutions ...
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Can it be estimated when a first settlement near the equator would become more economical than one at the midlatitudes of Mars?
Choosing the right place on Mars for a settlement would be of course an important decision because once it's there it would take much time and money to move on to another, better location.
Because the ...
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What are ALL the characteristics for for human habitability of worlds?
We've got a good head start at our original table here, but is there anything else we need or have missed that impact on human habitability of worlds? It's helpful to compare and contrast places in ...
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Would there be snow, rain, fog or clouds in a deep, sealed, subsurface cavern on the Moon if water were present?
The question Most efficient method of storing energy with water on the moon? proposes a several hundred meeter tall subsurface cavern on the Moon. I added the following comment to an answer:
I keep ...
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Which are the reasons for wanting to have a colony in Mars first than in the Moon?
As far as I understand, (correct me if I'm wrong) one of the reasons for wanting a colony in Mars is for the possibility in the future of having a space port where rockets could leave the planet ...
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Is there any economical way to move the water from the Martian poles to the people?
update: Water at the poles has some more recent news:
Science: 03-August-2018 Radar evidence of subglacial liquid water on Mars
EarthSky.org: 28-Sept-2018 Pink lagoon provides clues to possible Mars ...
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What is the current state of commercial space stations?
Many years ago, in the 2005 - 2010 area, it seemed like there were a lot of proposals to create commercial space habitats. These included inflatable modules, usage of spent fuel tanks, and ...
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How much soil can be supported by an inflatable habitat on Mars?
What weight of Martian soil can be supported by the top of an inflatable habitat pressurized at Earth's atmosphere? While habitat's shape is a huge factor, this has 20 meter modules, semi-cylindrical ...
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Why do space settlement designers use tori instead of cylinders for space settlements?
Almost all space settlement designs featuring artificial gravity by centrifugal force use the inner side of the outer part of the torus:
Why is it that I see hardly any cylindrical-shaped artificial ...
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Range of atmospheric pressure and composition for plant survival?
I am currently working on a college senior design team that is looking at developing a small modular habitat that could sustain plant growth. These small modules would not include humans, so we only ...
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How livable would a lunar lava tube be?
Assuming the recently discovered lava tube is exactly what scientists think it might be, and assuming you could build 2 walls and a door inside the lava tube, and assuming you filled it with a ...
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How much radiation shielding would be required for a habitat at Mercury–Sun L5?
Given an O'Neill "Island Three" style cylindrical habitat located at Mercury–Sun L5 orbit, how much radiation shielding would be required to protect the occupants, and how would it need to be ...
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How easy would it be to detect a large 400x1000 meters tubular habitat at L4
I'm writing an SF book and want to know if a 400 by 1000 meter tubular habitat at Lagrange point 4 (or L5) would be easily detected from earth?
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Sunroofs on Mars - durable transparent structural plastics lighter than glass to ship from Earth?
Comments below this answer to the question Which is easier to build on mars per square kilometer; greenhouse windows or photovoltaics/LEDs? discuss the possibility of using plastic instead of glass ...
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Mars greenhouse accessibility
Let's say a Mars outpost has an inflatable greenhouse. First, it is likely to be high-CO2, as CO2 is easy to acquire and increases plant growth. Second, it may be low-pressure, as plants don't need as ...
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How are electrical and other utilities interfaces added to an operating pressurised spacecraft?
How are extra utility lines and pipes, like data, electrical, ?or gasses and fluids, added to a manned, pressurised and operating vehicle or habitat, in space?
A spacecraft may be launched with, ...
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Is there likely to be life in Venus's upper atmosphere?
From what I understand, Venus's upper atmosphere is much more habitable than its surface, with a temperature and pressure that humans could tolerate. However, lack of oxygen and the presence of ...
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The best shape and orientation for a space station
If you build a space station in the shape of a cylindrical wheel and construct it so that it spins around a central docking point in order to create artificial gravity would it be logical to orient ...
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How can a non-floored habitat be sealed on Mars?
Let's suppose I want to create a pressurized dome structure on the surface of Mars, but I want to avoid the time/effort/expense/engineering of sealing the base. Let's further stipulate that I've got a ...
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What are the main hurdles to surviving on Mars until a return trip becomes possible?
I watched a presentation on a manned mission to Mars and learned it would take two years until the Earth and Mars were properly aligned for the return mission from Mars. Are there any major ...
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Is a glass habitat on Mars viable?
In Elon Musk's recent Reddit AMA (ask me anything), he talked about
Initially, glass panes with carbon fiber frames
For colonization of Mars.
My question:
Does a glass roof provide sufficient ...
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When estimating radiation doses inside a lunar habitat, what assumptions are made as to shape?
The current estimate for how much shielding is needed for a long-term habitat on the Moon is a minimum of 700 g/cm2 of regolith, and 1000 g/cm2 for the levels at sea level on Earth. (The radiation ...
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Is it real to patch an opening to the vacuum with plastic tarp and duct tape as in Martian?
In the Martian movie Watney patched a broken door to the martian surface with plastic tarp and duct tape.
The pressure on Mars is 0.5 kPa, which is 200 times smaller, that on Earth (100 kPa), i.e. it ...
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What are the challenges in building a supercritical CO2 gas turbine power plant for a Mars habitat of 6 astronauts?
There is abundant $\require{mhchem}\ce{CO2}$ in martian atmosphere, so we could use that in a modified gas turbine. Can this, combined with PV cells (a hybrid power source), be an efficient energy ...
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Could a Ferroliquid airlock work?
After looking at the previous question on liquid airlocks, I noted that the main problem with technology is that the force of gravity is far too weak on any body that an airlock would be a useful ...
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Could liquid airlocks work?
I was looking through an old copy of Moon Miner's Manifesto a while ago and found the concept of a liquid airlock in an early issue.
It is on page 32 of this issue from 1988. It posits this as an ...
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Are there any designs for a Mars Habitat made out of stone?
Have there been any designs for a Mars habitat that could be built out of the rocks that are on Mars?
Maybe by having a rover find and scan rocks to build up a catalogue of 3D scans of rocks and then ...
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Could permanent self-sustaining biodomes be built on Mars?
Somewhat apropos of the question of whether Mars could be terraformed (which really seems a non-runner due to lack of molten core) the interesting consideration of biodomes was thrown up.
By using ...
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Are exoplanets in the habitable zone suitable for human colonization?
If they found the those planets in the habitable zone, are they planning ahead for human settlement of them?
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Could magnetic "boots" be used to simulate the effects of gravity for asteroid ships?
I have been to the Wikipedia pages on alternatives to gravity, and found the usual alternative forces, with the potential for magnets and the specious Russian claims, but I'm wondering why not just ...
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On building future sustainable Mars habitat
Pertaining to Mars habitation, eventually, could the answer be in burrowing into the ancient volcanoes instead of building the habitation outside in the open? Since Mars does not have magnetic ...
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Might thermal mass, reflective insulation, and limiting light penetration allow heat control on the Moon? (reboot)
Extensive Edit - I'm genuinely seeking a better understanding of this so I am putting up a new version of this question. I used an example design to make the matter easier to discuss, but it was ...
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Is it possible to map the caves of Phobos?
Having read that Phobos at 27 km long is around 30% porous, I am going to assume that there are a number of voids large enough for human entrance. If it turned out there was a void large enough and ...
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Could Curiosity dig itself a burrow?
Technically speaking, given enough mission time and operator attention...
Could Curiosity dig itself a burrow?
How long would that take?
What would be the technique for that? Has it already seen a ...
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Do you need a mattress on the Moon?
In the 1985 work 'The Cat Who Walks Through Walls' by Robert Heinlein, Richard Ames makes the following internal observation; The character is in an underground abode. The accommodations are in a side ...
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How much oxygen and hydrogen are in the soil of Mars?
Current knowledge suggests there is plentiful water ice at the Martian poles. The same knowledge says it gets cold enough at the poles for carbon dioxide to freeze out of the air. If creating a ...
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Depressurization of a habitat on Mars
Wikipedia lists the atmospheric pressure of Mars to be about 600 pascals, or just 0.6% of Earth's atmosphere. I'm wondering, can anyone shed any light on what that means, in practical terms?
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What is the hollow asteroid concept in "Mining the Sky"
The follow is from the book summary of Mining the Sky: Untold Riches from the Asteroids, Comets, and Planets:
hollow out asteroids to transform them into livable habitats for billions of space-...
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