Definition of a Reusable Lunar Habitat to Extend Exploration Range

The lunar ambitions of NASA's Artemis program outline multiple crewed missions to the Moon and later to Mars. A compact shelter able to sustain life for the typical duration of the missions, which could be deployed autonomously and reused either during the same mission or from one mission to the next, would greatly ease this purpose and expand the area of exploration. The aim of the Spaceship FR team at CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales - FRANCE) is to define this new habitat concept. This paper aims to presents the results of the concurrent design approach and the development logic for this habitat. Three different updates will step the development to achieve a shelter habitable by a crew. This logic makes it possible to meet different needs and to integrate more and more complex equipment. The first version of the shelter will be a charging station for a rover to power it and protect it during the lunar night. It will permit the feasibility of deployable pressurized structures, environmental and thermal control, dust mitigation and a new generation of batteries to be demonstrated. The second version will serve as a warehouse and possibly a greenhouse. It will allow the feasibility of radiation and micrometeoroid protection, airlock, equipment transfer and first level of ECLSS and autonomous supervision to be demonstated. The third version will be a shelter consistent with the safety requirements with human in the loop integration. These different types of shelters can offer complements to the different Artemis missions from 2028 as the shelter will be brought to the Moon by EL3, the European Large Logistic lander, when this item is available for space flight. They will also allow to demonstrate the proper functioning of innovative technological bricks integrated before their transfer to a future Mars mission.