- [Melodie] The bigger picture
for the work that we're doing
is really about promoting
visions of future life
on another planet.
And imagine,
you know,
"What is the day in the life
of an astronaut on Mars?"
Space Exploration Architecture
is all about designing
extraterrestrial habitats
and envisioning future life
on other planets.
We're basically a collective
of industrial designers, architects,
technologists, researchers,
who come together to do work
in the private aerospace industry
that supports future human life
on other plants.
My name is Melodie Yashar.
I'm a co-founder and member
of Space Exploration Architecture.
That's SEArch+ for short.
And I'm the team leader
for SEArch+ and Apis Cor's
continued submissions to Phase 3
of NASA's Centennial Challenge
for a 3D-printed habitat.
NASA's Centennial Challenge
asks teams to not only design,
but also create functional prototypes
for future 3D-printed habitats
on Mars.
We submitted to NASA's
Phase 1 Centennial Challenge.
Um, won that competition in Phase 1
for a proposal called "Mars Ice House,"
and have been sort of collaborating
and working with private industry
ever since.
Mars Ice House is about using
the properties of water
to shield the astronauts
from radiation in a superior way
to aluminum or to Martian regolith,
which is basically soil
that you find natively on Mars.
When we first started out,
we were extremely intentional
about the fact that we wanted
to upturn a traditional idea
of what it would mean
to live in an extraterrestrial environment.
Many, many people have
a strong belief that the best way
to protect astronauts
from radiation would be
to bury them underground
and to live underground,
just for safety reasons
and for human health reasons.
Um, what we've been trying
to do in our work,
we wanted to be sure
that the astronauts would not only
live above ground,
but would have plenty
of access to natural light
and have a connection
to the environment that they've
actually traveled so far to live in.
Those were highly intentional factors
in the way that we approached
our work and the way that
we approached our design.
Which, ultimately, as a bottom line principle,
introduced superior radiation shielding
for the crew.
Which, from a safety perspective,
human factor perspective,
was something that nobody could disagree with.
You need 3D printing to be involved
because the entire principle
of the deployment mechanism
for the habitats that have been proposed,
and that will be proposed
for the moon and Mars,
need to be completely autonomous.
Meaning, they need to operate entirely
on their own, robotically,
prior to any human arrival
or any crew being a part of that process.
So, you want to have
a fully functional system
that deploys, builds, and closes
the habitat before people even arrive.
So, on a typical day as an astronaut in X-House,
you would start out in one
of your crew quarters.
There are four that are provided.
One would be for you and three
would be for your crew mates.
Within your bunk, you have
a bed, a desk, a window looking out
into a hydroponic garden.
So, we're trying to make this
as comfortable and Earth-like
as possible.
The second floor incorporates
a shower, toilet, so that's
the hygiene module, as well as
the environmental control
and life support systems
for the habitat.
Basically, all of the technical volumes
and the hardware that's enabling
you to breathe, go to the bathroom,
manage the water, et cetera.
After that, you'll probably want
to get something to eat.
So, the kitchen and the wardroom
is at the top floor of the habitat.
We've introduced a communication station,
kitchen, and, uh, communal dining area
for the astronauts.
And they can, of course,
look out to the Martian vista
as they're enjoying their meal.
Ultimately, the crew is going
to have to get to work
at some point during the day.
So, to travel down through the habitat,
we have a staircase
that wraps around this inner core
that we're created.
Um, they would descend downward
to the ground level, the first floor,
which introduces two different laboratory spaces.
One laboratory is intended
for engineering, repair, and maintenance
of the habitat, and other tools
that they might need to create
over time.
And the other lab is devoted
to physical and life sciences, so,
analyzing geologic samples
and anything that they might encounter
in their expeditions outside.
One of the things that we really
try and celebrate is designing
for human needs.
So, human-centric design.
And not just running
through the run-of-the-mill
kind of systems engineering processes
that you might find
in a traditional aerospace workflow.
That is really the value
that we bring as designers
and what we do as designers and architects.