Conceptual design of a habitation module for a deep space exploration mission

The article deals with the conceptual design of a habitable module conceived for long-duration space exploration missions. The pressurized habitation module was specifically sized for a near-Earth asteroid mission, named ‘humAn Exploration mission to a Near Earth Asteroid’. This mission is conceived as an intermediate step before going to further destinations and aims at testing technologies necessary for reaching more challenging targets. In accordance to the mission objectives, the habitation module was devised as a reusable space infrastructure, suitable for different exploration scenarios with only minor changes in the architecture/design. This article describes the design process that, starting from the mission statement, was followed to define the objectives, the requirements and the architecture of the module in terms of system and subsystem configuration. In particular, the habitation module was designed to safely sustain the life of four astronauts, for a mission to a near-Earth asteroid lasting ...