Design Concepts for Interior Configurations of Lunar/Mars Inflatable Habitat Modules

The considerations and concepts presented in this paper are part of a comprehensive design project undertaken by Sasakawa International Center of Space Architecture (SICSA) in cooperation with SPACEHAB's Concept Exploration Evaluation & Refinement (CEE&R) contract with NASA. The paper discusses rationale and innovative ideas for the interior architecture of a lunar/ Mars surface habitat module using an "inflatable" construction approach. This technique utilizes soft pliable laminated wall sections that can be folded to minimize the launch volume, and later deployed on the surface to provide a substantially larger volume. This construction scheme incorporates proposed interior concepts and applications that can provide a variety of advantages. The major intent of this design is to create a habitable platform to: (1) Maximize crew safety, spatial efficiency, flexibility and versatility of function. (2) Minimize crew problems, conflicts and activity interferences. (3) Increase operational and performance advantages of partial-gravity environments. (4) Create solutions to optimize physical and psychological adaptation during long term planetary missions.