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ZL2VAL > SPACE 16.09.04 14:25l 134 Lines 5691 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : A40159ZL2VAL
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Subj: ESA "Space house" on ice
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Sent: 040916/1104Z @:ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC #:47781 [New Plymouth] FBB7.00g
From: ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
To : SPACE@WW
*Antarctic Living: A Space House for an Icy Land*
By Tariq Malik
Staff Writer
posted: 15 September 2004
7:00 a.m. ET
A new research station at the bottom of the world may give future
Antarctica researchers some special treats, like the ability to live
above ground and look out a window.
German scientists are adapting a habitat designed by the European Space
Agency (ESA) to replace the shifting, disappearing and aging Neumayer II
Research Station, a pair of metal tubes buried amongst the snow of the
Ekstrom Ice Shelf in Antarctica's Atka Bay.
ESA's insect-like SpaceHouse habitat is designed to be nearly
earthquake-proof to deal with shifting ice floes. It borrows materials
and energy technologies originally developed for the agency's space
missions.
"We initially started with earthquakes," said SpaceHouse designer Fritz
Gampe, a senior technology transfer officer with ESA's technology
transfer design. "One of the critical points, is that the lower floor
plus the legs form a rigid structure with the outer shell."
Gampe told SPACE.com that ESA officials worked with the Alfred
Wegener-Institute for Polar and Oceanic Research (AWI), which manages
the Neumayer II station, on the initial circular design. The final
version is still being drafted, he said.
Covered in snow on an ice shelf about 656 feet (200 meters) thick, the
Neumayer II station will be retired in 2007. The outpost is composed
primarily of two, 295-foot (90-meter) cylinders that provide living,
working and storage space.
AWI researchers said snowdrifts have threatened to smother the station
in recent years -- its two entry stairwells are all that appear above
the icy surface -- and shifting ice has moved it from its intended
location.
The German government reportedly plans to allot 26 million Euros for the
station's replacement, Neumayer III.
A new icehouse
ESA's original designs for a SpaceHouse-based Neumayer III call for a
tough outer shell of extremely lightweight carbon fiber reinforced
plastic (CFRP), used in spacecraft solar arrays and antennas, as opposed
to the traditional steel or aluminum.
Despite its spindly-leg appearance, the structure is designed to
withstand earthquakes up to 7.5 on the Richter scale as well as howling
wind gusts of 136 miles (220 kilometers) an hour. The size of a
SpaceHouse can be scaleable, anywhere from 39 feet (12 meters) to 131
feet (40 meters) in diameter and up to five floors.
"The old, buried station was just a simple structure in terms of
construction, a steel tube with no windows," said Gampe. "You may wonder
what people would see outside in the Antarctic but, although it's bare
and naked, looking outside can be comforting."
In addition to providing a glimpse of the outer world, SpaceHouse's
smooth, aerodynamic exterior would also prevent snow from accumulating
around the structure. The new station's vehicle garage, however, will
most likely still be beneath the surface.
"This station will be built on top of the ice," said Ingrid Zondervan, a
researcher and spokeswoman for AWI, of Neumayer III. "It allows us to
send more people for a longer amount of time."
Neumayer II currently hosts up to 10 people, whose responsibilities vary
between research, medical and engineering tasks, for a period of about
15 months.
Gampe said since the outer shell, legs and floor are enough to support
the SpaceHouse design, the internal wall configurations can be moved
around as needed. Such a feature would be useful in traditional homes
away from the polar station, to deal with changing lifestyles, he added.
"You are just not bound by fixed walls," Gampe said. "So in principle
it's an open area where you can make yourself happy."
Honing designs
Zondervan said the cost requirements of a pure SpaceHouse design proved
too much for Neumayer III, however the process is not yet finished.
Among the more obvious modifications is a shift away from the
lightweight CFRP to a more conventional aluminum composite, ESA
researchers said.
"We are now working toward a more economically feasible design, not
round, but stretched in length," Gampe said, adding that the process is
good practice for future space missions. "It's an evolving process for
our dreams to go Mars and have a nice habitat there, and not just repeat
what cavemen have done."
Some critical environmental systems are already being tested by polar
installations, such as a water recycling system used by the
French-Italian Concordia Antarctica station.
Beyond Antarctica
The Antarctic version of ESA's space house is only the beginning,
especially for an agency with loftier goals.
"We dream to go to Mars," Gampe said. "To do that we need very
lightweight housing." It might be inflatable or use rocket cylinders or
the present shell-shaped structure.
In the near term, Gampe's ESA colleagues are working to build a small,
pure SpaceHouse about 13 feet (4 meters) in radius as a garden house,
then work up to a full-sized, 3,013 square foot (280 square meter)
structure to serve as both testbed and physics museum. Because of its
lightweight CFRP makeup, the finished house would be wholly portable and
airlifted away if it proves unsightly in the future.
"We're currently planning a private-public venture to help get people
acquainted with the concept," Gampe said. "We're just trying to get all
our ideas together."
73, Alan, ZL2VAL @ ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC (Sysop)
IP: zl2val@qsl.net
APRS: 3906.34s/17406.45e]
Message timed: 23:04 on 2004-Sep-16
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