As crazy as Musk: Ten space architectural design ideas

On May 30, 2020, two NASA astronauts boarded the Crew Dragon spacecraft developed by Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technology Company (SpaceX), using the company’s Hunter The Eagle 9 rocket was successfully launched. After the launch, Musk rolled up his sleeves and cordially received Trump and his colleagues lined up in a row.

SpaceX became the first private company in history to achieve manned spaceflight. One stone stirred up a thousand waves, and commercial aerospace ushered in a new era. The aerospace competition among major powers, the intention of technology companies to enter aerospace, and the dreams of aerospace tourism among wealthy people exploded instantly.

Space has always captured everyone’s imagination. Advances in new technology (including comet landings, the Orion spacecraft, and massive social experiments exploring Mars) mean that space is no longer a place only astronauts can experience, but is something that you and I can experience in our lifetimes. Against this background, top architects from all over the world imagine and practice exploring future space architecture.

What structures will be developed to move, house and sustain humans? How will robotics, artificial intelligence, autonomous spacecraft and satellites expand our coverage? Here are the answers from “Musk” people in the construction industry.

Habitat on the Moon

The "Moon Habitat" designed by Foster + Partners and the European Space Agency can accommodate 4 people; the project aims to explore the use of 3D printing Come to the possibility of building a house on the south pole of the moon, where the sun shines all year round.

Moon Village

The American SOM Architectural Firm is collaborating with the European Space Agency and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study the possibility of building human settlements on the moon. The project is named "Moon Village", emphasizing durability and self-sufficiency, and then expanding into a relatively complete livable ecosystem.

Test Laboratory

The Test Laboratory project is the winning entry of the "Moontopia" international design competition. It is designed as a space integrating living, working and research. Its structure The design enables it to be fully deployed through 3D printing automatic assembly technology. This idea makes it possible to gradually colonize the moon in the future.

Mars Living Module

The Mars Living Module, jointly designed by OPEN Architects and Xiaomi, aims to integrate scientific and technological progress into design and architecture to create a prototype of the smallest living space for living on Mars. . The living cabin combines Xiaomi's independent electronic appliances into a comprehensive product to optimize the usable space and resources. And through resource recycling, we explore the ultimate low-consumption situation of space life.

Igloo

SEArch and Clouds AO used local Martian materials and 3D printing technology in the igloo project, using the properties of ice to filter solar rays and using frozen water as Building materials to protect space residents from radiation.

Mars Science City

The Mars Science City project is a collaboration between a group of aerospace engineers, scientists and designers and BIG Architects, dedicated to building a city that simulates the Martian living environment. The project uses 3D printing technology to build an experimental living space in the desert using sand. It is reported that the research team will live there for a year to test whether various building strategies can withstand the radiation and heat on Mars.

MARSHA

The project was built using 3D printing technology and used robots to assemble the windows. The project experimented with different building materials such as basalt fiber extracted from Mars stone and bioplastics. Marsha focuses on researching spaces that are highly habitable for Earth's inhabitants, challenging established images of space-age architecture.

Habitat for Mars

Habitat for Mars is a plan to use semi-automated, pre-programmed robots to build and develop shelters. It uses stones from Mars and uses a 3D printing system to create a sturdy residence that can accommodate four astronauts. The robot is configured before the astronauts arrive and transported to the designated area.

Colonizing Mars

Through the Colonial Mars project, German ZA Architects is trying to build a large underground tunnel network to occupy the planet. Through technology and robots, they can first dig large caves in the basalt of this planet, and then ensure the supply of oxygen and water by creating underground glaciers on this basalt planet.

Mars Utopia

In his Mars Utopia project, Spanish architect Alberto Villanueva proposed to use materials on the surface of Mars and mycelium from fungi to create a small atmosphere above the planet. , making Mars habitable. Mycelium is known for its excellent structural properties and strong tolerance to extreme conditions, and bioluminescent bacteria will be widely exploited as a light-producing resource on the planet.

Musk makes people believe that great things are still possible and that humanity still has a lot to do.

The future is here, what do you think?