Space Architecture: Designing a Mars Habitation System: Challenges and Consequences – Online Short Course (Started 20 October 2025) 20 October 2025 - 5 November 2025 Online

OUTLINE

Class 1 (20 October):
Mars Environmental Challenges and Design Implications
Instructors: Brand Griffin, Georgi Petrov

• Overview of Mars’ environmental conditions and their impact on habitat design
• Challenges & countermeasures for radiation, temperature, dust storms, and reduced gravity
• Key architectural considerations for surface structures and long-term habitability

Class 2 (22 October):
Habitability & Human Adaptation to Mars
Instructors: Sandra Haeuplik-Meusburger, Sheryl Bishop

• Fundamental habitability principles and their application to Mars
• Physical, Social and Psychological Challenges
• Lessons from Crew health, psychology, and performance on long-duration missions
• Lessons from analogue missions and spaceflight
• Adaptation strategies for Martian habitats

Class 3 (27 October):
Historical Precedents and Mars Mission Planning
Instructors: Sam Ximenes and Bruce Mackenzie

• Lessons learned from past and current off-Earth habitation concepts
• Examples of Mars habitation concepts, from early studies to recent mission proposals
• HexHab as a benchmark for outfitting secondary structures in a 3D printed Mars habitat shell
• Construction ConOps and design considerations for habitat floorplan functionality

Class 4 (29 October):
Designing a Mars Habitat: Site Selection & Planning
Instructors: Olga Bannova, Georgi Petrov

• Key factors for selecting a Martian settlement location
• Surface layout and habitat architecture – planning for modularity and future expansion
• Concepts of Operations (ConOps) / Developing self-sufficient and adaptive habitats

Class 5 (3 November):
Architectural Concepts for Future Mars Settlements
Instructors: Melodie Yashar, TBD

• Special future-facing topics and concepts

Class 6 (5 November):
Final Q&A and Open Discussion
All instructors

Course Delivery and Materials

• The course lectures will be delivered via Zoom.
• All sessions will be available on-demand within 1-2 days of the lecture. Once available, you can stream the replay video anytime, 24/7. All slides will be available for download after each lecture.
• No part of these materials may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted, unless for course participants. All rights reserved.
• Between lectures, the instructors will be available via email for technical questions and comments.

Mr. Brand Griffin is the Program Manager for a Single-Person Spacecraft at Genesis Engineering Solutions. Before joining Genesis, he supported NASA’s Advanced Concepts Office at the Marshall Spaceflight Center where he participated in the analysis and design of lunar bases and deep space habitats. Formerly, he worked with Boeing as the lead configurator for Space Station Freedom and Habitation Module Manager. Among his innovative designs are an open-cockpit lunar hopper, a wheeled-landing pressurized rover, a horizontal lunar lander, and the Skylab II deep space habitat. His next generation space suit was on display for 10 years at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. Mr. Griffin has authored over 35 technical publications and numerous articles in books and periodicals. He was co-chair of the System Architecture and Mission Design Department at International Space University and was on the faculties of Tulane University, Rice University, and the University of Washington.

Mr. Georgi Petrov is a practicing architect, structural engineer and space architect. He is a Senior Associate Principal in the structures group at the New York office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, where he works on high-rises and long span structures around the world. He is the leader of SOM’s space architecture endeavors, with work exhibited at the 21st Architecture Biennale in Venice and the 23rd Triennale Milano International Exhibition. A founding Partner of Synthesis International, he has nearly two decades of experience in the field of space architecture and design for extreme environments. He is an adjunct professor at New York University and a visiting lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he teaches Design of Tall Buildings. He was the engineer of crew 22 of the Mars Desert Research Station. Georgi is vice-chair of the AIAA’s Space Architecture Technical Committee and will be the chair of the committee for a term 2024-2026. He holds a M.S. in structural engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a M.Arch from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Sandra Häuplik-Meusburger is Senior Lecturer and Academic Director of the MBA Space Architecture & Management program at TU Wien. She is an accredited researcher in the field of in Habitability Design in Extreme Environments and has collaborated on several aerospace design and research projects. Sandra is an Academician of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), where she chairs the History Committee. She is also the former chair of the Space Architecture Technical Committee at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the Space Habitats Committee of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). Her book publications include Architecture for Astronauts – An Activity Based Approach (Springer, 2011) and Space Architecture Education for Engineers and Architects – Designing and Planning Beyond Earth (Springer, 2016, upcoming 2nd edition 2026) with her co-author Olga Bannova. Her latest book with co-author Sheryl Bishop, Space Habitats and Habitability – Designing for Isolated and Confined Environments on Earth and in Space (Springer, 2021, German edition 2025), further explores the challenges of designing for human well-being in space and other extreme environments.

Sheryl L. Bishop, PhD is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Texas Medical Branch School of Nursing and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences since 1992. She has also served as faculty since 1996 at the International Space University, Strasbourg, France. As an internationally recognized behavioral researcher in extreme environments, for the last 30 years Dr. Bishop has investigated human performance and group dynamics in teams in extreme, unusual environments, involving deep cavers, mountain climbers, desert survival groups, polar expeditioners, Antarctic winter-over groups and various simulations of isolated, confined environments for space, including a number of missions at remote habitats (e.g., Mars Desert Research Station, Utah, HiSEAS in Hawaii and the FMARS and Mars Project on Devon Island, Canada). She has been a grant reviewer for the European Space Agency’s Concordia Station, the Canadian Space Agency’s Life Science Directorate, the Australian Antarctic Science Division, and the Czech Science Foundation. She has over 60 publications (including contribution to NASA’s Historical Series on Psychology in Space) and over 50 scholarly presentations in both the medical and psychological fields. She is frequently sought out as a content expert by various media and has participated in multiple television documentaries on space and extreme environments by Discovery Channel, BBC and 60 Minutes. Her most recent book, Space Habits and Habitability: Designing for Isolated and Confined Environments on Earth and Space, with space architect Dr. Sandra Hauplik-Meusburger, was released June 2021.

Sam Ximenes earned a master’s degree in Space Architecture from the University of Houston after earlier business development roles with Lockheed Martin (1995-1997) and L-3 Communications (1997-2005). He became Division Director at Futron Corporation in 2006 before founding Exploration Architecture Corporation
(XArc) in 2007, where he remains President and CEO, specializing in commercial spaceport and planetary surface systems design. In 2014, he launched the WEX Foundation to expand STEM education in space and continues as its Board Chair. Ximenes founded Astroport Space Technologies in 2020 and now serves as the firm’s Chief Executive Officer, leading NASA-funded work on regolith-based landing and launch pad construction for the Moon. In 2023, he established Astroport’s office in Luxembourg. His contributions to aerospace innovation were recognized with induction into the San Antonio Aviation and Aerospace Hall of Fame in 2023

Bruce Mackenzie advocated low tech “homesteading” to live on Mars using local materials, since 1987. He originated the concept of Masonry structures on Mars, using regolith (dirt) to hold the internal pressure. He also designed with polymer, composite, various construction techniques for Mars. Bruce is the founder of the Mars Foundation, dedicated to education and research on settlement of Mars. Bruce is a long-time member of the AIAA New England Council. He is active in the National Space Society, the NSS Board of Directors, chapters, roadmap and other committees. Also the Mars Society advisory Steering Committee. Other experience includes: outfitting SpaceX Starships as a base on Mars, architectural cad software development, GPS receivers, gun launched satellites, space elevators, rotating space tethers to export Lunar materials, Capstone project advisor at WPI. Degree in architecture and computer science at MIT. Bruce lives near Boston, USA. Bruce offers to hold office hours or an extended design workshop.

Dr. Olga Bannova is a Research Professor, Cullen College of Engineering, University of Houston. She is the past chair of the AIAA Space Architecture Technical Committee (SATC) and Director, Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture (SICSA) and its Master of Science in Space Architecture program educating students for 15 years. She is the author of the book Human habitats beyond the planet Earth, led the IAA position paper The role of space architecture, and co-author with Sandra of the Space Architecture Education for Engineers and Architects, where they explain space architecture design strategy and major aspects of planning and designing to enable human space exploration. She is a corresponding member of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and a secretary of the ASCE Aerospace Division Executive Committee. Research studies and grants include: DSG Habitability, Lunar Base, Deployable Airlock Studies, and lunar surface architectures (Boeing), 2 NASA’s Minimum Functionality Habitation Element studies (Boeing and ILC Dover), SpaceHab’s Lunar Exploration System, Commercial Launch Facility in West Texas (TAC), Houston Spaceport (HAS).

Melodie Yashar is a space architect, technologist and researcher. She currently consults on applications of robotic construction on Earth and in space. In prior roles Melodie was the VP of Building Design and Performance at ICON, a construction technologies company focused on large-scale additive manufacturing. At ICON Melodie oversaw the design and construction of resilient terrestrial housing solutions in addition to supporting the development of ICON’s off-world construction systems.

Prior to ICON Melodie was a Senior Research Associate with the Human Systems Integration Division at NASA Ames via San Jose State University Research Foundation (SJSURF), as well as a co-founder of Space Exploration Architecture (SEArch+), a research group developing human supporting designs for space exploration.

Melodie teaches undergraduate and graduate design studios at Art Center College of Design. Melodie obtained a Master of Architecture from Columbia University and a Master of Human-Computer Interaction with an emphasis in Robotics from the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon. She is the Vice Chair of AIAA’s Space Architecture Technical Committee and a member of ASCE’S Aerospace Division Executive Committee.

Alfredo Muñoz is the founder of ABIBOO Studio and Futuverse™, and a member of the Technical Committee for Space Architecture at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Recognized as one of the most influential Spanish architects and a Young European Leader (EYL40), Alfredo leads projects from offices in the United States, Spain, and India. He specializes in bridging design and technology to create solutions for extreme environments, both on Earth and in space. His work has been featured by BBC, Bloomberg, National Geographic, Forbes, CNN, Business Insider, and others. He has spoken at TED(x) and the Oxford Union. ABIBOO Studio is a global design firm that serves Fortune Global 500corporations, governments, and private clients across five continents, with clients including Louis Vuitton, St. Regis, and Brookfield Properties. Futuverse™ is an immersive ecosystem that integrates blockchain, space architecture, and digital twins of extreme environments. It brings together global experts in astrobiology, sociology, arts, and deep tech to explore the future of human life on Earth and beyond.