"Design for extreme environments"sounds like a new cable show, but it's actually a class at RISD that focuses on building habitats for truly challenging locations-like the moon. Last fall, NASA asked the students to design a mobile dwelling for its next manned mission to the moon, scheduled for 2020. "NASA wanted a rover that could house four people for two weeks in 24-hour sun-rnlight," says student Zack Kamen. One of the biggest obstacles the students faced was how to keep astronauts from tracking lunar dust, which can be as harmful to human lungs as asbestos, into the habitat. The solution was to build airtight "suitlocks" into each habitat: The suitlock designs the RISD students used worked like lunar mudrooms.
展开▼
