Underwater station helps train astronauts to live on Mars

The UHAB station can accommodate four astronauts, operate at a depth of more than 10 meters underwater and is expected to be deployed in 2026.

A full-size mock-up of the UHAB. Photo: SAGA Space Architects — A full-size mock-up of the UHAB. Photo: *SAGA Space Architects*

Space agencies regularly send astronauts in spacesuits into swimming pools to learn how to perform tasks in a similar environment to outer space. To enhance this learning process, Danish architecture firm SAGA Space Architects designed the Underwater Habitat for Life (UHAB) to simulate an alien habitat, New Atlas reported on November 3.

The final version of the UHAB station will be able to accommodate up to four astronauts for more than a month, during which time the UHAB will be anchored to the seabed. Like future structures on the surface of the Moon or Mars, the UHAB will be completely airtight and self-sustaining. As a result, during their stay, astronauts will experience the physical and psychological challenges that can come with living in such suffocating conditions on another planet.

A four-person version of the UHAB is expected to be deployed in European waters around 2026 and used by organizations such as the European Space Agency. The station will have a floor area of 10 square meters and can withstand pressure at depths of more than 10 meters. In addition, biologists or oceanographers could also use the structure to study the marine environment.

SAGA Space Architects has successfully tested a one-person version of the UHAB. About a month ago, co-founder Sebastian Aristotelis spent 48 hours in the 1.5-square-meter structure, 7 meters below the seabed near Copenhagen.

“We validated a lot of ideas and learned things we couldn’t have predicted – for example, the insulation, a closed-cell structure, was compressed so hard at high pressures that it ruptured the internal structure. We saw a little shrinkage in the tests, but experiencing it inside the UHAB provided great firsthand knowledge of the forces at play,” he said.

Thu Thao (According to New Atlas )

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