Angelos Chrysovalantis-Alfatzis – a final-year student of architectural engineering at the National Technical University of Athens – is working with a group of architecture students at the European Space Agency (ESA) to create a new concept for a sustainable lunar habitat.
“I always strive to find material and structural solutions in accordance with the resources available on site,” Alfatzis said. “At the moment, my focus is on using unprocessed lunar soil construction and the architectural applications of this (technique).”
Developed as a submission idea for the ESA’s Moon Village Association competition in 2018, Alfatzis’s concept involves placing inflatable modules sent to the base of a small crater on the south polar region of the moon. A base model will be placed and partially buried at the bottom of the crater with lunar soil. By doing so, this layer will shield inhabitants from extreme environmental affects and micrometeoroids. Subsequently, additional models each containing a life-support system will be stacked and partially buried one on top of the other with lunar soil.
The moon base concept will support human life and protect residents from the extreme conditions of the environment, including radiation exposure and other changes in temperature, terrain and gravity.
“The whole experience drove us to think more deeply on the different aspects of lunar construction and habitation, showing us many different possibilities for our future on the moon,” Alfatzis said.
Source: neoskosmos.com