The MoonMars project is developing an unusual approach to the architecture of future extraterrestrial settlements. For greater productivity and adaptability of buildings, scientists apply origami technology.
Origami and high performance fabric are transforming architectural plans for human settlements and research stations on the Moon and Mars. The first field tests of the origam prototype of the MoonMars project will be presented by Dr. Anna Sitnikova in Berlin at the European Planetary Science Congress - 2018.
MoonMars is a collaboration of the European Space Research and Technology Center (ESTEC), the International Moon Exploration Working Group (ILEWG), research institutions and the Samira Boon textile architecture studio. The MoonMars team applied origami structure in a digital weaving process to form complex shapes that are compact enough to transport and easy to install via inflatable, pop-up or robotic mechanisms in extraterrestrial environments.
“Origam textile structures can be expanded into many different shapes. They are lightweight. They are easy to install and reuse in various configurations and sizes for practical use of space. Structures remain functional under changing circumstances, which increases their useful life,”says Sitnikova, the MoonMars project manager for the ILEWG.
Fragment of an origam textile structure designed by Samira Boon / Studio Samira Boon.
In the hostile environment of space, origami's high-performance fabrics and flexible nature can provide unique architectural benefits. The angular facets of origam structures reduce the possibility of micrometeorites entering them at right angles, distributing potential impact energy and reducing the risk of penetration, thereby protecting astronauts within settlements. Solar panels embedded in shape-shifting fabrics can follow the Sun to harvest large amounts of energy during the day. Transparent and opaque facets can be reversed to adjust indoor lighting and climatic conditions.
After preliminary testing of the entrance tunnel prototype during the EuroMoonMars simulation conducted at the ESTEC laboratory in April 2018, the MoonMars team is aiming for a series of ambitious experiments in 2019. In June, the IGLUNA project, led by the Swiss Space Center, will test an origam settlement in a glacier north of Zermatt, Switzerland. In September 2019, the team will travel to Iceland to participate in a campaign inside a lava cave system.
“We just returned from a scouting trip and picked up the Stephanshellir and Surtschellir cave systems, which have vast galleries and a very complex tunnel system. We are tentatively planning to locate a small settlement, applying knowledge from previous demonstrations of our origam tunnel and wicker domes,”explains Sitnikova.
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Then scientists intend to develop a self-expanding origam settlement.
“Origami for space architecture fosters interdisciplinary approaches and applications by providing advanced manufacturing and design techniques,” says Sitnikova. “Settlements equipped with such structures can be periodically transformed and redefined in accordance with human and environmental factors.”
Vladimir Guillen
