Space Architecture in Microgravity: TESSERAE Project for Large Scale Space Structures

Abstract

NASA and international partners are planning a crewed returnto the lunar surface in this decade, with the explicit long-termgoal of establishing sustainable lunar habitat infrastructure.International space agencies and several space entrepreneurshave shared plans for human missions to Mars in the 2030s.A menagerie of “new space” start-up companies is poised tosupport extensive activity for in-space habitation. Space explo-ration is entering an age of burgeoning commercial movement,fueled not only by the unique science experiments performedin microgravity but also by space tourism and a need for inhab-itable next-generation space architecture.Designers such as architects, engineers, and space structurepractitioners should aim to democratize access to space andchallenge the prevailing paradigm of space as an exclusive andinaccessible domain. In that case, they must build space architec-ture that can scale to welcome, safeguard, and inspire human-kind. Our space structures research program applies biomimeticprinciples to design modular, reconfigurable, and self-assemblingspace architecture. Currently, The team includes electrical andmechanical engineers, designers, a university-trained architect,and a spaceflight mission integration specialist.