Space Habitats Committee (2024-2027)

Committee Members

Objective/scope of committee

The Space Habitats Committee aims, in cooperation with other IAF committees and symposia, to foster interest in the importance of building an international and interdisciplinary understanding of the issues and stakes raised by future space habitats (including settlements on celestial bodies and orbital infrastructures). The Committee gathers an interdisciplinary team of experts to challenge common perspectives of living conditions in outer space and help to conceive adequate and innovative initiatives, which consider the various dimensions of space habitation. Considering those areas, the Committee will:

• Provide a forum to discuss and exchange analyses and constructive views on social, cultural, biological, medical, technical, economic and legal aspects of future space habitats, infrastructures and settlements, emphasizing Moon and Mars surface structures and orbital stations.
• Foster studies on the architecture, the construction, the scalability, the commercialization, the disassembling and the sustainability of space habitats and associated infrastructures, including based on recommendations of analogue campaigns.
• Propose and (if approved) promote in coordination with the IAF secretariat workshops, lectures, relating to the above-mentioned dimensions of Moon and Mars programs.
• Propose and (if approved) co-organize IAC technical sessions relevant to the above-mentioned aspects of space habitats, infrastructures and settlements.
• Foster the relations between the IAF, academia, art-based institutions and non-space businesses around the globe.
• Encourage the development of scholarly awareness regarding the stakes of future space habitats, infrastructures and settlements.
• Assess and report on the current international and interdisciplinary knowledge base about space habitats and the future of human space programs.
• Promote guidelines to encourage the development of an in-depth, practical and empirical understanding of space habitat requirements as part of a dialogue among the committee’s experts, aeronautics engineers and space policymakers.
• Allow the circulation, diffusion and discussion of existing and future projects developed by space architects, space designers, and social scientists from all over the world.

*The terms of habitat, settlement, and infrastructure, are understood as follows:

• Habitat: pressurized volume(s) within which humans live and work, including relevant facilities for life support.
• Settlement: group of permanently inhabited habitats installed near each other, possibly interconnected.
• Infrastructure: set of constructed elements supporting habitats and/or settlements such as (and not limited to): power plant, water plant, greenhouse and waste management facilities, communication facilities, transportation facilities, EVAs, roads, spaceport, research platforms, and so on.