How close are we to long - condition human habitation beyond low - Earth orbit ? Colonies on the moon or Mars are still many age off , but the just news is there are several serious cause afoot to make it happen .
The ISS . The closest thing we currently have to a space dependency is the International Space Station . While it can be weigh a success in terms of external cooperation and scientific research , the ISS far from self - sufficient . Sweat and urine can be recycle into fresh waterand filters and scrubbers keep the gentle wind breathable , but without regular resupply mission , the post ’s occupants would n’t last long . Still , the time to come looks brilliant up there – NASA has several ISS missions schedule for 2010 , expanding the station and adding new constituent ( as well as spare parts ) .
https://gizmodo.com/the-official-nasa-guide-to-drinking-your-own-urine-5090721

Lunar Colonization . The best prospect for a human colony on the moonlight seems to be NASA ’s Constellation project . The Altair Lunar lander will be able-bodied to carry a crowd of four astronauts to the Sun Myung Moon and support them there for a seven - day missionary work . Alternately , it can come down robotically to the moon carrying critical infrastructure for a longer - term lunar frontier settlement . When completed , that frontier settlement will support a crew of four for up to 180 Day . NASA hasa slick interactive websitethat excuse Constellation .
A great trade of view is being put into what astronaut will hold up in on the moon . The first moon foot will belike be an inflatable attic . NASA has been essay such a design at McMurdo Station in Antarctica to see how it deals with extreme cold . Although there are no blizzards on the moon , the test will also prove whether or not the “ lunar bounce house ” is tough enough for a long - term mission . An inflatable habitat has the advantage of being light - weight and only requiring a few hour to set up .
Beyond that preliminary outpost , lunar settlers will require something a bit more sturdy and lasting . Rigid , durable building materials are too heavy to send off from the Earth ’s aerofoil to the moon – it would be impossibly expensive . The best pick , then , is to create edifice supplies from the raw materials already present on the moonshine . The recentdiscovery of a large amount of water system on the moonmakes the product of concrete using lunar regolith much more feasible , but even without water , it ’s potential . In 2007 , a paper publish in the Journal of Aerospace Engineering explain how the regolith could be action into sulfur , which could then be mixed with regolith to make waterless concrete . They even examined the physical holding of said concrete , and proposed a cylindrical home ground social organization .

https://gizmodo.com/a-frozen-reservoir-of-water-found-on-the-moon-5404163
A more recent report in the same diary studied potential lunar colonization in - profoundness , test potential structural purpose , insulation , power needs and other broker . If you ’re not uncoerced to take the researcher ’ word for it , you could always study quad architecture yourself . The University of Houston College of Architecture boats the Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture ( SICSAl ) . Students design and model space fomite , orbital Stations of the Cross , and lunar and Martian habitats . Many of their design come instantly from NASA requests . While fun , it is a challenging program , since designers must integrate radiation shielding and variant in gravity , problems tellurian architects seldom have to believe .
Martian Colony . We ’re a retentive way from colonizing Mars – decennium , at least . However , NASA ’s Constellation program does have a Martian outstation as its ultimate finish . Creating a colony on the moon will engender an enormous amount of data point that will direct aid the quest to put humans on Mars .

The European Space Agency is n’t waiting around , though . They ’re presently screening voluntary to take part in a 520 - day faux missionary station to Mars . This year , they wrap up a 105 - mean solar day forerunner simulation . The long - term test will analyse the strong-arm and psychological effects of such a delegacy .
prospect should be aged 20 - 50 , prompt , in honest health and no marvelous than 185 cm . They should verbalise one of the work languages : English and Russian . Candidates must have a background and work experience in medicine , biology , life support system technology , data processor engineering , electronic engineering or mechanically skillful engineering .
Beyond . The “ moon to Mars ” path for human settlement of space is n’t the only theme out there . In 2008 , a group of researchers proposed a “ company township ” model for produce a space mining colony . What would they be mining ? body of water . Where would they be mining it ? From the interior of comet4015 Wilson - Harrington . Sometimes consider an asteroid , 4015 may in fact be a burned - out or intermittently alive comet . The researcher believe that discover a large supply of pee somewhere other than Earth is the key to post - Earth endurance of the human subspecies . Their society town fashion model proposes an entire economical system that would sustain up to 10,000 colonists .

trope : NASA Ames Research Center
ConstellationMarsNASAScienceSpace
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