The Deep Space Habitat (DSH) is a series of concepts by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

that would be used to support crewed exploration missions to the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

s, and eventually

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

Overview

Since 2012, numerous iterations of large lunar and Mars transport habitats have been conceived in previous studies to be launched with the upcoming

Space Launch System The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle developed by NASA. As of 2022, SLS has the highest payload capacity of any rocket in operational service, as well as the greatest liftoff thrust of any r ...

(SLS), Early preliminary concepts considered 60-day and 500-day mission configurations, composed of

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...

-derived hardware, the

Orion crew capsule Orion (officially Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle or Orion MPCV) is a partially reusable crewed spacecraft used in NASA's Artemis program. The spacecraft consists of a Crew Module (CM) space capsule designed by Lockheed Martin and the Europ ...

and various support craft. The habitat would be equipped with at least one

International Docking System Standard The International Docking System Standard (IDSS) is an international standard for spacecraft docking adapters. It was created by the International Space Station Multilateral Coordination Board, on behalf of the International Space Station partne ...

(IDSS) docking system. Developing a deep space habitat would allow a crew to live and work safely in space for about one year on missions to explore cislunar space,

, and some

near-Earth asteroid A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU). ...

s. In 2015 NASA funded studies for several types of deep space habitat concepts under the

Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) is a NASA program using a public-private partnership model that seeks commercial development of deep space exploration capabilities to support more extensive human space flight missi ...

(NextSTEP).

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...

, the main contractor of the Orion capsule, has also produced in 2018 a Deep Space Habitat concept. These concept studies will help NASA decide on a final design for the habitat element for the

Lunar Gateway The Lunar Gateway, or simply Gateway, is the first planned extraterrestrial space station in lunar orbit intended to serve as a solar-powered communication hub, science laboratory, and short-term habitation module for government-agency astr ...

with a contract potentially to be awarded in fiscal year 2019.Some snark (and details!) about NASA's proposed lunar space station
Jason Davis, ''The Planetary Society''. February 26, 2018.

Configurations

HAB/MPLM

MPLM stands for

Multi-Purpose Logistics Module A Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) is a large pressurized container that was used on Space Shuttle missions to transfer cargo to and from the International Space Station (ISS). Two MPLMs made a dozen trips in the Shuttle cargo bay and init ...

* 60 Day Mission - The basic 60-day mission variant would consist of a Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (CPS), ISS Destiny-derived lab module, and an airlock/tunnel. In addition, a mission-specific support craft, such as the

FlexCraft The Deep Space Habitat (DSH) is a series of concepts by NASA that would be used to support crewed exploration missions to the Moon, asteroids, and eventually Mars.

for crewed deep space travel. It is capable of carrying 4 crew, and able to withstand re-entry speeds from lunar or Martian trajectories. * MMSEV - a NASA-designed servicing craft. Capable of supporting a crew of two for up to 2 weeks and having

suitport A suitport or suitlock is an alternative technology to an airlock, designed for use in hazardous environments and in human spaceflight, especially planetary surface exploration. Suitports present advantages over traditional airlocks in terms of m ...

s for extravehicular activity (EVA). * DSH FlexCraft - a single crew vehicle, attached to the DSH similar to a visiting craft to the

. FlexCraft would be used by an individual

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

for

EVA Eva or EVA may refer to: * Eva (name), a feminine given name Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Eva (Dynamite Entertainment), a comic book character by Dynamite Entertainment * Eva (''Devil May Cry''), Dante's mother in t ...

or tele-operated activities.Delving Deeper into NASA's DSH Configuration and Support Craft
/ref> The hardware would connect directly to the DSH airlock and would share a common atmosphere as the parent ship to provide immediate access to space without pre-breathing by DSH crew. With a pressurized volume of 0.62 m³, the FlexCraft is meant for only one person with an "excursion time" of less than 8 hours. Its propellant would be gaseous

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

, and it would have a Delta-V of 21 m/s with a total gross mass projected at 452 kg. An already-identified limitation is that it cannot be used during

solar particle event In solar physics, a solar particle event (SPE), also known as a solar energetic particle (SEP) event or solar radiation storm, is a solar phenomenon which occurs when particles emitted by the Sun, mostly protons, become accelerated either in the ...

s. The FlexCraft concept was first presented in a 2012 conference paper by Brand N. Griffin.

References

External links

Single Person Spacecraft
{{Space stations Cancelled space stations Lunar Gateway

Overview

Configurations

HAB/MPLM

See also

References

External links