"When considering technologies the space industry should be investing in, as well as the integration of AI and automation into new space activities, it can no longer be ignored how much computational biology has transformed over the past two decades. With the award of the 2024 Nobel Prize [1] for AlphaFold [2] and the breakthrough work of David Baker [3], the radical development of bioinformatics and what it promises for genomic medicine, the space age (as well as life on earth) faces its next technological leap in personalised medicine. In thinking about how to reframe our priorities to remain relevant in this new era, this paper breaks down the potential avenues of disruption and development that bioinformatics and computational biology could bring to human space settlement, both long term in low earth orbit (LEO), and for Moon and Mars missions. Following our recent advances witnessed in the Critical Assessment of Structure Prediction (CASP) experiments, we are now capable of predicting medically relevant macromolecular structures for disease and drug design which promise faster drug development, disruption in antimicrobials and new understanding in genomic medicine. The potential applications for human space sustainability could mean humans travel further, thrive longer, and perhaps could even colonize Mars in ways previously unconsidered as these applications of AI and machine learning can assist in overcoming many current physiological limitations. "
The increasing complexity and strategic importance of cislunar missions, from lunar gateways to in-situ resource utilization, demand a new level of onboard autonomy capable of operating for years without ground intervention. Conventional artificial intelligence systems are often ill-suited to this environment, constrained by high power consumption, vulnerability to temporal perturbations, and brittleness in the face of novel events. This paper presents a new class of bio-inspired, event-driven intelligence, instantiated on neuromorphic hardware, that provides a pathway to resilient autonomy. The efficacy of this approach is demonstrated through a series of high-fidelity, mission-relevant case studies, including a lunar rover surface mission and the long-duration monitoring of a cislunar gateway. The results show that the system can autonomously mitigate a ‘worst-case’ scenario involving simultaneous environmental faults, hardware degradation, and a direct cyber-attack, achieving a 92% mission success rate where conventional baselines underperform. This validated capability for onboard adaptive threat management is a critical enabler for the next generation of ambitious deep-space exploration.
"A primary constraint on permanent orbital habitation appears to be the high cost of launching parasitic shielding mass. Current flight-qualified pressure vessels rely on thin-walled structures offering negligible Galactic Cosmic Ray (GCR) protection. A logistical framework, “Macroscopic Accretion”, is proposed for repurposing whole-object derelict spacecraftas passive shielding elements to overcome Low Earth Orbit (LEO) launch-mass limitations. Rather than relying on material science to optimise lightweight shields, this architecture utilises the availability of orbital debris to achieve high areal densities (>20 g/cm2) capable of pushing habitats into the “Thick Shield” regime. Engineering boundary conditions are outlined, specifically addressing the mass-balancing requirements to prevent Control Moment Gyro (CMG) saturation and a stand-off integration strategy to decouple shock transmissibility. An economic dual-value proposition is evaluated, where a single mission generates revenue via active debris removal while offsetting habitat construction capital expenditure. Finally, a state- sponsored indemnification framework is proposed to address critical liability requirements, defining the operational shifts necessary to transition from launch-constrained structures to accretion-based infrastructure. "
"This study examines the significance of work and organisational research - particularly research on leadership and group dynamics in small, isolated teams - for the success of long-duration missions under extreme conditions. Using Antarctica, which is internationally recognised as a real-world analogue for interplanetary space missions, as a case study, the paper analyses how isolation, limited resources, and the absence of opportunities for withdrawal shape social and organisational processes. Drawing on documented overwintering studies, the analysis demonstrates that adaptive leadership practices, informal role distributions, and collective coping strategies constitute essential prerequisites for safety, performance, and stability in such missions. At the same time, the study reveals that these research approaches, despite their mission-critical relevance, are structurally disadvantaged within large governmental spaceflight and polar research programmes and are frequently subject to heightened demands for justification. Historical comparative cases from space research – including telemedicine, satellite-based navigation, and Earth observation – illustrate that the societal value of research conducted within complex and resource-intensive programmes often becomes apparent only in retrospect. Central to the study is the question of the role that work and organisational science – particularly research on leadership and group dynamics in isolated teams – plays in long-term knowledge generation and innovation capacity, and to what extent academic freedom constitutes a fundamental prerequisite for this role. The findings indicate that academic freedom, interdisciplinary approaches, and long- term funding structures are essential conditions for sustaining research in extreme environments. Research on leadership and group dynamics in isolated teams thus emerges not as a peripheral concern, but as a core component of future interplanetary missions and as a source of long-term societal value.
This paper examines the evolving structure of the global space sector, tracing its roots in Cold War industrial models, analysing the rise of modern space primes, and assessing the transformation of global supply chains, geographic clusters, and national sectoral structures. Using historical evidence, industry data and structural analysis, the paper identifies the forces reshaping the global space economy and offers predictions about how these will influence industrial organisation, market entry, and international competition. The findings highlight an increasingly diverse global industry characterised by the coexistence of large incumbent primes and a growing long tail of innovative smaller firms.
This paper explores the assertion that the history of space exploration will repeat itself and that the current divide betweenthe western nations led by NASA and Russia/China initiatives will eventually change allowing for a more “international”approach. This might enable an affordable joint exploration of the Moon and Mars. The paper notes how the 1960s saw apowerful space confrontation between the two opposing superpower ideologies of the USA/western nations and the Soviet Union, with the USA “winning” by achieving the first lunar landing when NASA’s Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon in July 1969.The subsequent thawing of the “Cold War” between the Soviet block and the Western powers following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 eventually allowed for easier international exploration of space. The construction of the International Space Station (ISS) from 1998 represented the pinnacle of the world’s space cooperation. However, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 completely changed matters and a new
The interstellar object 3I/ATLAS achieved perihelion, and then images indicated the presence of large jets in the direction of the Sun of order ~106 km in size. We consider the speculative hypothetical that within these jets may have contained ~5 billion tons of nanograin dust particles, where ~1033-1035 objects are distributed throughout the Solar System that had the function of artificial probes for the purpose of solar system surveillance. To examine this, we look at the likely mass required for such probes, which we consider to be either coupled to the solar magnetic field, <1 nm, ~10-23 kg, or drifting ballistic, 10s nm, ~10-21 kg. Although this is speculation, if there were nanoprobe ejections, due to the presence of Nickel thermal emission and the suggestion of grain heating at large distance, any such probes would likely be nanoscale in size and guided by the solar magnetic field and solar wind outflow once released, fully departing the Solar System on a timescale of order 1 year. This paper is not intended to advocate for an artificial function behind the object 3I/ATLAS but instead should be seen as an exploration for scenario modelling, useful for future speculations with other visiting interstellar objects.
This paper presents a closed-loop systems framework for sustainable exploration, atmospheric habitation, and long-terminterplanetary logistics centred on Venus. The concept integrates two complementary technologies: Venus TerraformingProbes (VTPs) and Sub-Atmospheric Vessels for Extended Research (SAVERs). VTPs are autonomous atmospheric-processingplatforms deployed within the temperate 50-60 km altitude band of Venus’s atmosphere. Operating individually or incoordinated swarms, they extract, separate, and store key atmospheric resources including carbon dioxide, nitrogen, sulphuricacid, and trace volatiles. These feedstocks are converted into oxygen, water, elemental carbon, sulphur compounds, andnitrogen reserves, supporting life support, energy storage, construction materials, and industrial chemistry. Energy is suppliedthrough a hybrid architecture combining solar collection above the cloud decks, continuous wind-energy harvesting within thesuper-rotating atmosphere, and compact AETHER-class micro-reactors (~10 kWe) providing stable baseload power. Excessenergy is stored within a distributed atmospheric grid, enabling continuous processing and the staged activation of SAVERplatforms. SAVERs are pressure-balance, buoyant habitats that link to the VPT network and initiate agricultural, biological, andmanufacturing processes prior to human arrival. Controlled biospheres establish closed biological loops for carbon, water,and nutrient recycling, forming a self-sustaining life-support foundation. Once mature, crewed SAVERs extend these systemsthrough adaptive management, research, and fabrication. The combined VTP-SAVER ecosystem constitutes a planetary-scaleindustrial-biological network that enables long-duration Venusian habitation while supporting incremental interplanetary materialexchange. By exploring modest, metered quantities of atmospheric-derived reagents rather than bulk mass transfers, theframework demonstrates a viable path toward sustainable Venus-based exploration, research, and interplanetary commerce.
In the commercial space age there are new opportunities for designers to develop products for use during spaceflight, and it is becoming increasingly urgent for design sectors to prepare for direct engagement with the environment of space by engaging in post-gravity design. Design for space must derive from entirely different foundations to design for Earth, as a result of the need to consider the effects of weightlessness on those objects and their users. This paper identifies the need for designers to reconsider approaches to orientation in the microgravity environment, where there is no fixed paradigm of verticality; no fixed up/down or top/bottom. It argues for the value of post-gravity thinking, proposing three specific approaches to orientation in microgravity.
"Establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon requires innovative solutions to address various challenges. These include transporting or utilising available resources, generating energy, providing life support, and creating structures that can withstand extreme environments. Within the field of space architecture, these challenges extend beyond engineering efficiency to questions of how we could utilise biomaterials to propose biological and structural systems that could be integrated into design. Microalgae, for instance, present unique abilities, such as recycling carbon dioxide into oxygen, making them valuable for developing closed-loop bioregenerative life support systems (BLSS), as well as supplemental and bioenergy sources. This research introduces a conceptual architectural design that incorporates microalgae with water-filled Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) panels, reimagining habitat structures as transparent, multifunctional bioreactors. This idea serves as a structural element as well as a component of BLSS, offering new perspectives for long-duration missions towards bio-habitats. The methodology is based on a review of existing literature and analysis of microalgae cultivation experiments. Based on that, the study highlights the benefits of using microalgae, and evaluates how their integration with water-filled ETFE panels can serve lunar habitation through carbon dioxide sequestration, oxygen production, biomass generation, and potential radiation shielding provided by the water medium. The transparency, flexibility, and durable properties of ETFE, enable to create enclosed bioreactor environments within structural elements – advantages that surpass traditional glassin terms of impact resistance, thermal behaviour, and mass efficiency. This conceptual design demonstrates how biological components can be used in lunar habitats, and explores a different approach to space habitation that pushes for a more sustainable and human-centred vision. Further research should focus on prototyping and testing the system under simulated lunar conditions to assess feasibility and refine performance. Keywords: Space architecture, Lunar Habitat, Bio-habitat, ETFE, Microalgae, Life Support System, Bioregenerative System, Speculative Design, Design for Lunar Lava Tube"
This paper explores signals in space governance. Signals are early markers (behaviours and interpretations) that indicatewhere current choices may lead. A deeper value lies in what they reveal about agency, power and responsible spacedevelopment. Early research by economist Molly Macauley is paired with contemporary voices to revisit and extend currentgovernance challenges. Failure to act is treated as comparable to explicit policy and a new term “astrocide” is defined andused as an example of governance through negligence. The “space sustainability paradox” and “Doughnut Economics” are also considered as different ways of understanding how pressures form and how responsibility is distributed. The evolutionof space governance is outlined through four eras, with the current era labelled as “polycentric” to highlight the importanceof interdisciplinary governance. The seven signals discussed here illustrate how emerging patterns can be read within today’splural governance system. They do not point to a single outcome or propose a definitive approach. Instead they show howobservations drawn from economics, law, policy and sustainability can offer insight into the directions governance may take.Signals do not remove uncertainty, but they make it easier to see which decisions matter and why.
One of the most critical questions regarding the human exploration and eventual colonization of our nearest planetary neighbors, Mars and Venus, is whether rocket propellants can be produced in situ using only local resources, in order to enable regular interplanetary transportation. The previously proposed in situ methane fuel production would require large local water resources, which questions the feasibility of the concept on both planets. We demonstrate that, instead of methane, alternative propellants – both fuels and oxidizers – with low or zero hydrogen content can be synthesized on these planets in virtually unlimited quantities. Acetylene and cyanogen derivatives, as well as nitrogen and chlorine oxides, can be produced for this purpose, aided by small amounts of auxiliary substances such as lithium chloride and water, which are recovered at the end of the process.
The U.S. space industry accounts for more than half of the global space economy, reflecting its significant economic influence. It has been realized that quantitative data have been used as the existing literature to analyse the spaceindustry’s economic impact. This study, which is based on qualitative data, aims to reflect in-depth expert knowledge and analysing through topic modelling. The main purpose of this study is examining NASA’s role, the involvement of other US government institutions, the growing presence of private enterprises and the public benefits gained through space expenditures in the US. This study examines all contributing factors within the space economy that impact the broader economy. This research is based on the qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews along with broad contextual information. A total of 17 professionals from academia, government, and private industry in the United States shared their knowledge. Key themes emerged such as the relationship between the space industry and economic structures, economic benefits and growth, the role of the U.S. government in space economics, and the future of thespace economy. The analysis of the qualitative data through topic modelling indicates that the U.S. government’s strategic shifts and the rise of commercial space enterprises have reinforced economic interconnections within the industry, positioning it as a driver of innovation and growth. Moreover, the study addresses the economic impacts via projects andexamples from the space industry and shows its relationship with economic growth. This study contributes to the broaderdiscussion of how economic, technological, and geopolitical forces are reshaping the global space landscape from the USA experience. The paper offers important insights into the economic undercurrents driving the U.S. space sector’s role ininternational space collaboration and competition.
This paper explores maritime privateering as a strategic analogue for contemporary space defence operations involvingcommercial actors. It reviews the legal, operational, and strategic features of historical privateering and applies them to spacethrough two case studies; the US Joint Commercial Operations initiative for Space Domain Awareness and the potentialuse of commercial capabilities for debris removal and proximity operations in Space Control. The analysis identifies the legalcomplexities, dual-use challenges and command risks in integrating commercial actors. While imperfect, the privateering model provides a provocative conceptual tool to enhance deterrence, force depth and adaptability in an increasingly contested domain.
The Earth is rare and large-scale interstellar travel may be unfeasible - instead of migrating to other solar systems, future civilisations on Earth may have to remain. However, left unchecked, the Earth's current habitability will end in one billion years. This paper investigates and conceptualises a set of megaengineering concepts required to safeguard against seven long-term threats to Earth's habitability: solar luminosity, solar engulfment, the end of tectonics, water loss, obliquity and rotation, object collision, and extra-system threats. Implementing and maintaining the set of safeguards would allow the Earth to remain habitable for 9.1 million billion years. This could be raised by an order of magnitude via lifting and moving solar photospheric mass. Compared with alternatives, advantages of the safeguards such as greater feasibility, lower requisite rate of energy production, and utilisation of economically viable space mining infrastructure may present remaining on Earth as a more attractive long-term survival strategy.
The Moonhouse is a small, Falu red, aluminum “cottage” conceived by artist Mikael Genberg and flown in 2025 as a cultural payload together with ispace’s Resilience lunar lander and the Tenacious micro-rover. The artifact was frontmounted on the rover for simple release and documentation. This article summarizes the idea and outreach intent, the practical engineering (materials/finish, holding-down and release mechanism, and drop-stability), and the analogue-site rehearsals performed at LUNA (ESA–DLR, EAC Cologne). We also outline illumination simulations for the intended site near Mare Frigoris, showing camera stand-off and Sun-relative yaw that would best emphasize shape and color. The mission followed a long, fuel-efficient transfer reaching as far as 1.1 million km from Earth before returning and achieving lunar orbit. On 5 June 2025 the landing attempt ended in a hard landing linked to a laser range-finder anomaly. While the artifact’s final state is unknown, the project demonstrates that small cultural payloads can be engineered to fit tight mass/volume and operational constraints, and that analogue rehearsals materially de-risk deployment and imaging.
The third interstellar object to be discovered, 3I/ATLAS, has a unique and continually unfolding story to tell about its nature and origin as it is monitored by telescopes on Earth, orbiting Earth and around the Solar System. Previous research into missions using chemical propulsion have only really addressed the direct case, where the opportunity to launch already expired before 3I/ATLAS's discovery. In contrast, investigations herein exploit 'Optimum Interplanetary Trajectory Software' to simulate an alternative indirect option for chemical propulsion, namely the Solar Oberth Manoeuvre (SOM). For a SOM, a low perihelion burn provides maximum benefit from the Oberth Effect, and accelerates the spacecraft rapidly towards the receding 3I/ATLAS. Though in principle feasible, results indicate this option presents significant challenges. For possible launch years between 2031 and 2037 inclusive, a 2035 launch permits the most efficient transfer to 3I/ATLAS. The reference mission requires a SOM at 3.2 Solar Radii from the Sun's centre, with an intercept after 35-50 years. It is found the SOM can leverage spacecraft masses up to ∼500 kg. Two or three solid propellant boosters could deliver the required SOM ΔV, and furthermore a refuelled Starship Block 3 in LEO has sufficient performance for such a mission. As inevitable with a SOM, some of the payload mass would be needed for a heat shield to protect against the high solar flux at low perihelion.
The European Space Agency and the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy have announced a need for a standardized “Coordinated Lunar Time” for robotic and human activities on the Moon. Much of the ensuing discussion has focused on the problem of aligning high precision clocks on the Moon with Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), including the relativistic effect of a ~58 μs/day divergence between the terrestrial and lunar frames, as important to orbital navigation systems in cislunar space. A separate but so far unresolved issue is the definition of a natural lunar time-keeping system for some humanadapted measure of the Moon’s solar illumination and extreme excursions of surface temperature in step with the 29.53059- day synodic period. Here is reprised a nearly forgotten 1970 proposal by the astronomer Kenneth L. Franklin. His Lunar Time (LT) system combined E.W. Brown’s lunation numbering of repeated lunar phases with a regular division of the synodic period into 30 “lunes” each of 0.9843529 terrestrial days, further sub-divided into 24 “lunours,” with decimal sub-units replacing sexagesimal minutes and seconds. Explicit expressions are given for conversion between UTC and LT, also the subsolar colongitude and latitude, as important to the seasonal variation in the polar regions. Keywords: Space Timing Systems, Lunar Settlement, Space History, Space Medicine
One of the greatest challenges for manned missions to Mars is the high-radiation environment that exists in space. Unlike Earth, Mars has a very weak magnetic field and an extremely thin atmosphere, which does not offer sufficient protection against incoming radiation. A promising strategy is to use the Martian ground and underground as a natural shield against such levels of radiation. To this end, this project explores the feasibility of using a drone as a valuable tool for locating and analysing potential entrances to the underground. During the maximum activity of the Sun, there are extreme solar events that can also contribute to radiation on Mars. In particular, coronal mass ejections unpredictably eject large amounts of energetic particles into space. Under certain conditions, the particles can reach the surface of Mars and could surprise astronauts during extra-vehicular activity. In such a scenario, the idea is to use the drone to see how to make the best use of the terrain to be protected from these unpredictable events. Keywords: Mars Exploration, Space Radiation, Drone, Photogrammetry, Ground and Underground
The intake or inlet will be a key component of future hypersonic airbreathing spaceplane engines – for example the scramjet. In this paper, the most important intake options are reviewed and their basic shape design procedures outlined. Both planar and axisymmetrical varieties are covered, including Busemann and Oswatitsch types. Keywords: Intake, Inlet, Scramjet, Hypersonic, Airbreathing, Spaceplane
