The Future of Space: Lunar Habitats and Commercial LEO Destinations

Summary

Over the past few years, several features have asked what it will take for people to live and work beyond Earth: on the Moon, on the commercial stations that will replace the International Space Station, and eventually in much larger settlements. BBC Science Focus covered the race between the US and China to build permanent lunar bases.¹ Scientific American looked at the private stations planned for low Earth orbit.² Aerospace America examined how companies are approaching life support for those stations.³ Discover asked whether giant space habitats are science fiction or the future.⁴

Each drew on commentary from Anastasia Prosina, founder of Stellar Amenities. Her points are collected below, roughly in the order a crew would meet them: where to build, how to stay alive there, how to rest, and how to stay well over years rather than weeks.

Lunar habitats

NASA and China’s space agency both plan bases at the lunar south pole. Prosina pointed out that the goal has no precedent:

“Nobody has ever done long-duration stays on another celestial body.”

She described how designing for the Moon differs from designing an orbital station. In weightlessness, “there are no walls or floors, just surfaces,” and tables and equipment can be placed anywhere. In one-sixth gravity, habitats will work more like homes and laboratories on Earth.

On where to build, she said: “The most important thing in this endeavour is finding the water.” Ice in the permanently shadowed craters near the south pole is the main reason both nations are aiming there. Water is drinking supply, radiation shielding and, split into hydrogen and oxygen, both breathable air and rocket propellant. A base that can draw on it locally needs far less from Earth.

Commercial LEO destinations

The first of four planned commercial stations, Vast’s Haven-1, is set to launch early in 2027, with Starlab, Axiom Station and Orbital Reef to follow. Prosina identified sleep as central to making these stations livable, because a crew in orbit sees 15 or 16 sunrises and sunsets every 24 hours.

“If you think about luxurious experiences, you want to make sure people feel okay. Sleep quality is something astronauts speak very openly [about].”

The article notes controlled lighting that simulates sunrise and sunset as one way to keep a daily cycle on board.

Life support

Aerospace America looked at how the companies building commercial stations are approaching life support, the systems that supply air and water and remove carbon dioxide and waste. NASA’s Commercial Low-Earth Orbit Development Program will hand station design and maintenance to industry for the first time, and life support has been singled out as a chief concern.³

Prosina spoke about waste management, one of the least visible and least forgiving of those systems:

“The system has to work reliably for different body types while using minimal water. Even a small malfunction can become a major hazard. If a blockage occurs, it could lead to backup and potential leakage of waste material into the cabin environment.”

It is a problem the Lab returns to often. On a station, the toilet is used by every crew member every day, and it remains one of the systems most likely to fail. Our waste management report looks at why.

Living for years, not weeks

Discover asked a longer-range question: whether the giant rotating habitats imagined since the 1970s could ever be built, and what living in one would do to people.⁴ Prosina’s answer focused less on structure than on the people inside it. Sourcing and transporting materials would be immensely expensive, but the harder design problem is keeping a population healthy and well in an entirely artificial environment.

“Light cycles, noise control, privacy and community spaces must be considered to support mental health.”

She added that habitats must be designed for a sense of connection to nature and to Earth, through biomimicry and other means. It is the same thread that runs through the Lab’s work on sleep and crew quarters: the ordinary parts of the day are where habitability is won or lost.

Read the articles