Medical Bay Design Considerations for the Moon and Mars Base Analog (MaMBA)

• Main Authors: Momose, Kazuhiko, Heinicke, Christiane
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: 50th International Conference on Environmental Systems 2021
• Subjects: Moon; Mars; Human Exploration; Analog Base; Medical Bay; Antarctic; Christiane; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/2346/87130

Kazuhiko Momose, Florida Institute of Technology Christiane Heinicke, The Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM), University of Bremen ICES502: Space Architecture The 50th International Conference on Environmental Systems was held virtually on 12 July 2021 through 14 July 2021. NASA is currently placing a considerable effort in the Artemis Program together with international partners and commercial space entities to land the first woman and next man on the moon and develop infrastructure for sustainable lunar operations. Establishing lunar infrastructure will be a stepping stone on the journey to Mars and the first crewed mission on Mars. Habitats on the Moon and Mars must be well-functioning for maximizing crew safety, comfort, and operational efficiency. A habitat concept of the Moon and Mars Base Analog (MaMBA) is being developed at the Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM) in Bremen, Germany. MaMBA is intended to serve as a functional prototype of a habitat that is suitable for both the Moon and Mars. The preliminary interior design concept of MaMBA was presented at ICES 2019. In the paper presented here, we discuss baseline design considerations for the medical bay with reference to the MaMBA concept. A set of existing standards, guidelines, and recommendations (e.g., NASA-STD-3001) was reviewed to capture key design considerations for medical facilities. Additionally, we explored several terrestrial bases in extreme environments (e.g., Antarctic research stations) and space habitats (e.g., the ISS) focusing on architectural design features, operational procedures in emergency situations, and lessons learned. The case studies allowed us to identify some commonalities between the investigated medical facilities and to gain additional design considerations. We organized a set of baseline considerations for MaMBA medical bay architecture by categorizing them into six facets: (1) design and development process, (2) architectural features, (3) working environment ...