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A review towards the design of extraterrestrial structures: From regolith to human outposts

A review towards the design of extraterrestrial structures: From regolith to human outposts

Kalapodis, Nikolaos, Kampas, Georgios and Ktenidou, Olga-Joan (2020) A review towards the design of extraterrestrial structures: From regolith to human outposts. Acta Astronautica, 175. pp. 540-569. ISSN 0094-5765 (doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2020.05.038)

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Abstract

The design of a permanent human habitat on a planetary body other than the Earth is an idea introduced many decades ago, which became even more significant after the landing of the first humans on the Moon with the Apollo missions. Today’s rampant technological advances combined with ambitious missions, such as the Insight mission on Mars and the Artemis program for the Moon, render the vision of space colonization more realistic than ever, as it constantly gains momentum. There is a considerable number of publications across several disciplines pertaining to the exploration of Lunar and Martian environments, to those planets’ soil properties, and to the design of the first habitable modules. The scope of this paper is to present a meticulous selection of the most significant publications within the scientific areas related to: (a) geotechnical engineering aspects, including the mechanical properties and chemical composition of Lunar and Martian regolith samples and simulants, along with elements of anchoring and rigid pads as potential forms of foundation; (b) ground motions generated by different types of Moonquakes and meteoroid impacts; (c) the different concepts and types of extraterrestrial (ET) structures (generic, inflatable, deployable, 3D-printed), as well as overall views of proposed ET habitats. Apart from the details given in the main text of this paper, a targeted effort was made to summarize and compile most of this information in representative tables and present it in chronological order, so as to showcase the evolution of human thinking as regards ET structures.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of IAA. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Uncontrolled Keywords: Extraterrestrial structures; Regolith; Inflatable structures; Additive manufacturing; Strong ground motions
Subjects: T Technology > TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group: Faculty of Engineering & Science
Faculty of Engineering & Science > Centre for Innovative & Smart Infrastructure
Faculty of Engineering & Science > School of Engineering (ENG)
Last Modified: 30 Nov 2020 22:53
URI: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/30316

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