In the Press

How to Build a Home on the Moon

The home is pelted with micrometeorites as fast as bullets and jostled by quakes that last for hours. Temperatures can climb past 250 degrees during the day and plunge below -200 degrees at night. Looking out the window risks radiation exposure. A plumbing leak could spell doom.

The architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill collaborated with MIT faculty, as well as scientists and engineers at the European Space Agency, to design one potential habitat concept. The series of multistory structures would be made of a rigid frame surrounded by an inflatable shell and bolstered by walls of 3-D-printed regolith. Accommodating four people, the layout would maximize interior space, while the high ceilings take advantage of low gravity, and the stories allow for separating space into different uses.