Hafdís Magnúsdóttir, an undergraduate student researcher, is assisting with cyberphysical testing through the RETH Institute.

Establishment of Resilient ExtraTerrestrial Habitats may occur sooner than we think

A habitat on the moon — something once only depicted in science fiction — is potentially just a few years away from becoming a reality, according to Purdue University researchers.

Purdue’s NASA-funded Resilient ExtraTerrestrial Habitats Institute (RETHi) was established in 2019 with the mission of developing the techniques and technologies needed to establish safe and resilient habitats in the extreme environments of space. Now, just five years later, the institute’s director believes such a habitat could be established on the moon within a decade.

“We’ll probably have a habitat on the surface of the moon in about a decade,” said Shirley Dyke, RETH Institute director and professor of mechanical engineering and civil engineering. “The world is ready to take the next giant leap.”

The RETH Institute is a multidisciplinary NASA-funded center that integrates engineering faculty and researchers from Purdue (lead institution), Harvard, the University of Connecticut, the University of Texas at San Antonio and Mississippi State. In the years since its inception, Dyke said, its focus has progressed from overall viability, such as characterizing the many hazards including moonquakes, radiation and dust to  cyberphysical testing for exploration.

The RETHi team is providing NASA with techniques to design and operate deep space habitats that are resilient, defined as being able to adapt, absorb and rapidly recover from disruptions. The institute leverages the vast amount of expertise in constructing civil infrastructure with evolving methods in system health management, autonomy, artificial intelligence and cyber-physical testing.

“The people involved are some the best researchers in the world and we all share a goal of seeing our work come to life,” Dyke said. “To see the work come to fruition — from the formation of the RETH Institute to where we are now — is incredibly motivating.”

The RETH Institute team has a space habitat testbed that includes a dome that would protect the occupants of the lunar habitat. In addition to protecting its inhabitants from the harsh and inhospitable environmental conditions, the habitat also needs to withstand micrometeorite strikes. Once a strike occurs, information about the damage propagation in the structure and to the subsystems inside must be extracted so that critical repairs can be made.

Hafds Magnusdottir, an undergraduate researcher on the team, is assisting with the cyberphysical testbed. Magnusdottir is contributing to the design and 3D modeling of the dome — something she never expected to have the opportunity to do when she came to Purdue.

“To be part of something like this and see where the research is going has been a wonderful opportunity,” Magnusdottir said. “The amazing research being done, the concepts I’ve been exposed to and experience I’ve gained have all been incredible.”

Dyke said in parallel to the cyber-physical testing, the research includes development of a digital twin of the interconnected systems in the habitat for system health management.