Off-Earth Infrastructure

Researcher: Professor Scott T Smith

My research focuses on the design and construction of infrastructure for off-earth planetary bodies such as the Moon and Mars.

Key activities include: 

1. Materials: Manufacture of construction components (e.g. masonry units), using materials delivered from earth and also sourced from the planetary body. The latter sourcing is known as In-situ Resource Utilization (ISRU); 

2. Structures: The development of structural systems that effectively and efficiently resist the unique plenary elements arising such as reduced gravity, thermal variations, pressurisation, radiation bombardment and meteor strikes. Structures built from components from earth and also derived from ISRU, that can be prefabricated and modular, are investigated. 

Benefits to life in space

Enable sustained human presence in off-earth planetary environments such as the Moon and Mars. 

Benefits to life on Earth

Translation of knowledge to earth environments that can be remote, developing, or that require rapid infrastructure build that may result from natural disasters or a humanitarian crisis.