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The first humans to set foot on Mars will be greeted by an unfamiliar and hostile climate: dust storms, freezing temperatures and intense radiation will bombard their bodies as soon as they descend to the surface of the planet. To survive in this hostile landscape, settlers will need artificial habitats that can support human life by imitating the conditions on Earth. But as architects and engineers seek to design space structures that can withstand a dangerous outdoor environment, they face an equally thorny problem: how to use design to make astronauts feel relaxed and at home in a world foreign?
While SpaceX is striving to send a crew to Mars in 2024 and NASA plans to follow suit in the 2030s, the Martian design race is well underway. But no one knows how travelers to Mars are going to fend for themselves as the only place they've ever called home – the Earth – disappears from sight. Nick Kanas, a psychiatrist and professor emeritus at the University of California at San Francisco, has studied the psychological problem among NASA astronauts. This poses a challenge. After all, the well-being of the crew is as essential to the success of a mission as it is to functional equipment.
So, how do you design a home for a human in a nonhuman world? Kanas suggests that space architects start with something very simple: a view of the Earth. Just being able to see at home could help avoid homesickness, he says. "I think it's worth setting up a telescope so that a Mars mission crew can look at Earth in near real-time," he says. "The image could even be projected onto a screen that looks like a window.This could also help to have some kind of virtual reality system allowing the crew to see their home and visit their family. . "
What about cabin fever? One of the best ways to relieve stress on Earth is simply to go out and breathe fresh air, feel the wind on your face or just take some time for yourself. On Mars, this will not be really possible and tensions could increase rapidly when a handful of people are confined in a small space for long periods. Kanas says that living in such limited conditions can lead to "interpersonal problems that are difficult to express openly, since one must rely on those same people to gain support and assistance in achieving the goals of the mission".
To prevent conflicts from overflowing and compromising a mission, Kanas argues that architects must incorporate private spaces into their designs of Martian homes. "A habitat on Mars needs to be big enough so that everyone can have a space where he can retire when he is tired of interacting with other crew members," he says. And even if astronauts can not just open the door and go out, a worldview beyond the home could be a substitute. "Hope this space has a window or a way to see the outside to give the crew members the feeling of looking away."
Another idea comes from the New York architectural firm AI SpaceFactory, which recently won the second prize in NASA's 3D Printed Habitat Contest with a design called "Marsha". It is egg shaped, vertical and has no doors, hallways or rooms. Instead, there are several "open" areas – as opposed to closed rooms – so that people have privacy without the ability to isolate themselves completely.
"We wanted to give astronauts the important sense of being alone, but not so lonely that they fall back on themselves and that they despair," says space architect Jeffrey Montes. who led the team responsible for Marsha. "We've designed a structure that has levels that allow crew members to see their teammates and become aware of the presence of others, which means they can not lock themselves in, but they still have room to be alone. "
Montes and his team have also incorporated a large skylight filled with water and intermittent windows so that Marsha residents have a lot of diffuse natural light, which is essential: light exposure is important to maintain circadian rhythms. Fortunately, a day on Mars only lasts 40 minutes longer than one day on Earth, so astronauts would not need to make a massive adjustment to their rhythms. But Montes also thinks that access to natural light could help astronauts establish a connection with the Martian environment.
"People need to know what time it is during the day because it's important to avoid monotony," he says. "There may be no fluffy clouds or rain, but if you're there long enough, every day and every sunset will start to be a bit different."
Marsha also has a dedicated exercise area and a hydroponic garden so that locals can relax and enjoy activities outside of their work. The garden will not be able to provide much food to the Martian explorers – though they may potentially grow a handful of fresh ingredients – but this will provide a connection to nature that would otherwise be lacking to astronauts. "It's psychologically important to have a relationship with something non-human that is based on sight, touch and smell," says Montes.
Living on Mars will never be easy. But with good design, the houses on which we build extraterrestrial planets will keep astronauts healthy and happy by reminding them of what it means to be human.
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