Moon life handbook - 1
Content Welcome – three Introduction – five Majors & Minors – seven Allumni – Twenty-one Syllabus & speakers – twenty-seven Dissertations – thirty-three Extracurricular Activity - sixty-four Colophon – seventy
Welcome to the Moon Life Academy Moon Life proposes that 40 years after the first human being set foot on the Moon, it is time for a more democratic, peaceful, artistic and cultural investigation of space. Moon Life anticipates a renewed interest in the exploration and colonization of outer space, and speculates on the possibility that humans will live in space in the near future. With this thought in mind, the project is a stimulus for artists, architects and designers to create futuristic, radical, political but humane concepts for living on the Moon, such as developing a new architecture, reinventing design practices and thinking about models for social, economical and political life. This will result in alternatives for the organization of societies, the use of energy and solutions for waste problems. But the project also strives in designing new tools, living environments, usage of materials and creating life support systems, food production, sport facilities, fashion and/or other leisure products. The Moon Life Handbook is an essential tool for the Moon Life Academy. The outcome of the Academy will be presented in the world’s first Moon Life Concept Store where the public can see, try and experience the products and prototypes. The time we live in now is very much looking back to our relationships, values and existing modes of being. We seem to have accepted our limitations and the planet we live on. In this way, Moon Life can be seen as a prompt to explore a new territory in design, art and architecture – all through our lunar imaginations. I hope you will enjoy the ride! Alicia Framis three
No, no, No ‘No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no there’s no limit.’ A legion of parents were scared of the Dutch techno band 2 Unlimited on the release of their song ‘No Limit’ in 1993. The band’s manager remarked that the oldies were scared of techno music like 2 Unlimited because it meant that the teens would be dropping XTC at some warehouse party all night; they would surely not have a bright future, the parents fraught. While we can laugh at the irony of the early 1990s with the future of techno synched with the Gen-X factor of nonchalance or whatever, there has been a serious disengagement with optimism in western society since the ‘slacker’ generation. There has been a problem of moving forward, often because there is confusion about what we want. It’s easier to say what we don’t want or don’t like. And when we do have to make our own decisions, taking a risk is immobilizing. So we bog down in our own everyday reality soap. The inspiration of design studios in universities have also suffered a lack of projection. There is always the impending question in the crit: can you produce it? Can you sell it? Who will want to use it? But this is simultaneously matched by the demands of the tutor. Whether you are designing a gallery concept, a fashion capsule collection or a mere doorstop for your design studio, there is never a limit. There are often unrealistic briefs and no budget presented for the task at hand. Reach for the skies, your tutor begs. Try a new form. Check this tool. Flog a theory. This kind of probing borders on passive aggression: reach big but make it real enough, and please, make it ready to market. The generation branded as Y are also just as impatient with demands: you can not wait any longer today for tomorrow, can you? So, do you have a problem in contemporary society of projecting into the future? Is dreaming about the future lame? Or is the lameness just the limit of ourselves?
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As humans dream about the moon (again), there should not be a limit to our imagination. If you think it’s reached its limit, then you haven’t thought hard enough of other possibilities. However, there are a few major problems to overcome: there are the environmental and financial costs for relaunching towards the moon today - or in 2020. So, whether you take Moon Life as a metaphor or a real movement, one thing that must occur is inspiration to not only connect people, but moreover to collect humanity into a space, at least in theory, not only because astro-travel requires a mammoth group dream or a lot of money, but as a society we need to get out of the current loop. What can trigger the collective imagination today besides wars, disasters, .gifs and apps? The Moon Life Handbook collects various facts, figures, inventions and anecdotes to roll them together in a loose association. There is no overall truth; designers need to make their own narrative out of all the bits and bobs, spicks and specks, and ditjes en datjes that are floating in the ether. From this, please, make a projection - rather than just another product of the times.
Majors & Minors
Luna Tubes (Rilles)
We may not be experts on the Moon but we can create our own story. Here are some fragments to piece together. … Mine There are several resources to exploit from the soil of the Moon, including: iron, aluminium, calcium, silicon, titanium, oxygen and hydrogen. In particular, melting the Moon’s surface ice into water, once processed, will provide oxygen (respiration) and hydrogen (fuel). Having fuel and oxygen tanks on the Moon will decrease costs of future space exploration to other constellations. It is thought that helium-3 lies buried in lunar rocks up to 7 m beneath the soil. ‘Helium-3 is considered as a long-term, stable, safe, clean and cheap material for human beings to get nuclear energy through controllable nuclear fusion experiments’, remarked Ouyang Ziyuan, Head of China’s first phase of lunar exploration. Scientists estimate there are about one million tons of helium-3 on the Moon, which if harnessed, could perhaps power the Earth for generations. What are other values from these minerals by digging deep?
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Also under the surface of the Moon, it is said there are natural caverns, which are the drained conduits of underground lava rivers. In places, the cavern roofs can be over 10 m thick. These narrow labryinths indent the often-smooth surface of the Moon. The thickness can naturally protect humans from radiation and meteorite bombardment. However, the roofs may not be structurally sound, and prone to collapse. The biggest problem with lunar caves is even more fundamental – they are not located where we wish them to be. Sustained human presence is enabled by the existence of the material and energy resources needed to support human life and operations on the Moon. After more than a decade of study and exploration, we now know that the location of materials, like ice per se, are near the poles of the Moon, a place where lunar tubes are not. Is it worth going underground? Cooper Pedy Cooper Pedy is a mining town in Australia with a population of just under 2,000 people. The inhabitants generally live underground in old mines due to the high daily temperatures (which average over 30 ºC for five months of the year). The underground houses have earth as walls. Need another shelf? Dig a hole in the wall. Compared to traditional
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methods above ground, this is much cheaper when extending the house. The tunneling machines can also be used to create carved patterns. Due to the desert climate, there are no trees. The first tree ever seen in the town was a sculpture of one, made out of scrap iron. Despite the lack of foliage, there is still a local golf course where people play at night with glowing golf balls. Golfers overcome the harsh surface by carrying tuffs of grass to tee off.
A scene from ‘Moon’, starring Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey mining helium-3 on the Moon.
Can we simultaneously shape physical mining to benefit habitation? Phosphate mining on Nauru has stripped about 80% of its land area.
The Indian lunar probe Chandrayaan-1 mapped the Moon’s surface in 2008. Cooper Pedy looks like it is in the middle of nowhere, and it is: 846 km north of Adelaide and 662 km south of Alice Springs.
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Nauru Elegies In the South Pacific Ocean, there is the island of Nauru. It is the world’s smallest independent state. It also represents the most remote extreme of the planet. Its seemingly utopic geography and landscape stages a dystopic economy and society. It was, by consensus of several ‘great powers’, used as a raw resource until there was literally nothing left. Nauru has been mined throughout the last two centuries for its phosphate deposits, which occupied 90% of the island. In the 1980s, phosphate exports briefly gave Nauruans one of the highest per capita incomes in the ‘Third World’. It is anticipated that the phosphate reserves will be completely exhausted before 2050. Despite this, the unemployment rate currently stands at 90%. As a small territory with no exploitable resources, Nauru turned to off-shore financing in the 1990s by
creating ‘virtual banks’ as a way of earning sorely needed foreign currency. As such, it mirrors the offshore island economies of The Cayman Islands, and continental havens like Luxembourg and Switzerland. In an art project entitled Nauru Elegies, there was an architectural component conceptualized by Annie K. Kwon, which spatializes and formalizes otherwise invisible economic flows and irreversible ecological devastation. A new architecture reclaims the hypsographic territory. (djspooky.com/nauruelegies) If Nauru can be experienced virtually, do we also have to reach the Moon physically? Can we work remotely to benefit from it? Time Lag If humans are to work remotely, there will be a time lag between communications on Earth and the Moon - about three seconds. This disadvantages humans as the gap means that activities on the Moon may need to go more slowly so that the operator can keep up with the operation. This suggests that repetitious and automative tasks are better for remote operations. This type of operation will also requires developments in sensory immersion for activities such as habitat construction. Time Moon inhabitants will have a different rhythm to those on Earth as
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the length of a day on the Moon is 709 hours (which equates to approximately 29.5 Earth days).
ity, there is the risk of a decrease in a human’s bone mass and a decline in their cardiac performance. Unlike space stations (zero or mircogravity), the Moon, at 1/6 the strength of gravity on Earth, will allow humans to move with the same posture and motor skills. For how this will impact humans on the Moon, it is only speculation, but there will be significant biological adaptions over time. Maybe, less gravity could prove beneficial for rehabilitation from various physiological diseases. Less gravity may also help us see things three dimensionally. (Navigate to http:// larseijssen.com/Sergey/Universe01. swf to see the moon and its space questioned as two dimensionial.) If you drop something, you not only have to look down. You might want to check the ceiling.
Tidal Locking The Moon also has two sides, which could create rhythms. One side, the nearside, looks towards Earth. As this side always faces Earth, it appears that the Moon does not rotate from our point of view. Therefore, there could be a conglomeration of earthbound transportation to the nearside as it always faces Earth. We often refer to the farside as the darkside. However, it is not so dark. It receives almost the same amount of sunlight as the nearside - except for the reflection of light from Earth. The farside of the Moon has no radio interference; also, as it faces away from Earth, it is a logical point to start exploration to other planets.
Pink Floyd’s ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ is ranked as one of the greatest rock albums of all time.
With less gravity, humans need assistance to deal with the transition from 1-G. We need tools to assist us, like light, sound and color.
Low-G (Gravity) Even if we are on the darkside, the Moon is still connected to Earth by the center of gravity from the EarthMoon system. This center is actually inside the Earth. However, it is closer to the surface of the Earth, than it is to the center of the Earth.
It takes a human six hours to prepare for a spacewalk.
On space stations, there is little or no gravity. This changes your weight: if you weigh 100 kg on Earth, your weight would only be 17 kg on the Moon. If you jump 30 cm on Earth, you would be able to jump almost 2 m up into the air. Without grav-
Kitsou Dubois has been creating art works in weightless conditions, with the assistance of the European Space Agency (ESA). Her work, in particular, tries to create defined moments, the extension of expressive move-
Walking
Investigations inTO Microgravity
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‘The Dark Side of Oz’ mashes Pink Floyd and Dorothy.
The Top 10 Moon Songs: Echo and the Bunnyman - The Killing Moon REM -Man on the Moon Brandy - Full Moon Fleetwood Mac - Sisters of the Moon Booka Shade - Paper Moon The Police - Walking on the Moon Feist - My Moon, My Man Frank Sinatra - Fly Me to the Moon Molly Nilsson - Hey Moon Van Morrison - Moondance
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Microgravity starred in many MTV clips during the late 90s, along with Michael Jackson, Jamiroquai, TLC and Madonna.
In 1947, fruit flies - the world’s worst fruit pests - were the first animals intentionally sent into space.
Laika was the first known casualty in orbit, dying on November 3, 1957. Later, a scientist involved expressed her regret: ‘We did not learn enough from this mission to justify the death of the dog’.
ments, and the adaption of the human body to the no/low gravity.
was increasing tension between the two countries.
Space Stability
Women
Humans not only will fight with gravity while walking and dancing, but with each other as well. The International Space Station (ISS) shows how we can work together.
In the 1950s, women performed just as well as men in aeromedical research in the USA. Women also have the advantage of generally being lighter than men, which requires less fuel to transport them into space.
Extraterrestial representation on science-fiction television series presupposes a future where the prejudices of Earth are left behind. For example, there are the classic storylines on race which are embodied through alien relationships on ‘Star Trek’. From viewing the program, basic principles become evident. In the future, or in space, ‘humanity resides in all creatures, everyone is deemed equal, and powerful positions can be achieved by all’. For a habitat, does that mean we will not live in typical family units as we are on the moon for research purposes? Will our sexual relationships be different also? Will we live in small isolated groups or all together? Anousheh Ansari
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkov, the first woman in space.
Dennis Tito was the first space tourist in 2001. While in orbit, he conducted several experiments that proved useful for his company.
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It is estimated that Anousheh Ansari, an Iranian-born American, paid over US$20 mn in 2006 to become the fourth tourist in space, and the first Muslim female. Controversy arose when Ansari included both the Iranian and US flags on the patch of the spacesuit in a period where there
No Zone The advent of human activity on the environment enables new climatic conditions to emerge. For example, the draining of vast land areas in the Netherlands for polders by pumping sand has resulted in a rare flora species, the Marsh Fleawort, to increase in numbers. Far east, the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea – relatively untouched since 1945 - is now a de facto sanctuary to endangered animals and plants, such as the black bear, the musk deer and a variety of cranes. Many microclimatic zones are located within the urban landscape also, such as the heat generated between two office towers or the air pollution of a busy arterial route. Will the reaction of technology and the Moon generate new conditions? Lack of Atmosphere The Moon is devoid of atmosphere as we know it - you can tell by the black sky up there. If you could capture the
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entire atmosphere of the Moon, you would get a total mass of 10,000 kg. (It weighs less than a large truck.) One source of the lunar atmosphere is outgassing, which is the release of gases (radon and helium) from the radioactive decay of the Moon’s core and crust. Another source is the debris stemming from the impact of meteorites with the Moon. The creation of the atmosphere from this impact is called ‘sputtering’, and in this sputter, Earth-based telescopes have detected sodium and potassium in a diffuse cloud around the Moon; NASA’s Lunar Prospector spacecraft detected radon-222 and polonium201. Apollo turned up argon, helium, oxygen, methane, nitrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. However, there quantities are minor. You would die within a minute if you stepped outside. The atmosphere (or exosphere) is so low in density that the rocket exhaust released during each Apollo landing temporarily doubled the atmosphere’s total mass. Smell Space smells different but it can only be smelt indirectly as there is no atmosphere to support human life for us to truly know. Astronauts have remarked (while removing their space suits in the airlock after a walk) that they can smell the odd odor of the ozone. It has been described as the smell of vacuum and a sweet metallic sensation - like welding fumes. A fragrance maker put a blooming rose - Overnight Sensation - on
board another shuttle flight to see if its oil secretions changed in mircogravity. The experiment resulted in a new scent. Solar Winds Solar winds stream off the sun, on average, over 400 km/sec and can travel between 300 to 800 km/sec through space. The Earth is protected from solar winds by its magnetic field; however, the Moon is not. It is bombarded by them. Lunar regolith (dust, soil and broken rock which rests ontop solid rock) is enriched in atomic nuclei deposited from the solar winds. There has been speculation that these elements may prove to be useful resources for future lunar colonies as it delivers carbon and other light elements like hydrogen and nitrogen into the atmosphere. Strike in Space The crew of Apollo 13 went on strike on December 27, 1973, when they shut off communications for twelve hours. It led to a moment of isolation, reflection and contemplation. Another act of contemplation in space was the design suggestion of a large-scale Zen Garden on the Moon (by Ayako Ono) as an act of art therapy for lunar inhabitants. Sound Up The senses can be provoked in many ways. Though, sound is sharper in space and tactility and taste de-
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creases. Vision is also an issue with microgravity. Our angle of vision changes from our usual erect position. There is also the issue of myopia, as the Earth is the only object to easily distinguish in the distance. Color, however, is a way to help humans to perceive.
rotation of the Moon, a vehicle can travel around the Moon at a consistent speed of 1.3 km/hr at 86 degrees south latitude, and maintain the sun at the same angle in the sky at all times.
Structure
If you take a flight to the Moon, don’t forget to pack some warm clothes. At night, the temperature can get below -150 ºC. Days can reach over 100 ºC. Unlike Earth, there is no atmosphere on the Moon to trap the heat. So, the surface is hot enough to boil water during the day.
With ‘no’ atmosphere, aerodynamic forces are not a significant problem on the Moon. Therefore, structures are less restricted by gravity. Due to the extreme cost of importing materials from Earth, materials on the Moon are preferred to use in construction. If imported from Earth, pre-fab solutions need to be lightweight. Inflatables are a popular concept - unless one is threatened by a meteorite. Perhaps, lunar regolith could add protection if it was mixed and casted with a mould. Constructions risk meteorite impact, outward forces from pressurized habitats, and abrasion from solar winds and cosmic rays. Light The Moon gives off no light of its own. The light from the Moon is (generally) the reflection of the Sun. Sunlight to the Moon itself is consistent, constant and ‘infinite’ - except during the lunar night. Therefore, lunar occupation may be powered entirely by solar power while power can simultaenously be redistributed to Earth. Due to the relatively slow
Temperature
Geography There are craters around the north and south poles of the Moon which are bathed in complete shadow. These craters are always hovering around -150 ºC. The lighter areas on the Moon that we can see from Earth are the highlands. The highest lunar peak, Mons Huygens, is approximately 4.7 km high. The highlands are a part of the original crust of the Moon, shattered by the bombardment of meteorites. In the highlands of the Moon, the material anorthite can be found, which is similar to bauxite (an aluminium ore). Smelters can produce pure aluminum, calcium metal, oxygen and silica glass from anorthite. Raw anorthite is also good for making fiberglass and other glass and ceramic product.
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Business
During a spacewalk to reinforce a torn solar panel during STS-120, a pair of pliers floated away. The PAM-D rocket stage module crashed into the Saudi Arabian desert.
It is evdient commercial startups could break open a new space race. The Spacecynic blogger refers to these businesses as NewSpace™: companies in this category collectively generate tens of billions in economic activity by serving customers – be it for satellite television services, providing in-car navigation capabilities, delivering digital radio, [...] taking high-resolution photos […] If you look at the companies operating in this business – be it XM Satellite Radio, Digital Globe, Direct TV, SES, Intelsat, or their brethren, what you will find is that they are not space businesses, but rather businesses that serve traditional consumers on the ground more effectively by using space as the medium through which they operate their services. (spacecynic.wordpress.com/2007/11) Private Virgin Galactic are currently building a fleet of private spaceship with ticket prices starting at US$200,000.
At the Vandenberg Air Force Base are remnants of the ultra-secret Corona program run by the CIA.
Association of Autonomous Astronauts The AAA is a group of individuals and community groups that wish to create an independent network for space travel - to become autonomous astronauts. Is community-based exploration possible if it took a command culture of 1 million man hours with 300,000 people and US$24 bn to land twelve people on the moon? If individuals dedicated 100 hours of progress per year, is it possible? Source D. Schrunk, B. Sharpe, B.Cooper, M.Thangavelu, ‘The Moon: Resources, Future Development, and Settlement’ (Chichester, UK: Praxis 2008).
Space Junk
Vanguard-1 is still in orbit after 50 years.
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in space is a problem like on Earth: space shuttles have been damaged by objects as small as a flake of paint. About 70,000 objects about the size of a postage stamp have been detected between 850 - 1,000 km above the Earth.
When humans go somewhere, they take their rubbish with them. While humankind has transported and left over 170,000 kg of debris on the Moon, only 382 kg of the Moon has been transported back to Earth. Many things can be found: satellites, lunar buggies, golf balls, flags, a statue and excrement. Leaving junk seventeen
More Moon Facts by Abigail Calzada Diaz VU, Amsterdam … The Moon is the only natural satellite of Earth and the only celestial body where humans have landed. Its radius is approximately 0.27 of Earth. Origin There are many hypotheses about the origin of the Moon. Currently, the most accepted theory is called the giant impact hypothesis, which explains that the Moon was formed by a collision between Earth and a huge Mars-sized body when the Earth was very young. The collision blasted material into orbit around the proto-Earth, which accreted to form the Moon. The large amount of energy released from the giant impact and the subsequent accrection melted the young moon, forming a magma ocean. Basins, Maria and Craters Basins are easily seen from the Earth by unaided eye. They have been created as excavation by the impact of gigantic meteorites. The difference between a basin and a crater is the size; basins are over 300 km in diameter while craters are smaller. The Moon’s surface is covered by lots of meteoritic craters.
Since it was created, the Moon, (and even Earth, See Fig. 1.) have been bombarded by millions of celestial bodies of different sizes. On Earth, erosion and tectonic processes erase any trace of these impacts; the absence of atmosphere on the Moon keeps these scars, which provides us information about the age or internal structures. (See Fig. 2.) Exploration There have been 52 missions to the Moon since 1959. The first mission to land on the Moon’s surface was the Russian Luna 9, in January 1966. The Apollo program began on July 1960 as a continuation of the Mercury Program. Its goal was to send manned missions to the Moon and return back safety to the Earth. They developed some scientific packages including spectrometers, suprathermal ion detectors and seismometers.
Fig. 1. A meteor crater in Arizona, USA.
Since the Apollo program finished in 1972, there were no more missions until the 90s. In 1994, the US Deparment of Defence, in collaboration with NASA, launched the Clementine mission. They obtained detailed images of almost all the surface in eleven spectral bands. The Moon is a sterile environment, absent of bacteria and viruses; this fact may allow us to construct spacecrafts, accomplish biological experiments and agriculture uses avoiding plagues, pests and pathogens.
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Fig. 2. The 28 km-wide Euler crater on the Moon as captured by NASA.
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Allumni Space research often turns into earthling objects over time. Here is a quick list of some past tech twists. …
was developed into a baby suit with sensors (Mamagoose) to try and prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). The five sensors continuously check the baby’s heart beat and breathing while sleeping. The special sensors are built into the cloth and have no direct contact with the body.
Technology Transfer ESA states: ‘Technology transfer is the process of using technology, expertise, know-how or facilities for a purpose not originally intended by the developing organization’. Transferring such technologies and know-how is not an easy task and the process relies heavily on personal networking. Most technology transfers have a safety benefit but they do not always have a social benefit.
The pendant pictured above holds actual black basaltic moon rock (0.65 carat). The rock was passed on from an astronaut to a friend who then tried to sell it back to NASA. It is estimated to be worth over US$40,000.
There have been more than 6,300 technologies that have been spinoffs from NASA, that is, a commercialized product incorporating NASA technology or know-how which benefits the public. This is about one in every thousand patents ever issued by the US Patent Office. ESA claim more than 200 successful transfers of space technologies to nonspace sectors. But there are lots of products that were not invented by space organisations that we think were. Baby Suit A respiratory inductive plethysmograph suit to study the respiration of astronauts during space missions
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Beer Barley grains that were suspended in space for over five months are being used to brew space beer in Japan despite the fact that scientists remark that there is no difference between earth- and space-grown barley.
Cognac French spirit makers Remy Martin have developed a cognac at -12 ºC fit for drinking in space. After freezing, the cognac is filtered in a similar manner to the process of recycling water in spacecrafts. The process removes fatty substances from the cognac, which concentrates its aroma and makes it fluid at sub-zero temperatures. The cognac comes in a
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flexible plastic flask complete with a drinking straw and an anti-leak valve to stop the liquid trickling out at 0-G. It also has a metalized thermal wrapper designed to protect against external radiation. Freeze-Dried Food
autumn 1964 collection were flared mini dresses with plastic portholes for waistlines and an assortment of hats shaped like platters. But even more revolutionary was the footwear: low-heeled, calf high boots made of white plastic and ornamented only with a clear cut-out slot near the top.
Freeze-dried technology was developed originally for preserving plasma during World War II. This process proved effective on food for extended manned space flights such as the Apollo missions. In the process, the moisture is removed by sublimation; it turns into a vapor before it turns into a liquid. The process works best on thin slices of meat and small objects like peas.
Orange
Polymer Fabric
Not everything fashioned for space is utilitarian. At the age of 25, after studying to be a civil engineer, Andre Courreges became the father of the mini-skirt, the shift dress and the ‘Moon Girl’ look. In 1968, Courreges debuted the Space Age collection:; it was described as functional, uncluttered and futuristic. Featured in his
Satellite The first and most natural communication satellite was the Moon. American Army engineers used the Moon to reflect communication signals during a ‘solar storm’ in 1955 because normal communication had ceased.
cal and nuclear inhalants. The suit has to be made of durable material to withstand the impact of space debris and protect against radiation. It must provide essential oxygen, pressure, heating, and cooling while retaining mobility and dexterity. ESA helped to develop a ‘space suit’ that protects people with the rare disease Xeroderma Pigmentosum from the sun, in particular, UV-radiation. It includes a cooling system that can be worn under normal clothing.
Scrubber
Whitney Smith suggested an orange flag was best for Antartica due to visibility.
Mini-skirt
prominent players in such diverse applications as firefighting and emergency response, motor sports, military, industry, and (still) aerospace.
Polybenzimidazole (PBI) was developed for the need to insulate and protect humans in extreme temperatures. It was developed in the 1950s for the US Air Force. It is a non-flammable and thermally stable textile fiber. A line of PBI textiles was consequently developed for use in space suits and vehicles. The fibers formed from the PBI polymer exhibited a number of highly desirable characteristics, such as the retention of both strength and flexibility after exposure to flames. Fabrics incorporating PBI have become
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Ethylene, comprising of carbon and hydrogen, is an oderless and colorless gas which heightens the maturing of fruit and flowers. In a closed environment, the production of ethylene by fruit and flowers increase. Reducing ethylene is important to preserving crops not just in space, but also on Earth, where grocers and florists have an interest in reducing the gas in order to increase the shelf life of their products. The technology has now been used from refrigerator trucks in the Middle East to doctor surgeries in the US to reduce germs. Now available is in a new line of home refrigerators. Space Suit A space suit must meet stringent requirements for life support. It is not a simple article of clothing but rather a complex modern armor providing protection from chemical, biologi-
Velcro It is a misnomer that velcro was invented for outer space. It was invented by a Swiss hunter in the 1940s, who observed the unremarkable event of burrs (hooks) sticking to the coat (loops) of his dog. Velcro was popularized by the space industry after NASA used velcro all over its rockets: to anchor equipment, to fasten space suits, and to stop objects from drifting away, such as dinner trays placed on an astronaut’s lap. In space, velcro is almost weightless. Velcro is strong enough that a 5 cm square piece is enough to support a person of approximately 80
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kg. This fact was a catalyst for Velcro Jumping, where participants wearing a velcro jumpsuit, fling themselves against a velcro-covered wall. And more ... - Athletic shoe companies adapted space boot designs to shoe insoles in order to lessen impact by adding spring and ventilation. - NASA used the same principles that reduce drag in space to help create the world’s fastest swimsuit for Speedo. - An atenna stitched into the sleeve of the space suit will soon be available for rescue team garments. - A microalgae-based, vegetable-like oil called Formulaid (developed from NASA-sponsored research on long duration space travel) is now being used in baby food. It contains two essential fatty acids found in human milk but not in most baby formulas, believed to be important for infants’ mental and visual development. - NASA developed a container to grow lettuce in space that is now being used by biology classes to conduct experiments. - ESA assisted a crisps manufacturer to develop a production and packaging method that avoids the crisps from cricking during the process and transport. - The exploration of Mars, as well as space shuttle and space station missions, produced revolutionary imaging technologies now being applied to generate 360-degree views of real estate and rental properties; unprecedented panoramas of far-flung des-
tinations; and immersive views of metropolitan areas for infrastructure monitoring and navigation. - The CAT scanner, a cancer-detecting technology, was first used to find imperfections in space components. Teeth-straightening is less embarrassing thanks to transparent ceramic brace brackets made from spacecraft materials. - Research into space has developed remote medical support via satellite communication. - NASA created a tastebud-pleasing toothpaste that could be swallowed. Advanced self-illuminating materials such as emergency exit lights and runway guides were first designed for space shuttles. - A GPS-based tracking system of spacecraft is now being used to monitor empty space in (truck) shipping containers. - Current home insulation utilizes reflective material that protects the interior of a spacecraft from thermal radiation. - Domestic versions of the water filter borrow a technique NASA pioneered to kill bacteria in water taken into space. - NASA invented the first adjustable smoke detector with sensitivity levels to prevent false alarms.
Sources www.esa.int/esaKIDSnl www.nasa.gov/externalflash/nasacity/index2. htm www.sti.nasa.gov/tto
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Super Auction Galleries of Beverly Hills presents The Spring 1994 Memorabilia Auction and Reference Catalog June 25 - 26, 1994.
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Syllabus & Speakers The Moon Life Academy has gathered an assortment of experts in the field. Following, they present themselves with their lecture outlines. Abigail Calzada Diaz, Barbara Imhof, Rob La Frenais, Susmita Mohanty, David Raitt, Irene LIA Schlacht and Andreas Vogler Abigail Calzada DIAZ The Moon is an ideal place for future exploration, research and settlement. Its resources, proximity and physical features make it a perfect place for the next stage of space exploration. Abigail Calzada Diaz will comment on the geological characteristics and resources, as well as former missions conducted to the Moon in order to highlight its potentialities. Abigail Calzada Diaz undertook a ‘Licenciatura’ in Geology from Universidad de Oviedo in Spain. Afterwards, she relocated to the Netherlands in order to complete her final year of the Earth Sciences Master at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Presently, she is working on her Master’s thesis, which analyzes Apollo traverses in order to apply them to future traverses of the South Pole on the Moon. Concurrently, Abigail Calzada Diaz is collaborating as an ‘Earth’ supporter with two crews performing a simulation at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah.
Barbara Imhof
The Mercury Seven.
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The lecture will focus on RAMA (Rover For Advanced Mission Applications). RAMA is named after the Rama Chronicles by Arthur C. Clarke and is a mobile research laboratory for the Moon and for Mars. The key content will comprise the various aspects of the concept design study conducted in the frame of an ESA contract for Architecture Studies (2008/09). The lecture will show the operations, technologies and key elements of daily life traveling on the Lunar surface for a 42-day mission. Moreover, Barbara Imhof will detail how the RAMA vehicle and its interior integrates all aspects of space design, such as engineering, scientific and human factors, as well as architectural issues.
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Barbara Imhof is the Co-Founder and Partner of LIQUIFER Systems Group, a multidisciplinary platform that takes innovative approaches to terrestrial and extraterrestrial architecture. LIQUIFER develops concepts for living and working environments tracing, advancing and reflecting future development potentialities and anticipates deepening the exploration of synergies between space and earth applications for architecture. In addition to being a practicing architect, Barbara Imhof lectures and publishes regularly in the field of both earth and space architecture. Barbara Imhof worked as a space architect on NASA’s BIOPLEX Project (an Earth test bed for a human mission to Mars) at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Other projects include the ESA feasibility study of a €200 mn integrated European Simulation Facility and the most recently completed project RAMA, a pressurized Rover for Advanced Mission Applications in the frame of the European exploration program and under the contract of Thales Alenia Space and the European Space Agency. This year, Barbara Imhof was invited by Eric Owen Moss to represent Austria at the 2010 Architecture Biennale in Venice. The work shown will be a collaborative between her and Susmita Mohanty. Barbara Imhof holds an architecture degree from the University of Applied Arts where she studied with Wolf. D. Prix of Coop Himmelb(l)au. Additionally she holds a Master of Science from the International Space University and a P.hD in architecture from the University of Technology in Vienna. www.liquifer.at
Rob La Frenais Rob La Frenais will outline the relationship between art and space. Rob La Frenais has been Curator of The Arts Catalyst since 1997. He is a curator and critic who has curated and produced interdisciplinary and visual art projects since 1987. Before joining The Arts Catalyst, he was a freelance curator and organizer working in a European context in various countries, including being the Chief Executive of the Edge Biennale Trust in London and Madrid, and the Artistic Director of the Belluard-Bollwerk International in Switzerland. In 1979 Rob founded the groundbreaking ‘Performance’ Magazine, which continued as an authoritative cultural voice in Europe until 1992. He has a Ph.D in curatorial practice across disciplines and is an honorary Doctor of Arts at Dartington College of Arts. www.artcatalyst.org
planetary exploration as well as the upcoming mission to the Moon by Chandrayaan-2. Susmita has selected an assortment of creative properties to stretch the imagination of the workshop participants. The film shorts will create the philosophical base for exploration and expansion of the human species. The lunar base advanced concepts will catalyze visualization of lunar habitation and human activities. Chandrayaan and Kaguya imagery will bring the Moon alive as a real tangible destination. A protégée of the late science fiction writer, Sir Arthur C. Clarke, Susmita Mohanty is a young space entrepreneur who seeks to blur the boundaries between science fiction and reality through creative entrepreneurship. Susmita has founded three space companies since 2001: MOONFRONT in San Francisco, LIQUIFER in Vienna, and most recently EARTH2ORBIT in Mumbai. Prior to taking the entrepreneurship plunge, Susmita worked in international business development for the Space Station program at Boeing, Huntington Beach and worked on Shuttle-Mir projects at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Educated in India, France and Sweden, Susmita holds degrees in Engineering, Industrial Design, Space Studies and Aerospace Architecture. In 2005, she became the youngest recipient of the International Achievement Award from Women in Aerospace, a Washington DC based organization and was also nominated for the 2004 MIT Technology Review¹s Top 100 Innovators Award. She is one of the youngest members of the International Academy of Astronautics and also sits on the Space Architecture Technical Committee of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Susmita moved her base camp from San Francisco to Mumbai in 2008 and looks forward to leading India’s foray into human space exploration. www.earth2orbit.com
David Raitt Susmita Mohanty
The Moon in Mythology, Art and Literature
Susmita will begin her talk with a couple of film shorts created for the 2001 Arthur C. Clarke Gala hosted at the Playboy Mansion. She will then go on to present selected future concepts for moon bases from the 2002 Lunar Base Design Workshop. Susmita will also present a compilation of high-resolution images from the Indian lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-1 and a high-definition video from the Japanese orbiter Kaguya. She will give the workshop participants a snapshot of India’s plans for human spaceflight and
The Moon – seemingly suspended as a silver crescent or orb in a deep blue sky – has always been an object of fascination, veneration and awe. It has been the subject and inspiration for countless creative works and appears as a motif in literature, poetry, art, music, film, performing arts and sculpture. It has also been the source of numerous beliefs, myths, superstitions and taboos and has influenced agriculture and gardening, as well as moods and behavior.
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The presentation will take a light-hearted and visual look at the Moon in these various contexts. Among the topics considered will be the Moon as inspiration: Moon gods and goddesses in various countries, the association of Moon characters with the names of spacecraft, Moon myths and superstitions, the Moon in folklore and agriculture, and also in art and design, literature and films (including science-fiction). Finally, the Moon as a stimulus for public engagement will also be considered. David Raitt recently retired after forty years from ESA where his last position was Senior Technology Transfer Officer. In this position, as well as carrying out his day-to-day duties, David Raitt created a variety of initiatives and competitions that tried to reveal a more human side of space by showing the influence of space on design as well as literature and art. One particularly noteworthy study that he initiated and managed related to innovative technologies from science-fiction for space applications. Essentially this study sought to ascertain whether science-fiction literature, arts and films contained concepts or technologies which had been overlooked by space agencies and industry and which might be possible to achieve with today’s scientific and technical advances. The work generated much worldwide press and public interest and as a result of this activity, an increasing number of individuals and organizations turned to ESA for support in their space art and cultural activities. This led Raitt to initiate a Space, Art and Cultural Initiative and to organize several workshops and activities in this area, including the Space and Society series of international conferences. He was also involved in the ESA study on Culturization of the International Space Station.
Irene LIA Schlacht The Habitability of Moon Base: A Holistic Vision Irene Lia Schlacht, from the Extreme-Design.eu research group, will present the discipline of Holistic Human Factors, as applied to Moon Base. She develops her presentation in the context of the Mars Habitability Project, her personal experience and research carried out on at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) during the EuroMoonMars-1 mission. Irene Lia Schlacht is a researcher in the field of Outer Space Design. Currently, she is working on her Ph.D; ‘Outer Space Habitability’ at the Technische Universität Berlin as the Chair of Human-Machine Systems. In 2006 she graduated in Industrial Design at the Politecnico di Milano with a thesis on ‘Color Requirement in Outer Space Habitats’. After an internship at Thales Alenia Space Human Factors department, she conducted research in Space Human Factors at Università di Torino. She led the ‘Cromos’ experiment on color perception in microgravity. The experiment, conducted during the ESA parabolic flights campaign in September 2006, was awarded by ELGRA in the 2007. In April 2010 she was
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invited by ILEWG (International Lunar Exploration Working Group) to investigate habitability and sensory experiences in space as a crew member of the EuroMoonMars -1 mission at the Mars Desert Research Station. Since 2007 she has been coordinating Extreme-Design.eu, an international group consisting of outer space researchers from different disciplines including space art, psychology, and anthropology. www. extreme-design.eu
Andreas Vogler Architecture and Vision: Aerospace Architecture The lecture will present several space projects of the design studio Architecture and Vision founded by Arturo Vittori and Andreas Vogler. MoonVille is a design study for a future moon settlement on the South Pole of the Moon in the year 2049. MoonBaseTwo is an inflatable moon habitat for four astronauts. MarsCruiserOne is a study for a pressurized rover, which could also be used for environments on the Moon. Along with the explanation of these projects, several issues of space and moon habitation will be raised, which highlight the necessary integration of architecture, engineering and psychology in the design of long-duration space habitats. Andreas Vogler is a Swiss architect and designer, and a founder of the research and design studio Architecture and Vision. He graduated from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich in 1994. He then collaborated with Richard Horden in London, later becoming his teaching and research assistant at the Technical University of Munich, where he taught semester courses in aerospace architecture and micro-architecture. In 1998 he started his own practice in Munich, working on several architectural competitions. He was a Guest Professor at The Royal Academy of Fine Arts Copenhagen in 2003-2005, where he undertook research in prefabricated buildings and in 2005-2006, he participated in the Concept House research group at the Delft University of Technology. He has written several papers on space architecture and technology transfer to architecture for international conferences, and organized the Space Architecture session at the International Conference for Environmental Systems ICES in Rome in 2005. Vogler has been teaching and lecturing at Hong Kong University, La Sapienza University Rome, ETH Zurich, IUAV Venice and other international universities on Industrial Design and Architecture. He is a member of the Bavarian Chamber of Architects (ByAK), the Deutscher Werkbund, and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
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‘We are tired of each other cramped in here in this small station.’ - Valentin Lebedev, Cosmonaut, Salyut 7.1
dissertations I Microcosmic Getaways Aboard Space Habitats Susmita Mohanty, Barbara Imhof Published in: M. Widrich (ed.), ‘Microcosms’, MIT Architecture Journal #30, Cambridge, USA, May 2005. As humankind raced to reach the Moon in the past, the holistic experience of the space journey often got lost along the way. A return to the moon profers opportunity to think our relation with space travel anew. Susmita Mohanty and Barbara Imhof detail how astro-travel can be enriched so that we can become less alien in space. 1.0 Long Term Habitation in [Outer] Space
The first backpack worn on the Moon.
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Long duration space missions require crews to live in isolation and confinement for several months at a time. Some Russian cosmonauts have even spent a year or more aboard the Mir space station. The crews live in cramped conditions, away from family and friends, away from easy physical access to the outdoors, away from the comforts of local cultural anchors, away from the plethora of sensory stimuli that they are accustomed to on Earth.
The Russians have identified three phases in adaptation to space. The first lasts up to two months and is dominated by adjustments to the new environment. This is followed by increasing fatigue and decreasing motivation, ‘asthenia’. What once seemed exciting becomes boring and repetitious. Next comes a lengthy period during which the asthenia, which can include depression and anxiety, worsens.2 The space habitats that astronauts live in are a homogenized composite of cylindrical pressurized metal tubes with cramped machine-like interiors. Here, they spend their time performing prescribed mission tasks, routine chores, and tackling occasional emergencies. Some missions are so packed that the astronauts don’t have enough time to eat, exercise, or sleep. Over-tasking and lack of sleep led to a strike in space when the third crew of the Skylab 3 space station turned off the radio and refused to talk with Houston Mission Control. NASA Ground Control eventually eased off on their workload and the astronauts returned to work. There are anecdotal references on the Russian side as well, all pointing to the fact that astronauts are not superhuman, and have to deal with problems, which become more pronounced as mission duration increases.
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‘The problems arise after the initial shock and awe of the environment wear off, and the crew members get to know their surroundings a little better. Then they begin to rebel against authority and each other.’ – Dr. John Annexstad, Space Scientist, 10-time veteran of scientific Antarctic missions .4 In the future, the journeys will get more daunting. Humans will journey to Mars, a journey that will last almost two and a half years including six months in transit each way and five hundred days of stay on the planet. On such an arduous journey, the stakes will be much higher. One needs to prepare for all kinds of scenarios that a micro-society of up to six crew members might have to face on their Martian journey: sensory deprivation, monotony, depression, work overload, interpersonal conflict, mishaps, and more. ‘The ability to put [Mars mission] astronauts on the couch and help them through difficulties is going to be limited.’ – Dr. Al Holland, Psychologist, NASA Johnson Space Center Under these circumstances, it is important that the crew has either by design, or they improvise, imagine, invent, or discover individual or collective ‘microcosmic getaways’ aboard their space habitats. These getaways could be stimulus spaces (real or virtual), artifacts, or even imaginary worlds – those that lead to a positive physiological or psycho-
logical activity or response. 2.0 Getaways Are Extreme Environment Countermeasures Getaways can play a vital role in enhancing the socio-psychological health of the crew, and thus improve the quality of life aboard space habitats and ensure mission success. Getaways can serve as effective countermeasures to a plethora of human factor issues that can crop up in the extreme environment of outer space. The schematic (on the facing page) gives an overview of the wide array of human factor issues that need to be addressed on long duration mission. In the sections that follow, the authors take the reader on a metaphorical walk through space habitats part real, part utopian in search of microcosmic getaways. The real habitats are the former Russian station Mir and the current International Space Station (ISS) Alpha. The utopian habitats are experimental concepts that break the ‘man-in-a-can’ paradigm of space architecture practiced at governmental space agencies. 3.0 Getaways on Mir and Alpha The authors have worked on design projects related to the Space Shuttle, the former Russian space station Mir, and the current ISS Alpha. In this section, they present a diverse selection of getaways from Mir and Alpha:
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Human Factors Psychological <Territoriality><Withdrawal><Privacy><Depression> <Anxiety><Anger><Hostility><Fear><Ego><Homesickness> <Demotivation><Loneliness> Social <Privacy><Conflict><Love><Sex><Groupism><Cohesion> <Tension><Competition><Aggression><Rebellion> <Disagreement><Family Emergencies><Leisure><Conflict> Sensory <Visual><Tactile><Auditory><Olfactory><Gustatory> <Cognition><Real/Virtual> Spatial <Cramped Volumes><Linear Configurations> <Interiors><Outfitting><Movement><Orientation> <Outdoor Access><Windows/Windowlessness> <Technologized Spaces> Work-Related <Overload><Not Enough Work><Scheduling> <Fatigue><Monotony><Boredom><Not Enough Time for Real Science> <Not Enough Time for Exploration> <Emergencies><Team Dynamics> Habitation-Related <Illumination><Temperature><Noise><Odor> <Air/Water Quality><Food><Sleep><Health> <Hygiene><Exercise> A schematic giving an overview of an adverse and complex array of human factor issues that gateways can help counter.
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A sauna on Mir A tearoom on Kibo A cupola on the Alpha A floating sculpture on Mir A sauna on Mir
Shower on the MIR station.
Cosmonauts dressed for a space walk aboard Mir space station with the green ‘cosmic dancer’ sculpture floating in the foreground.
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Mohanty 6 worked on a project to generate design concepts for whole body cleansing systems for the ISS. In her analysis of the use of an earthtype shower in space, she reviewed the showers used on Skylab and Mir. She reported that the use of a shower in microgravity was cumbersome. Although the actual showering takes just a few minutes, (1) the wait before the shower for the water to heat was too long, and (2) it took almost twenty minutes to clean the enclosure afterwards leaving the astronaut cold, thereby taking away the pleasure of a warm shower. To offset these problems with the shower on Mir, the Russian cosmonauts found a cultural solution. They improvised and started using the shower enclosure for an air shower (sauna) about once a week, with warm or hot air flow, followed by a rubdown with a moist towel. To use as a sauna, the fan and heater were turned on. Unlike the regular shower, this mode required no waiting for the water to heat, and there was less cleanup of the water afterwards. Many cultures have their versions of the sweat bath, from the Finnish sauna to the furo of the Japanese, from the banya of the Russians to the hamam of the Turks. The culture of the sauna is one of getting away
from the stress of daily life, and escaping to a world where an unhurried attitude is embraced as being essential for quality of life. It is a kind of ‘short term vacation spot’ where you take refuge from all the hard work, and relax, cleanse, converse, lounge with family and friends. It is a place for cleansing the body and the mind. In space, as on Earth, a sauna can help maintain physiological and psychological well-being. A tearoom on Kibo The Japanese space agency (JAXA) plans to include a thirteen square foot (4 m2) tearoom in Japan’s section of the ISS, the Kibo laboratory module. This is Japan’s way of introducing an island of tranquility on the space station, a getaway from the rigor of daily life aboard the space station. A team of experts from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music helped with the design. The idea was to recreate a traditional tearoom while making creative use of three-dimensional space in weightlessness. The Japanese tea ceremony, chanoyu, has its origins in Zen Buddhism. Over centuries, this ritual developed into an art form. Sen Rikyú, its greatest exponent, established the principles of wabi (simplicity) and sabi (tranquility) that underpin the ceremony. He defined the details of etiquette, location, and equipment that reflect those principles. At its simplest, the tea ceremony is an aesthetic way to entertain guests, a meditative experience, a celebration
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of exquisiteness and delicacy of form. At its most complex, the ceremony is loaded with meaning. Practitioners see significance in every movement and utensil, even in the color of the hostess’s kimono, the tatami mats on which the guests sit, the garden in which a teahouse stands, the teahouse itself, even the number of nails in the teahouse door. 8 ‘Space travel is psychologically difficult so the idea is to provide a calm place where astronauts can relax. This should help them maintain good working relationships.’ – Yoshihiro Nakamura, JAXA spokesperson 9 A cupola on Alpha The cupola is an Italian hardware contribution to the ISS. It is a pressurized space station element with seven windows that will provide visual access to the activities outside the station and give the inhabitants a portal for spectacular views towards Earth. From a technological perspective, it will be home to the command and control workstations to assist in Space Station Remote Manipulator System or robotic arm manipulations, and Extra Vehicular Activities (EVA). Symbolically, the cupola will be a ‘window to the universe’, a cosmic vault, as is the case of the cupolas found in Italian church architecture. For the astronauts, it will be like a portal into the infinite expanse of the cosmos, a verandah, a lookout, a private spot, a getaway.
A floating sculpture on Mir The ‘cosmic dancer’ sculpture on Mir was a contribution by artist Arthur Woods. Woods chose green as the color for the sculpture to provide contrast to the drab station interiors cluttered with equipment, tubes and cables as well as to induce psychologically calming effects due to its association with nature. ‘Prior to commencing to fly, I was interested in art andrelaxed with it from my professional occupation. [In school] I played the bandoneon and clarinet … [In university] I played the saxophone. On board we have a keyboard, which was brought to us by Jean Luc Cretien. In our free time we sometimes play it. But there are also moments, where for weeks I cannot even look out of the portal, as I am too busy carrying out operational and reparation works on the station. The station is over seven years old and needs special attention. And those are the days where, when having a free minute, it is comfortable to look at some art object, it being a picture or a sculpture like we have taken with us on board. The form of the sculpture is original, angular and avantgarde, and inspires for diverse thoughts and fantasies. One can see in this figure any being one wants. Therefore it is interesting to enjoy looking at it and to hold it in ones hands. When holding it in one’s hands, one caresses it and feels a cozy
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feeling, as if one would hold a living being. We think that such art works are not only important to the artists who send them into space but also for us cosmonauts who simply feel the presence of a little artwork as comfortable.’ - ‘Cosmic Dancer’ Commentary, Cosmonaut Alexander Polischuk on Mir10 While playing with the ‘cosmic dancer’ the cosmonauts could leave their ‘real’ environment they were in by creating a ‘dynamic virtual space’ initialized by the object. The weightless environment let the object ‘dance’ thus creating a playful getaway, in which the cosmonauts could float and therefore have the possibilities of many different positions between the object and themselves. 4.0 Getaways on Utopian Outposts In this section, the authors shift the spotlight to space art, architecture and design projects conducted outside the traditional realm of space agencies. They showcase getaways from futuristic, experimental, utopian concepts for orbital and extraterrestrial outposts, some of which they were instrumental in creating. A greenhouse on KEPLER moon base A bar on KOPERNIKUS lunar outpost An art studio in space A greenhouse on KEPLER moon base The KEPLER Base was one of the
utopian lunar base concepts generated during the Lunar Base Design Workshop led by Mohanty and Imhof. It was hosted at the European Space Agency and the Vienna University of Technology. The objective of this workshop was to generate new, bold, unorthodox architectural concepts for future space outposts. The KEPLER Base was a proposed ‘subterranean’ live-work space on the Moon. One of the prominent features of this base was the green house component. The base featured two centrally located, 400 sqm greenhouses as part of their closed-loop life support system. As large parts of the crew’s stay is spent underground, the designers of the base created a ‘simulated outdoor’ environment indoors using a prominent greenhouse and careful planning of movement within the base. In outer space, the need for humans to stay cooped up in pressurized interiors limits physical and visual access to the ‘outdoors’. So the designers can facilitate the need to escape from the rigors of daily life on space outposts, by designing a ‘notion’ of the outdoors indoors, by creating virtual getaways.11 A bar on KOPERNIKUS lunar outpost Yet another utopian concept that emerged from the Lunar Base Design Workshop was a surface lunar outpost set in the year 2069 named KOPERNIKUS, with a mission to provide commercial services to the
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lunar communities in the vicinity. These commercial services, included among others, a bar as a leisure activity engine where outpost crew and their neighbors from nearby lunar communities could converge for lounging, dancing, and partying. The bar could also serve as a space for hosting periodical events such as the one demonstrated by the hypothetical flyer of the 20th anniversary of the lunar surf-society (on page forty-two). The bar module on the top comprises a solid central module with inflatable parts on the sides that can hold up to thirty people and a bartending area, a lounging area as well as an air cushioned dance floor.12 An art studio in space The ISADORA Module is the name given by American-Brazilian designer Ricky Seabra to the project he has devised for artists to go into space. The aim is to give artists residencies on board a space station. About two-thirds of the eight meter long module would be a performance studio space, the remaining one-third would be a cozy cushion pit where artists and astronauts could gather to talk and relax.13 ‘Isadora will be a vehicle to explore the poetic potential of space; an experience that will most certainly broaden and deepen our perception of the Universe, our Earth, and Ourselves.’ – Ricky Seabra, Creator of the ISADORA concept The idea of ‘art in space’ is not lim-
ited to the ISADORA. There have been several other ideas, including one from the Tate in London. In order to fulfill their mission to extend access to British and international modern and contemporary art, the Tate Trustees have determined that the next Tate site should be in space. In 2003, the ‘Tate in Space’ program invited three architecture firms to submit concepts for an art gallery in space. It also hosted a student competition around the same theme. The winning idea came from StudioCousins. Their idea is based on an undulating, dynamic gallery where art is viewed at the center of a spatially and temporally responsive space. Each of its 24 segments digitally records an hour in different locations around the globe.14 The visitors can float through the different segments and view the art in any orientation. The visitors can experience the Himalayas at dawn and the Amazon at dusk, one end of the gallery could be night and the other end could be day, depending on its location in orbit – or the segment can be transparent for viewing a particular Tate exhibition. 5.0 The Future: Microcosmic Getaways BY DESIGN The walk through the real and utopian getaways in the above two sections demonstrate how and why getaways could potentially act as countermeasures to human factor challenges on space missions. An analysis of their re-
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spective effects is summarized below. As is evident from the matrix (on page forty-two), the psychological, social, sensory and spatial implications of getaways can be substantial. The designers of future habitats need to take this into consideration. Further analysis of whether the getaways presented here, were created by design, improvisation, invention, imagination or discovery led to the following findings. Most of the getaways discussed in this article were either created by design or by improvisation. The imagination and discovery components were also present. It is possible that on long missions, astronauts might invent their own getaways in transit or at their destination. The third and final analysis studied whether the getaways were individual or collective. Most of the getaways were flexible and could be used either individually or by a group. Flexibility is an important design element for getaways. The future lies in taking a multidisciplinary approach to the design of future habitats, rather than the engineering dominated approach used by space agencies. It is also important to redefine ‘the right stuff’ which assumes astronauts to be superhuman and above socio-psychological problems. The success of future long duration missions will depend as much on the socio-psychological health of the crew as it will on technological capabilities. The new generation of space architects, engineers and designers are taking the human enterprise of exploring space to a whole new realm. They seek a holistic human-centered
approach. And they are not afraid to ask the question: why should we only take the scientific and technological aspects of our civilization when we go out and explore the cosmos, why shouldn’t we also take with us our creative and cultural attributes as human beings. The new genre in space architecture as illustrated here by the KEPLER Base, KOPERNIKUS outpost, ISADORA module and the Satellite Art Gallery, is in its early stages, but it is all set to transform the reality of future space outposts. These stations of the future will incorporate ‘microcosmic getaways’ not by accident, but by design. And it is entirely possible that these getaways, over time, will include new and yet unknown experiences, and not just borrow from the portfolio of earthly experiences. 1. Valentine Lebedev, ‘Diary of a Cosmonaut: 211 Days in Space’ (New York: Bantam 1988), p. 300. 2. R. Persaud, ‘Mars: A big step for womankind?’, Telegraph, January 21, 2004. At: http:// www.telegraph.co.uk (accessed June 3, 2005). 3. American Space Station. 4. Persaud. 5. Persaud. 6. Co-author. 7. Susmita Mohanty, ‘Design Concepts for Zero-G Whole Body Cleansing on ISS Alpha’ NASA/CR-2001-208931, 1997, pp. 9-11. 8. At: http://www.twinings.com/en_int/world_ of_tea/japan_cult.html (accessed June 4, 2005). 9. M. Murphy, ‘Japan plans tearoom for the ISS’, New Scientist, February 20, 2002. At: http:// www.newscientist.com (accessed June 3, 2005). 10. At: http://www.cosmicdancer.com (accessed June 3, 2005). 11. Susmita Mohanty, Barbara Imhof, P.J. van Susante, ‘European Lunar Base Concepts’, 2003-01-2652, 33rd International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2003, pp. 9-10. 12. Mohanty, 2003. 13. Susmita Mohanty, Barbara Imhof, ‘TransGravity: The Third Genre in Space Architecture’, 2004-01-2370, 34th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2004, p. 9. 14. At: http://www.tate.org.uk/space/studiocousins.htm (accessed June 3, 2005).
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II Towards a Republic of the Moon Rob La Frenais Design often masquerades as art but in space design pumps out the techno. Rob Le Frenais, curator and critic, asks that we rethink our metaphors by reviewing an artistic approach to the Moon.
Dance experiments conducted by French dancer-choreographer Kitsou Dubois and her troupe on a parabolic flight.
‘Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one cannot live in a cradle forever.’ – Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, 1911 ‘Modern science says: The sun is the past, the earth is the present, the moon is the future.’ – Nikola Tesla, The Problem of Increasing Human Energy, 1900 An imaginary flyer for a lunar surf-society anniversary event at the KOPERNIKUS bar.
Sauna Tearoom Cupola Sculpture Greenhouse Bar Art Studio
Psychological x x x x x x
Social x x
Sensory x x
x
x x x x
x x
A matrix showing the relation between the getaways and human factor issues they address.
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Spatial Work Habitation x x x x x x x x x x
How will we live on the Moon? It is likely that the first rehearsal for living on a planetary object outside the Earth will not be Mars but the Moon. It is envisaged that soon, maybe in the next decade, a small outpost of humans and robots will be established, possibly living in tunnels drilled under the Moon’s surface. But how have things changed since the US and Russian dash to the moon, ending in the 1969/71 moon landings? Society has changed considerably since the post-war military command structure that informed astronaut and cosmonaut selection and the way in which space agencies
approached their mission, with topdown control of the space explorers actions and information about them. A point of breakdown came with international crews sharing the Russian-built MIR space station, well documented in ‘Dragonfly: NASA and the Crisis Aboard MIR’ (Bryan Burrough,1992). In a recent International Astronautical Federation meeting in Paris in which issues of space governance were discussed, a UN official with an interest in the peaceful uses of space stated, ‘The last thing we want to propose is a Republic of the Moon’. We wondered: why not? The notion of a ‘Republic of the Moon’ is symbolic of a paradigm shift about the way we approach human spaceflight today. In what way have artists approached the moon in recent history? During the Apollo missions, there were two small, direct artist interventions on the Moon: ‘The Fallen Astronaut’ by Paul Van Hoeydonck and the secret ‘Moon Museum’ by Frosty Myers with works by Rauschenburg, Warhol and Oldenburg. There were also some spontaneous ‘artistic’ gestures by astronauts, such as family photos wrapped in cellophane, shown in Michael Light’s blockbuster ‘Full Moon’ exhibition of lovingly digitally enhanced photographs selected from an extraordinary and largely unseen NASA archive. Apollo astronaut Alan Bean, the fourth man to walk on the Moon, became an artist on his return to Earth and now de-
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votes his life to painting scenes from his time on the moon. Contemporary takes by artists on our relationship with the moon include Aleksandra Mir’s performance work and film ‘First Woman on the Moon’ (titled in response to the solely male Apollo missions) in which she organised a team of bulldozers to sculpt a vast, crater-strewn lunar surface on a Dutch beach. Then, in 2003, the performance artist Laurie Anderson became NASA’s first and so far only - artist-in-residence. Being dismayed by the thought of moon bases prompted her to make the performance piece ‘The End of the Moon’. Added to this have been several conceptual works by artists recently appearing in the ‘Deceitful Moon’ exhibition at the Hayward Gallery Project Space, based on the conspiracy theory that the whole series of moon landings stretching over several years - was conducted in a film studio.
A new metaphor is needed for the enterprise of space exploration in opposition to the military philosophies that dominated Von Braun, Korolev and Kennedy’s Cold War space race. Artists will be the first to point the way, with contributions from space psychologists, architects and ethicists showing how we might live autonomously on the Moon.
III Recipe: Human Factors and Crew Performance Irene Lia Schlacht From the Space Station Design Workshop 2009 at the Institute of Space Systems, Universitaet Stuttgart Creating habitats on the lunar lanscape is an emotional task. Irene Schlacht iterates several hints on how to make the consideration of human moods as core to the construction of any moon base. 1 Motivation and Objective
The Moon Museum fits into the palm of a hand.
In 2011, anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s first flight into space, what can artists contribute to the first proposed real departure from the Earth for around 50 years? How do the new global players in space (China, Japan, India and Europe) see their role? Finally, what will be the politics of the Moon? Will it simply be an extension of global politics, various outposts representing national interests similar to Antarctica or will there indeed be be a transnational territory of the Moon? forty-four
The crew onboard the lunar base you are designing will live there for a prolonged period of time. They will constantly have to deal with high workloads, a risky technology-dominated environment and the effects of environmental conditions (such as gravity variation, stress, confinement and isolation). Therefore, as a designer, you need to take into account all we know about human factors, for instance, topics ranging from an overall module configuration to the interior layout, and to crew time scheduling. Your task is to make sure that your team’s moon base is designed in a way that is supportive of the human presence, that is, providing an efficient working and living environment, and being able to increase
crew performance, well-being and mission accomplishment as a rich experience. Many everyday habits, rituals and customs in space will be impossible. However, considering the capability of humankind to adjust its own ritualistic behavior in relation to unfamiliar environments, new approaches will develop. (For example, how will the meal ritual evolve in a 1/6-G environment? How will we sleep? How will we use the toilet? What social play methods will be developed to increase crew motivation?) Keywords: sustainability, flexibilityvariability-adaptability, cognitive design strategies, holistic approach, local environment feature. 2 Approach To help you to meet the objective, here are some hints for your design: - Habitability Aspects: A mental map of needs, cultural and place experience, aesthetics, harmonies, atmosphere (place spirit), and values. - Module Configuration Aspects: A pattern sketch of window locations, orientation towards Earth, access and egress paths, zoning and space distribution (activities, territoriality, walking-access path, visual field, privacy, group activities, noise, odors). - Interior Design: A design sketch of lighting, colors, decors, ergonomics (moon walk), psycho- and physiological stress countermeasures, and
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storage systems. - Operations and Scheduling: The conceptualization of crew divisions, work shifts, free time, private and group recreational activity (also as interior configuration facilities), and the duration of stay. - Social Structure: The conceptualization of crew composition-selection, the onboard chain of command, jurisdiction, ground station contact and (psychological) support. - Life Support: Sketch and conceptualize food preparation (also as recreational activity), rescue, radiation shelters, contamination control, and noise and odor screens. 3 Heuristics and Design Hints Human factors must be considered both from an engineering point of view, for example, allowing for applying specific numbers and sizing correlations. They must also be considered from an architectural perspective: allowing for a holistic approach that refers to issues not directly related to numerical values, but which is still greatly important for the quality and completeness of the overall system concept.
applicability to your specific design.
Aspect
Design rules
Importance
4 Results Documentation
Environment
Allows the use of local environment features: - Solar energy and illumination. - Gravity reduction (possibility to jump, climb, move more weight, more flexibility for positioning pay loads). - Consider use of regolith. - Support Earth observation, astronomical observation and telecommunications (Earth provides reference for crew orientation (EVA)) because it is stationary in the lunar landscape).
B
Habitability
- Habitability requirements increase with mission dura tion, risk, degrees of isolation and confinement. - Increase comfort, provide customizable elements of the environment. - Permit the crew to behave in ways that are innate to them to remove numerous minor stressors from their daily routine.
A
Interior Configurations
- Study redundant access and escape routes. - Design territoriality distribution, private/public ar eas. - Provide separate habitation areas. - Deliberately use architectural space inside the mod ules, instead of giving the crew whatever is leftover af ter fitting all hardware in. - Identify required degree of proximity of modules/ functions and their configuration. - Provide enough space for equipment in regular use. - Dinner/conferencing table and surrounding area must be large enough to accommodate entire crew.
B
Perception
- Check field of view and shading for payloads, crew pri vacy, communication. - Provide some long line-of-sight distances in a local ‘horizontal’ direction. - Cluster and isolate noisy equipment, bad odors, vibra tion, etc. far from habitation zone and in relation with the area function.
Document your design considerations, choices and justifications. Proposed ‘tangible results’ of your work as human factors team specialists should include: - Maps of habitability requirements, such as needs analysis, Moon constraints and environmental qualities (regolith, reduced weight, solar energy, etc.) - Views and sketches of the station interior concept. Detail relevant aspects. - Representations of zoning, communication and translation paths. - External views with emphasized human factor influences. - Crew schedules and on-board activity schedules. (Consolidate with the Operations team.) Table 1. Heuristics and lessons learned for selected areas of human factors engineering (relative importance: A = most important, B = less important, C: least important).
However, experiences from previous manned space programs, systems, and studies allow for the formulation of lessons learned in selected areas. Some of these are summarized in the following table. Please use those as a guide where suitable, but carefully check their relevance and forty-six
Windows
- Provide accessible windows for Earth/Space viewing. - Preferred window locations: conference/dining area, exercise area, quiet/recessed area. - Avoid windows in locations where crew must spend more than two hours each day due to radiation.
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B
B
Aspect
Design rules
Importance
Crew Dynamics
- Design countermeasures for physical and emotional stressors, isolation and confinement (ex. Psychological support, gym).
C
- Interpersonal and leadership-acceptance problems, as well as problems between crew and ground support, increased with mission-elapsed time. - Establishing pre-misson relationships reduces crowd ing problems. - Consider crucial ‘everyday’ conflict issues: stowage, food, acoustics, trash management, inventory system, hygiene, distribute within the crew the ‘housekeeper’ functions.
B
- Design crew autonomy and teamwork into system for increased productivity.
A
- Available space and spatial arrangements can indicate or influence hierarchy; must therefore be congruent with actual hierarchy structures.
B
Activities and Schedule
- Schedule frequent regular group – social – recreational activities (dinner, conferences, music listening) to keep morale and productivity high. - Provide marker events (holidays, celebrations) to structure long missions.
B
Privacy
- Privacy issues are twofold: among crewmembers (pro vide opportunities for retreat as well as openness), and between crew and ground (avoid one-way surveil lance) - Crew selection for agreeableness and flexibility should mitigate cross-cultural issues. - Provide secure channels, e.g. via encrypted e-mail, for personal communications of crew with family on ground. - Offer area for person-to-person meetings, with pri vacy level. - Crowding is influenced by the flow of information be tween people, through vision, hearing, smell, and touch. Mitigation of crowded conditions therefore means reducing signal strength - Ability for crewmembers to withdraw to private quar ters is extremely important to mitigate effects of tran sient negative moods on group morale. - Provide the means for crew to store personal items.
B
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their extended meaning and importance in a space environment.
VI Windows to the World Doors to Space - a Reflection on the Psychology and Anthropology of Space Architecture Andreas Vogler, Jesper Jørgensen An abridged version of the paper presented at Space: Science, Technology and the Arts (7th Workshop on Space and the Arts), 18-21 May 2004, ESA/ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands. ABSTRACT Living in a confined environment as a space habitat is a strain on normal human life. Therefore designing a space habitat must take into consideration the importance of design, not only in its functional role, but also as a combination of functionality, mental representation and its symbolic meaning, seen as a function of its anthropological meaning. In architecture space-connection interfaces like doors and windows act like ‘sensory organs’ of the building. They allow inside-out communication, but also are elements, which allow the user to control the flow of media, which is light, air (sound and odour), which are communication medias as well as radiation and other forms of energy. In this paper we will look at the psychological and architectural meaning of these important architectural elements in relation to
INTRODUCTION Many current space habitat designs are driven by the limitation of pressurized volume and rocket dimensions. This often results in the complete neglect of the architectural and sociological zoning of the space habitat. As much professional care and detail is given into the engineering problem of having the spacecraft in orbit and keeping the humans alive, as much neglect is given to basic architectural and psychological issues, which, if known at the beginning of the design process, would even reduce costs and could contribute to the development of space habitats which are more than inhabited machines. Also, near future missions to the Moon or Mars will be temporary. A human Mars mission must be designed on insights into how the human being lives best in a very extreme situation. Psychological factors will be more important than ever in spaceflight. The well-selected individual military test pilot will be succeeded by an experienced scientist with a high social intelligence, allowing him to live and interact with other astronauts in a confined and isolated environment over a long time. Psychological factors, in recent years, have been increasingly important in preparation studies for a long-term planetary mission (CPA, Humex). In some studies, it is weighed as the most important factor. Simulation studies have sup-
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ported this view, for example, the SFINKSS study in Moscow. The connection of the human being with space is very profound. All our sensory organs are in constant relation to the space around us. We put our own bodily dimensions into relation to the space surrounding us, and such developing a sense for scale and proportion. We meet other people in space, which makes it social and communicative. Philosopher Immanuel Kant, for the first time, relates space to the human being. Gauss goes even as far as denying the very existence of space outside our thinking. The existence of an outer world experienced in relation to our inner world occupied philosophers and artists alike. As space cannot be perceived without motion, and movement in space cannot be controlled without the brain, the development of the brain in evolution is closely connected to space. In sociology, space is divided into public, semi-public and private, which reflects our cyclic psychological need for these states of being. Territorial behavior for the human being is more than protecting the physical space; it is important for psychological health. Territorial control by conquering common space to convert to personal space can be a way to gain control in the group. Packing common rooms with individual lab equipment could be a way to execute this type of control. The size and construction of this personal space, which can be seen as intrapersonal space, is both a mental and physical factor, and a variant from
individual to individual. Furthermore, cultural systems have different normalities with regards to the size of personal space. (For example, this can be observed in the way we queue in different cultures. Some cultures queue very close to each other; others queue by keeping a distance of up to one meter between individuals.) Architecture is the profession of creating and structuring habitable spaces. Architecture uses structural elements to define and organize spaces, and to create a ‘place’. The education of the architect is deeply based on an understanding of the technology and function of space, as well as its psychology, sociology and meaning. It is also the profession which is organizing all of the consultants and specialists by design, at least on Earth. In the design of space habitats, so far this factor is poorly recognized. Whereas the engineers designing habitats are often confused by the contradicting theories of e.g. psychologists and the multitude of options and ‘soft requirements’, the architect is, by its profession, very used to that. The architect has, next to technical expertise, a deep understanding of ‘vagueness’, ‘blurred’ and the multiple meanings of inhabited spaces. THE ARCHITECTURE OF INHABITED SPACES Architecture is creating functional space, but as multi-layered and complex as the human being is, and as multi-layered and complex is func-
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tional space. The architect is trained to consider, at every moment, the processes of physical, perceptible, psychological and sociological space. All of these layers constantly overlap; a change in one element often involves a change in the whole system. Kenneth Rexroth describes ecology as the science of the togetherness of living things and their environment.1 This was in 1963, when environmental sciences just started. Nevertheless the analogy evokes the complexity and interdependency of the space habitat. When we start thinking about space habitats in terms of ecologies, we may shift our systems thinking more towards the maintenance of active balances than trade-offs of mass budgets and hard versus soft requirements. An ecological system is as strong as its weakest element. The human being is living in a balance of privacy and community, which is always pushed and counteracted. In most cultures, it still seams the most powerful punishment to deprive people from free movement and social contacts in space. Space is structured and has hierarchies. All cultures of the world have creation myths when new houses are built or cities are founded. By a conscious religious act, order in space is created. Man defines its position in the cosmos by symbolically recreating the center of the world, by bringing order into chaos.2 Many of these rites survived, even in the ‘enlightened’ Western culture, like the act of laying a foundation stone, of-
ten with documents inside it. Many cultures also place a strong emphasis in the orientation towards the east, where the light comes from, where the world is reborn every morning. Inhabiting a space is an act of taking control. Home is the place, where one has the feeling of control over the environmental influences (like weather, temperature, wild animals, etc.) and the social influences (like strangers, visitors, friends, etc.). The act of taking control and the feeling of having control is directly linked to our psychological state of being. It helps the architect as the organizer and designer of space to operate with the awareness that space has more than its three geometrical dimensions. The given technological reality is forcing space habitats to be near the extreme end of physiological space. Some space habitat designs tend to take this extremeness as an excuse to ‘ignore’ other layers completely. This is supported by the fact that human factor requirements are often considered as ‘soft requirements’ as opposed to the ‘hard requirements’ of life support systems and structural integrity. If there would be more interdisciplinary and integrated planning teams, one would discover that soft requirements often do not cost extra in hardware but may prove to be indispensable in long-duration spaceflight. The authors suggest four main layers of space: 1) Physiological space as the spatial environment we need to physically survive, 2) Perceptible space as how our senses interact with space, 3) Psychological space as
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how we project and reflect our inner self to the outside space and 4) Sociological space as we define zones of privacy and community. All layers overlap and find their expression in the eventually built environment and the way it will be inhabited. Physiological Space Physiological Space is the space to provide physical survival and the dimensional needs for work and rest. It needs to provide structural integrity and protection against the environment and maintain an interior environment within a certain comfort box. The construction of space is driven by functional requirements, technological possibilities, costs and time, and the conceptual intention of the architect. The physiological, functional space height in most terrestrial habitats is between 2.1-3 m, sometimes more to allow for air circulation and/or production machinery. This spatial layer can be subdivided into functional areas, which creates spatial sequences. The spaces have to be connected in a way to allow for the transportation of equipment and escape routes. Perceptible Space The connection of the outer world to our inner world and vice versa happens by our senses: taste, smell, touch, vision, and hearing. The human senses, as opposed to technical sensors, are guided by experience and culture; the way we perceive things is strongly dependent on our person-
ality, our cultural background and our psychological health. The range between acceptable and unacceptable is fairly wide and the difference in the perception of noise and odor can already lead to tensions within a group. The main psychological problem in long-duration spaceflight is sensory deprivation due to Restricted Environmental Stimulation (RES). A richness in the way the individual can perceive spaces should be sought. The most substantial exchange with our environment we have is via our sense of taste with food. Although different to the other four senses, with respect to the fact that taste is not in a direct relation with spatial perception, it has an important influence on the psyche, our inner space. It is reported especially from military observation how immediately spirit-lifting good food is, even in the hardest situations. To control odor in the space habitat is very demanding and puts a high demand on the tolerance of the inhabitants. Activations of senses could happen with scents. Noise of the ECLSS machinery will govern every space habitat. There should be strategies developed, which allow to stop the machinery for limited amounts of time to go into a silent mode. This may be easier on surface habitats, than under microgravity conditions, where a natural airflow cannot be achieved. This would allow the crew to listen to the winds of Mars, but also to the low level noise like the cracking of the habitat through tem-
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perature expansion in the morning. Changing everyday noises often makes people realize potential problems in structure or machinery, which is an important safety aspect. Further audible privacy needs to be provided, for communication via audiovisual to one’s family (if possible), but also for private discussions between crewmembers. If not, EVA suits and their radio system may be misused to do so. Visual control of the space habitat seems to be the most obvious, and terrestrial architecture is rich in strategies to influence the perception of space by light, color and geometry. Much can be done in making a small space appear bigger and wider. An important influence on visual control includes housekeeping discipline and the organization of storage. A higher than usual design attention needs to be on surface and things we touch, like door handles. There should be a richness and clear hierarchy on hard and soft materials, on flat and structure surfaces. Psychological Space The psychological criterias for a human habitat can be described as identity, stimulant and safety, which leaves the countercriterias of anonymity, boredom and anxiety. 3 Without active countermeasures, a space habitat fits perfectly with the countercriteria. The space needs to allow for self-reflection and self-projection. There needs to be a visual order and clarity to allow for that. We know
from metal sickness, that unclear and messy spaces are counterproductive. Stimuli should be by changing conditions of light during the day and the occurrence of unexpected, but friendly things. The feeling of safety is a very critical issue, since, if once lost like through an accident in an early mission state, it is very difficult to re-establish it. To have the feeling of control in your habitat is a highly important component. The very act of ‘inhabiting’ space can be compared to taking control. In the early days of US spaceflight, astronauts had to fight for a window, which was considered an engineering risk factor. The window and its connection to the outside world, after all, allows astronauts to position themselves in space and gives a feeling of control. Airlines have clearly understood the problem of giving away control in a potentially unsafe environment. With a careful interior design with indirect lighting, but also with the whole system of serving drinks and food, showing movies and caring with flight attendants, they create this feeling of identity, stimulants and safety in a environment, where one is handing over the complete control to somebody else. Sociological Space The individual need for privacy requires barriers and physical insulation as well as the need for togetherness, which requires correspondent and clearly defined spaces to create a secure feeling of home. The architect works with three zones, which are
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public, semi-public and private. The private space has to be considered both as group-private or individual-private. The functions of physical spaces can change and overlap during the day. The kitchen, which would be a public space in a space habitat, could become a group-private space, when two crewmembers hold a private conversation, which could be communicated to others outdoor by a lower voice. These barriers are not only physically defined but culturally: one with a ‘good education’, would not just intrude into the kitchen, but knock on the door or come again later. Door and windows are very important elements in switching these spaces and communicating the social openness of the space. Much of the complexity of architectural spaces and the interaction of the elements has been brilliantly documented in the book ‘A Pattern Language’.4 Figure 1 shows a diagram of the spatial organization of a habitat, which is identified as one of the patterns. In contrast, Figure 2 (courtesy of NASA) shows the current state of the Zvezda Module of the International Space Station, which is basically expressing, next to the difficulty of keeping order in a microgravity environment, the tremendous improvement possibilities, once the designers are thinking beyond pure mechanical spaces. The image also shows how the human being is just trying to inhabit the space. Notice the icon of Virgin Maria on top of the ‘door’.
PRIVACY AND COMMUNITY ‘Man creates his own environment … Create is hardly the word, so far as he has simply made it, in the sense we say; “Well, you’ve made your bed, now you have to lie in It.”‘6 Fig. 1. Diagram from ‘A Pattern Language.’
Fig. 2. Zvezda Habitation Module on ISS.
Probably a layer in its own right is symbolic space, which describes meaning we perceive and give to spaces. ‘In our everyday life we experience not solid and immediate facts but stereotypes of meaning. We are aware of much more than what we have ourselves experienced, and our experience itself is always indirect and always guided. The first rule for understanding the human condition is that men live in secondhand worlds. The consciousness of men does not determinate their existence; nor does their existence determine their consciousness. Between the human consciousness and material existence stand communications and designs, patterns and values which influence decisively […]’5
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Serge Chermayeff and Christopher Alexander describe, in their seminal work ‘Community and Privacy’, the need for filter zones between communal and private areas. These basic zones, where social behavior translates into architecture, were seen in danger with the growing emphasis of functionalism and technology in modern architecture. The growth of the city population in the 1960s led to unpersonal ‘living machines’, which where denoted by monotony, boredom and anonymity. The neglection of basic zoning led to a fast decay of some large scale housing scheme like the famous Pruitt Igoe, which had to be destroyed after only sixteen years since crime and devastation took overhand.7 The human being has to be understood as being in a fruitful balance between community and privacy. The more lively this balance is, the better. Usually an architect would layout the private and communal rooms. The most important, but often neglected, infact is the transition between the two, the in-between zones. The hierarchy of the domains and the domains themselves need to be clearly supported by the design, as well they must not be intrusive.. To make the transition between pri-
vate and public, the astronaut should have maximum variation, choice and control. ‘We might therefore take as our general picture of the universe a system of continuity in which there are two elements, randomness and organization, disorder and order, if you like, alternating with each other in such a fashion as to maintain continuity.’8 Most discussions of long-duration space missions tend to recommend private quarters for each astronaut. Harrison identifies three ‘functions’ of privacy: (1) undistracted work, (2) rest and recuperation, and (3) control of self-image projected to others (‘getting off-stage’).9 Further, he identifies the need for group privacy for intimate discussion, venting emotions, and providing critical performance feedback. The need for privacy is counter-balanced by the need for community, for being with and interacting with other people. The interaction with people is an important factor for emotional reassurance, for stimulants by discussion or unexpected action and sharing emotions. CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE USE AND DESIGN OF DOORS AND WINDOWS IN A SPACE STATION OR SURFACE HABITAT ‘Space isn’t remote at all. It’s only an hour’s drive away if your car could go straight upwards.’ - Sir Fred Hoyle, ‘London Observer’, 1979
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Outside Doors The door is one of the most active architectural elements. It controls the connection between inside and outside. Technically, the door has to allow the connection of two different environments, with mostly different conditions in temperature, air pressure, humidity and so on. But it also has to provide safety and protection from noise, visual pertrusion, fire and people. The door is a place of control. Somebody controls the door to be opened or closed, to enter somebody else’s space. Like no other element, the door is associated to the protection of privacy. To enter a house or an apartment for investigations, the police need an official inquest. Nearly each state is protecting the threshold between public and private by law. To be able to control a door, to control access to space, is one of the daily supports of self esteem and self-confidence. Not without reason, the human being invented prisons for punishement to exactely take that control away. This point is very important for long-duration missions and supports the idea of individual crew quarters. The outside door in space will be a docking module (Fig. 5.) or an airlock, which both form new architectural archetypes of a spacefaring civilization. Next to their technical complexity, there will be new meanings associated to them. Fig. 4. shows Cosmonaut Valeriy V. Polyakov, who spend over a year on the MIR space station, during rendezvous operations with the Space Shuttle Discovery. This image evokes
the feelings of loneliness, joyful expectation of community and togetherness, and the concept of ‘home’. But the door is more than a ‘switch’ or a mere treshold, it is a space in its own right, a space of transition (Fig. 3.) and a ‘place’ of decision. It is the place, where you make the decision if you let somebody in or not; it is the place where you learn about another person. It is also a place saying goodbye to your hosts, wishing them farewell. Many emotions about social interactions are connected to spatial thresholds, such as the door. At the door, the state of our life is changing from what we have done before to what we will do in future. It is a transition from the past to the future. Not without reason, the Roman god Janus was the genius of the door. Further, the door is a space of activity, of movement of potential social contacts. It is a well-known image that people sit in front of a door (Fig. 6.), especially in southern European countries, where the climate is more supportive. In this state, a person is on one hand protected by the private space in the house behind, which can be easily access in case of weather changes or social withdrawel. But, out of this position of security one takes part on the public life of the outside, where people pass and social contact is possible. This very important social state of being ‘semipublic’ can already be observed in the smallest habitats, like the Mars Arctic Research Station on Devon Island, which is an analog surface habitat. In an afternoon working period,
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Fig. 3. The painting by Edward Hopper, ‘Room to the Sea’ is expressing the transition space of the door, the way into the unknown.
Fig. 4. Cosmonaut Valeriy V. Polyakov, who spent more then a year on the Mir space station, looks out of the window during rendezvous operations with the Space Shuttle Discovery.
Fig. 6. The person sitting in front of a door. An archetypal image.
Fig. 5. Welcoming new astronauts in the docking adapter. New spaces, same traditions.
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some of the crew members chose to set up their chairs in front of their open crew quarter doors (Fig. 7.). This position allows them to take part in the community, but also to retract into their crew quarter without causing major attention from the group, whereas somebody getting up from the table is causing more social attention. It is interesting to note, that already by the position in space, the state of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;semi-publicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is communicated to the others. Inside Doors The space habitat is a world of its own. When we go to space we have to take everything with us, starting with oxygen and water. What we also will take with us are patterns of behavior and our ability of giving things meaning. But this will also mean that we will interpret meaning into things. For the designer this means to allow as much meaning for the elements in a space habitat as possible. It has to be understood, that in a space habitat, the crew quarter door will also overtake functions and meanings of the outside door. It is an element of control and a signal of the degree of openness for community. The door can become a potential media for unspoken communication, signaling the wish for privacy of the person in it. Undoubtely in a longduration mission the crew will develop certain habits. This could be, for example, that at the beginning of a mission, crew quarter doors are generally left open. If weeks later a crew member starts to close the door, this
may be interpreted as an offensive act against the group. On the other hand, in a situation where the group tends to maintain more privacy, a crew member leaving the door ostentatiously open, may disturb others in their perceived privacy in the public and semi-public spaces. Architecturally, doors and inner windows can strongly influence the appearance of the space. An appartment usually looks dramatically smaller if all doors are closed compared to when they are all open. The door has some ergonomical functional aspects. Can it be opened when carrying something (e.g. with elbow and foot) or do I need to have a hand free? Does it open and close automatically? What states of openness does it allow? A quick study shown in Fig. 8. and Fig. 9 shows, that in the given case, a simple swing door provides actually a higher state of visual privacy during different degrees of openness.
Fig. 7. The Mars Arctic Research Station. Four crew members are working independently on the upper deck in the late afternoon. Two of them choose the sit in front of the open door of their crew quarter.
Outside Windows Different than the door, the window is a place of reflection and of projection. Looking through a window, we are usually in the protected and controlled interior. From this comfortable condition, we can look out, observe or just connect our inner self to the outside world. The window frames the view and makes it controllable. It is reported from many astronauts that they like to spend every free minute on the window gazing on the Earth. Astronauts who
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Fig. 8. Showing different opening states of a simple swing door and the visual connection.
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had longer stays on space stations reported about how looking at the blue planet ‘connected’ them to their home (Fig. 9 and 10).
Fig. 9. Astronauts looking out of the window of the Columbus module of the ISS.
Fig. 10. Astronaut Helms enjoying Earth onboard the International Space Station.
Fig. 11. The window as a connection to the outside world.
Fig. 12. A painting by Edward Hopper titled ‘Sun in a empty Window’.
Fig. 13. A painting by Edward Hopper titled ‘Morning in A City’.
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This important psychological role of the window is in stark contrast to the resistances against windows in spacecrafts. For the engineer, the window as a penetration of a pressure vessel is a structural problem. For the administrator, it is still today a cost problem. Tom Wolfe points out in his book ‘The Right Stuff’ how the first astronauts, who were mainly military pilots, had to fight for windows.11 Even if a spacecraft was completely controlled from ground, pilots, who are used to control their flights, showed a strong resistance against ‘being shot up in a rocket like an ape’. But the window proved to be a live-saver on Apollo 13, when for a short time, the spacecraft had to be navigated by visual control through the window. Also, industrial designer Raymond Loewy reports how strongly he had to fight against the resistance from engineers to install windows in the first American Space Station Skylab. The real window is a space, compared to the virtual window or the painting, which can also support self-reflection and self-projection. The frame and the amount of outside seen is changing by movement. It is a place where people spend time, where they connect to the outside world. The image of the old person spending the day looking out of the window is a well-known archetype
(Fig. 11). The window also brings light into the house, thus reflecting the changing conditions from the outside in (Fig. 12). The painting by Edward Hopper titled ‘Morning in a City’ (Fig. 13) is also expressing how the window is an element which can connect privacy directly to the outside. With the distance to the window, there is a choice and different degrees of seeing and being seen. On surface habitats, windows should be located in a way that they allow a 360 degree visual connection to the outside. They must allow a visual connection to the outside for an intuitive registration of the outside condition, the weather and the daytime. The incoming sunlight should enrich and change the appearance of the spaces during the day. Inside Windows Windows are offering a connection to the outside world without the possibility for a physical connection as with a door. A window is a quiet place, contemplative, not an exposed through-space as a door. Although the few portholes in orbital space station were constantly used by astronauts to watch the Earth, gazing out of a spaceship which is on the passage to Mars can become very boring, or in case of rotating artifical-gravity spacecraft, a visual challenge. On a surface habitat, outside windows will be very important; nevertheless, the hermetic inside space can be enriched by introducing ‘window’ connections between
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private space and public spaces. A window, which can be opened and shut for acoustic control and a blind for visual control, can give many possibility in a confined environment. Constance Adams points out how this concept of crew quarter windows was introduced in a design improvement of NASA’s BIOPlex design.12 Several other design improvements have been made to enhance this inbetween zone between public and private. With such a window, a crew quarter could be orientated to the common room during day time. The window can have a shutter blocking light as well as signaling the state of privacy of the crew member. The very limited amount of available space is pressing for new ideas of how private zones can be secured, but how spaces can change – at least visually – to allow more space. Following this concept architecture, student Johannes Talhof developed, with the studio of Professor Richard Horden at the Technical University in Munich, the concept of a revolving workstation, which either can be operated from inside the crew quarter in a fairly private condition, or alternatively during daytime, it can be turned by 90 degrees to allow a comfortable working condition between the private and public space, reflecting exactly the behavior of the crew in the Mars Arctic Research Station shown in Fig. 7.
CONCLUSION The investigation into such simple architectural elements, like the door and window, from a more architectural and integrated view point than a pure technical aspect, unveils how closely connected spatial elements are to human behavior and the active support of the balance of the ‘ecological’ system of the habitat. Spaces have to be planned for choice, flexibility, but also more so for privacy and the feeling of control by the individual. It is important that this relevance is known at a very early state of the design process, whereby the basic layout of a space habitat, many opportunities for a cost-effective improvement can be given away. Still today, the ‘experts’ are integrated – if at all – too late in the design process. The architecture of a space habitat requires an interdisciplinary design approach, which means theintegration of the findings of psychology, sociology as well as ergonomics and life support engineering.
York: Doubleday & Company 1965). 7 A. Von Hoffman, ‘Why They Built the PruittIgoe Project?’. At: http://www.soc.iastate.edu/ sapp/PruittIgoe.html (accessed May 10, 2004). 8 J.Z. Young, ‘Doubt and Certainty in Science’, 1951; Reith Lectures, 1950. 9 A. Harrison, ‘Spacefaring’, (University of California Press: Berkeley and Los Angeles 2001), pp. 87-88. 10 At: http://www.etymonline.com/w3etym.htm. 11 T. Wolfe, ‘The Right Stuff’ (New York: Bantam Books 1980). 12 C.M. Adams, ‘Four Legs in the Morning: Issues in Crew-Quarter Design for Long-Duration Space Facilities’ (SAE 981794), 28th International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES), Danvers, Massachusetts, USA, 13-16 July 1998. Warrendale, Pennsylvania, USA: Society of Automotive Engineers.
1 K. Rexroth, ‘Foreword’ for S. Chermayeff, Ch. Alexander, ‘Community and Privacy’ (New York: Doubleday & Company 1965). 2 M. Eliade, ‘Das Heilige und das Profane’, Kap8. ‘Die Erschaffung der Welt übernehmen’, engl. ‘The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion’ (Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp 1990). 3 R. Weichinger, W. Schulz, G. Graefe, ‘Kriterien der Wohnungsgestaltung’ (Vienna: Forschungsarbeit für das Bundesministerium für Bauten und Technik 1973), p. 575. 4 Ch. Alexander, S. Ishikawa, M. Silverstein, ‘A Pattern Language’ (New York: Oxford University Press 1977). 5 C.W. Mills, ‘The Man in the Middle in Design and Human Problems’, 1958. 6 K.Rexroth, ‘Foreword’ for S. Chermayeff, Ch. Alexander, ‘Community and Privacy’ (New
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Extracurricular Activity
Section 4
Anthropometrics
SourceS Man-Systems Integration Standards (NASA) http://msis.jsc.nasa.gov/ Human Integration Design Handbook (NASA) http://ston.jsc.nasa.gov/collections/TRS/_ techrep/SP-2010-3407.pdf
The following are exerpts from the Man-Systems Integration Standards (NASA). This information relates to the design for people â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;in good health, fully adult in physical development, and an average age of 40 yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. The information generally relates to experiences in O- and 1-Gravity, thus, adaptions for 1/6-Gravity on the Moon must also be considered.
Light in Space - Differences in light transmission and reflectance in space result in some significant differences in available perceptual cues in the extra-vehicular environment as compared to earth atmosphere. 1. Light Scatter - Atmospheric light scatter does not exist in space due to the lack of particulate and gaseous material. Thus, aerial perspective cues are absent. Figure-ground contrast is increased and shadows appear darker and more clearly defined. Loss of these cues along with other environmental consequences discussed below can degrade perception of object shape, distance, location and relative motion.
2. Absence of fixed horizon and its accompanying foreground and background cues can be expected to degrade extravehicular perception of object shape, distance, location and relative motion.
filtering will influence the extent of the problem. d. Visual Cues and Odors - Responses to odors can be accentuated by the presence of visual cues. This increased responsiveness applies to pleasant and unpleasant odors and is something that a designer could potentially put to good use.
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e. Light Flashes - The perception of light flashes has been reported by many crew members during periods of darkness at specific orbital locations. The cause is thought to be cosmic rays and/or heavy-particle radiation traversing the head or eyes and triggering a neural response that results in these perceptions.
4.4.2.2
cal vertical for each living and working area within a space module.
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4.4.2.1
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4.2.2
Radius of fingertip reach boundary
Absence of Other Earth Cues:
a. Decreased Sensitivity - There are frequently reported problems with nasal congestion while living in the microgravity environment. b. Adverse Effects - Unpleasant odors have been associated with a number of medical symptoms including nausea, sinus congestion, headaches, and coughing. Such odors also contribute to general annoyance. c. Microgravity Odors - Because particulate matter does not settle out in a weightless environment, odor problems in a space habitat may be more severe than under similar Earth conditions. Circulation and
95th percentile male 195 cm 5th percentile female 150 cm
1. Absence of a Fixed Vertical Orientation - Recognition of familiar objects, faces, and areas (e.g., workstation) is poor when viewed from an orientation significantly different from the established vertical. The viewer must be oriented within approximately 45 degrees of this vertical to perceive the surroundings in a relatively normal fashion. This fact argues for the establishment of a losixty-four
Generally there is a decrement in the sense of taste in microgravity. This is probably caused by the upward shift of body fluids and accompanying nasal congestion. Reports indicate that food judged to be adequately seasoned prior to flight tasted bland in space. Given the important role that food is likely to play in maintaining morale on extended space missions, attention should be paid to this problem. [...] 4.5.2.1 Spatial disorientation is experienced by some crewmembers and should be considered in the design of hardware and the planning of missions. a. Spatial Disorientation - Responses include postural and movement illusions and vertigo. For example, stationary crewmembers may feel that they are tumbling or spinning. These illusions occur with the eyes open or closed.
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[...] c. Duration - Some crewmembers may experience spatial disorientation for the first 2 to 4 days of a mission. [...] 4.6.1 Kinesthesia is the sense mediated by end organs located in muscles, tendons, and joints, and stimulated by body movements and tensions. Present knowledge of kinesthetic changes occurring when one enters microgravity is limited to estimation of mass and limb position sense.
smaller due to disuse atrophy. Exercise can help reduce this tendency. [...] The body length increases due to spinal lengthening and straightening. The discs between the vertebrae expand (similar to what happens when sleeping) but do not recompress because of the lack of gravitational compression forces. There is also an upward shift of the internal organs causing a reduced waist measurement. These considerations should be taken into account when sizing space clothing.
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level to do work at the table top level. It is also difficult to bend forward as this requires significant effort by the abdominal muscles. It is difficult to stand erect or sit in an upright (1-G) manner. [...] Fluid shifts occur that redistribute body fluids toward the upper body. This is due to the lack of gravity effects that normally distribute the fluids toward the lower body. The most visible effect of fluid shift is seen in the face and neck. The face becomes swollen and the veins in the forehead and neck appear distended. [...]
a. Calcium Loss - One of the biggest concerns during long-term microgravity exposure is the calcium loss from the bones. During the Skylab missions, this loss was not excessive. The Soviets indicate that the rate of calcium loss slows after four or five months. Calcium loss (which is similar to osteoporosis and is referred to as bone mass loss or bone demineralization) will limit the length of time crewmembers can remain in microgravity. At this time dietary mineral supplements are not known to be effective in preventing bone mass loss. b. Fluid Shifts, Skeletal Changes, and Muscle Mass Loss - Other physiological effects are due to fluid shifts and decompression of the spine. The muscle mass of the lower body and, in particular the calves, becomes
Section 5 7.2.4.2 Sleep Design Considerations [...] c. Sleep/Work Cycle - The following factors must be considered about sleep/work cycles: 1. Personnel exposed to changes in environmental cues will show disrupted circadian rhythms. 2. Circadian rhythms significantly affect a wide variety of human functions in addition to sleep, including psychomotor and cognitive performance, mood, and social adaptability. 3. Careful planning of activity schedules, sleep/wake schedules, and artificial control of environmental cues may be necessary to offset the possible negative impact of circadian desynchronization on crew performance and adjustment. 4. Sleep periods should be proceeded by at least 1 hour of nondemanding mental activity.
There is a microgravity neutral body posture that results from a balancing of muscular forces acting on the various body joints in the weightless environment. This neutral body posture causes some peculiar performance effects. For example, it is difficult to work at waist level as is done on Earth as the arms must be continually forced down to the waist
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HONEYMOON The first month after marriage; the holiday taken after the wedding ceremony. moon A secondary planet, or satellite, revolving about any member of the solar system; as, the moons of Jupiter or Saturn. moon around To be idle in a dreamy way. MOONBOW A rainbow caused by the refraction of light from the Moon. MOONCAKES A Chinese pastry, commonly with a red bean paste filling.
moonie A member of the Unification Church. mooning To expose oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s naked buttocks. moonish Capricious. moonless Lacking the light of the Moon. moonlet A small natural or artificial satellite. MOONLIGHTING To work an additional job at night (after your fulltime job). moonlike Resembling the shape of the Moon.
MOON CHILD Someone born under the zodiac sign of Cancer.
moonlit Illuminated by Moon.
moonDust Fine dry particles of the Moonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s soil.
moonquake A seismic event on the Moon.
moon gate A circular gateway in a wall (in Chinese Architecture).
moonrise The rising of the Moon above the horizon.
the
moonscape The surface of the Moon as seen or as depicted; also a landscape resembling this surface. moonset The descent of the Moon below the horizon. moonshine Liquor smuggled or illicitly distilled. moonsHot The act of launching a spacecraft to the Moon. moonstone A nearly pellucid variety of feldspar, showing pearly or opaline reflections from within. It is used as a gem. The best specimens come from Ceylon. moonstruck Mentally affected or deranged by the supposed influence of the Moon; lunatic.
moonface Having a round face.
moonwalk To dance by gliding backwards while appearing to make forward walking motions toward the Moon. The famous Australian tv star Bert Newton is affectionately known as Moonface.
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The Moon Life Handbook is produced to accompany the Moon Academy held between April 19-24 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, for Moon Life. Moon Life is a project by Alicia Framis in association with Archis, ArtHubAsia, ESA, NAi and SMART Project Space. The Moon Life Handbook is an initiative of Archis and printed by De Stencilkelder in Amsterdam. Conceived - Moon Life Materialized - Timothy Moore and CÊline Wouters Cover - Janneke Raaphorst Moon Life logo - Edhv The Moon Life Handbook wish to specifically thank the speakers for their contributions to the handbook and the Moon Academy. For future information on Moon Life please contact Project Manager Noura Habbab at: Moon Life Office c/o SMART Project Space Arie Biemondstraat 111 1054 PD Amsterdam Tel: +31 (0)20 427 59 51 noura@moon-life.org This handbook is made for educational purposes only. If you claim ownership of any of the content presented here and have not been properly identified, please contact Archis via www.archis.org and we will be happy to make a formal acknowledgement. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any mean, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Š Alicia Framis, the contributors and Archis. This handbook was made with the generous financial support of the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture.
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