Resilient Extraterrestrial Habitat Engineering (RETH)
| Interdisciplinary Areas: | Smart City, Infrastructure, Transportation, Future Manufacturing, Power, Energy, and the Environment |
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Project Description
The vision for the project is the development of the expertise needed to address the grand challenge of permanent human settlements outside Earth, and establish a multi-disciplinary, mission-oriented research and technology center focused on developing and demonstrating the next generation of techniques and technologies that are critical for establishing smart and resilient deep space habitats. Past approaches are driven by avoiding, or minimizing the occurrence of, known/anticipated failures and faults in the systems. While these efforts have made operations such as the International Space Station feasible, the philosophy behind these advancements is inadequate in the context of a deep space habitat.
The research includes tasks geared towards identifying the needs for human habitation on the Moon and Mars; categorizing and quantifying risks, in particular those not found on Earth; and developing a theoretical framework for the design of resilient habitats.
Start Date
January 2019
Postdoc Qualifications
We seek a dynamic individual with expertise at the interface of structural engineering and geomechanics, with excellent communication and management skills. The candidate will collaborate with the research group in establishing research goals, identifying and quantifying risk hazards to create permanent habitats that will protect future explorers in extreme environments in space, will supervise graduate and undergraduate research assistants, and will participate in the organization of seminar series and workshops. Qualified individuals should have a Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics, Structural Engineering, Geomechanics, Geosciences, or a related field at the time of appointment.
Co-advisors
Antonio Bobet, Professor of Civil Engineering, bobet@purdue.edu, https://www.purdue.edu/reth/
Shirley Dyke, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, sdyke@purdue.edu, https://www.purdue.edu/reth/
Jay Melosh, University Distinguished Professor of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, jmelosh@purdue.edu, https://www.purdue.edu/reth/
References
1. Blair, D., Chappaz, L., Sood, R., Milbury, C., Bobet, A., Melosh, J., Howell, K., and Freed, A. (2017). The Structural Stability of Lunar Lava Tubes. Icarus, Vol. 282, pp. 47-55.
2. Maghareh, A., Gomez, D., Dyke, S. J., Bobet, A., Ramirez, J., Melosh, H. J., Modiriasari, A., and Theinat, A. (2018). Resilience for Permanent Extraterrestrial Habitats. 49th LPSC, Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, The Woodlands, Texas.
3. Dyke, S. J., Bobet, A., Ramirez, J., Melosh, H. J., Gomez, D., Maghareh, A., Modiriasari, A. and Theinat, A. (2018). Resilient Extraterrestrial Habitat Engineering. 49th LPSC, Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, The Woodlands, Texas.
4. Maghareh, A., Gomez, D., Dyke, S. J., Bobet, A., Ramirez, J., Melosh, H. J., Modiriasari, A., and Theinat, A. (2018). Resilience for Permanent Extraterrestrial Habitats. 49th LPSC, Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, The Woodlands, Texas.
4. Theinat, A., Modiriasari, A., Bobet, A., Melosh, J., Dyke, S., Ramirez, J., Maghareh, A. and Gomez, D. (2018). Geometry and Structural Stability of Lunar Lava Tubes. 2018 AIAA SPACE and Astronautics Forum and Exposition, Orlando, FL.