A mobile habitat for human lunar exploration

Since the Apollo missions, there have been significant technological advancements and scientific discoveries in robotic exploration of deep space. Currently, NASA's Artemis Program aims to establish human habitation on the Moon, which remains a considerable challenge. To address this, Alta Scuola Politecnica, Thales Alenia Space and MIT have collaborated to design an innovative and adaptable mobile habitat using a holistic multidisciplinary approach for crewed surface exploration missions. The outcome of the Lunar Architecture Design Exploration (LADE) project is a mobile space architecture system that enables human presence on the Moon, supporting medium to long-term missions. This mobile module serves as a crucial component within a more extensive system of hybrid class II and class III shelters, intended for the development of a lunar village. The primary objective is to facilitate the extended stay of four astronauts near the Shackleton crater, strategically located at the South Pole of the Moon, which offers favorable conditions for surface exploration and potential future permanent settlement. The paper presents an in-depth study of the form-finding process and structural analysis adopted for the LADE mobile habitat.