Space Architecture: Designing a Mars Habitation System: Challenges and Consequences – Online Short Course
Date | 20 October 2025 – 5 November 2025
Online Short Course
OVERVIEW
This course explores the design, planning, and operational challenges of establishing human habitation on Mars. Experts in space architecture will discuss the unique constraints and opportunities of designing a Martian habitat, including mission planning, environmental hazards, and long-term sustainability strategies.
Topics covered include:
- The impacts of Mars’ environment (gravity, radiation, dust, atmosphere) on habitat design
- Transportation logistics and mission architectures for crew arrival and settlement growth
- Subsystem integration, focusing on Environmental Control & Life Support Systems (ECLSS), Crew Systems, and Health Maintenance
- The human factors of long-duration missions, habitability principles, and countermeasures
- Concepts for surface station layouts, modular approaches, and future expansion
- Strategies for resource utilization, resupply, and infrastructure maintenance
This course combines engineering and architecture perspectives to provide a comprehensive approach to Mars habitation design.
INSTRUCTORS
- Brand Griffin – Program Manager for a Single-Person Spacecraft at Genesis Engineering Solutions.
- Dr. Sandra Häuplik-Meusburger – Senior Lecturer at the TU Wien, Institute for Design and Building Construction.
- Dr. Olga Bannova – Research Professor, Cullen College of Engineering, University of Houston.
- Dr. Sheryl L. Bishop – Professor Emeritus at the University of Texas Medical Branch School of Nursing and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
- Georgi Petrov – Senior Associate Principal in the structures group at the New York office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
- Melodie Yashar – Space architect, technologist and researcher. She currently consults on applications of robotic construction on Earth and in space.
- Guillermo Trotti – President of Trotti & Associates, Inc. and Co-Founder and President of EarthDNA, Inc.
