NASA RASC-AL · Columbia ARES · 2025

Autonomous Red-Planet Experimental Shelter

Mission

Fully autonomous Martian habitat deployable by 2037: two-phase architecture, ice-rich site selection, ISRU, and pressurized construction under the AERODOME.

My span

Mission architecture, ISRU (MOXIE, Aqua Factorem, geopolymer), AERODOME materials/physics, Kilopower and failure modes, mass/power/TRL integration.

Target: 2037
ISRU: MOXIE · ice · cement
Dome: AERODOME
Constraint: Starship payload

ARES Martian habitat dome concept — Plate 00 · Autonomous shelter conceptARES / RASC-AL

Technical evidence

06 plates

What I owned

Mission architecture: two-phase structure, site-selection logic, radar/cryosphere/terrain constraints for ice-rich landing

ISRU: MOXIE scaling, Aqua Factorem ice extraction, regolith chemistry for geopolymer cement in 3D-printed interiors

AERODOME: TPU-aerogel-ETFE layering, pressurization behavior, thermal/radiation performance

Systems: Kilopower reasoning; failure modes for robotics, autonomy, thermal loops, regolith-printing

Integration: mass/power budgets, TRL assessments, SPEAR / RASSOR / dome printing sequence

As part of Columbia’s ARES project for NASA RASC-AL, I worked across mission architecture, ISRU systems, materials engineering, and scientific modeling to help design a fully autonomous Martian habitat deployable by 2037. I contributed to the mission’s two-phase structure, site-selection logic, and scientific rationale, integrating radar mapping, cryospheric analysis, and terrain constraints for an ice-rich landing zone. Technical work centered on ISRU (scaling NASA’s MOXIE for atmospheric generation, adapting Aqua Factorem for Martian ice, regolith chemistry for geopolymer cement), the auxetic AERODOME (TPU-aerogel-ETFE layering, pressurization, thermal/radiation performance), Kilopower reasoning, and failure-mode logic for robotics, autonomy, thermal loops, and regolith-printing. Beyond subsystems, I helped validate integrated mass/power budgets, TRL assessments, risk mitigation, and the end-to-end construction sequence (SPEAR, RASSOR, continuous 3D printing under the pressurized dome) under Starship payload limits and NASA’s Moon-to-Mars objectives.