University students from across Australia have been recognised for their innovative architectural designs that accommodate human explorers on the moon, as part of a South Australian-led national competition that highlights Australia’s capacity to play a key role in supporting deep space human habitation.
Delivered by the University of Adelaide’s Andy Thomas Centre for Space Resources (ATCSR), the inaugural Australian Space Architecture Challenge (ASAC) was created to showcase Australia’s expertise in space architecture and supporting humans on long-term space missions.
The South Australian Space Industry Centre is a major sponsor of the competition, which aligns with the Australian Civil Space Strategy and the Moon to Mars initiative by inspiring the next generation space workforce and advancing Australia’s position in the global space economy.
The competition attracted submissions from students and graduates in a range of STEM-related fields from Australian universities. A team of students from the University of Western Australia won first prize for their concept Happy Homesick, which focuses on the everyday experience of future lunar settlers and cultivates a sense of place that’s unique to the lunar landscape.
Second place was awarded to a University of Queensland team for their concept Lunar Urbanism and third place went to a University of Technology Sydney team for their design Lunarium.
Meanwhile, the University of Adelaide’s Do Dang Quang Nguyen received an honourable mention for his concept Alteon VII, which supports long-term living and research to fuel the human dream.
Space Architect and CEO of Exploration Architecture Corporation, Sam Ximenes – one of judges on the panel – said the challenge generated some remarkable ideas.
“The top three winners provided creative, yet technically plausible solutions, while our selected honourable mention truly stood apart with a ‘what if’ approach,” Mr Ximenes said.
University of Adelaide’s Dr Amit Srivastava, Head, Lunar Architecture Research Group at the ATCSR led the team, said the competition brought together talent across a range of STEM fields to develop innovative ideas that support human life in space.
“Space architecture is an inter-disciplinary endeavour, which brings together capabilities across the entire range of STEM fields, as well as creativity and culture,” Dr Srivastava said.
“We challenged students to play at the boundaries of reality and imagination and contribute a vision of the future of human habitation on the Moon in 2069.
“This national level competition is set up to gather the emerging talent across this wide range of fields and highlight the importance of a collaborative effort in imagining our future in space.”
Space Architecture is a growing priority area for the Andy Thomas Centre for Space Resources, which is conducting extensive research on habitation in extreme environments.
The winning entries were exhibited at the Space Architecture Symposium and Exhibition being held in Milan as part of the 75th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in October.
