NASA's deep space habitation strategy

NASA is seeking to expand human presence into the solar system in a sustainable way. NASA's goal is not just a destination to reach, but rather it is to develop the capacity for people to work, learn, operate, and live safely beyond the Earth for extended periods of time, ultimately in ways that are more sustainable and even indefinite. The deep space habitation capability is one of the key foundations of this strategy and for human space missions beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO), habitation capabilities represent a critical component of NASA's plans for Mars-class distances and duration missions. An effective habitation capability is comprised of a pressurized volume, and an integrated array of complex habitation systems and components that include a docking capability, environmental control and life support systems, logistics management, radiation mitigation and monitoring, fire safety technologies, autonomy, and crew health capabilities. NASA's habitation development strategy is to test these systems and components on the ground and in LEO on ISS, then with the potential of incremental deployment as an integrated habitation capability for long-duration missions in cislunar space for validation before Mars-class mission transits. This paper will address this incremental and phased approach of NASA's deep-space habitat development strategy including the progression from Earth Reliant activities in LEO to advancing systems and operational capabilities in the Proving Ground of cislunar space and gradually transitioning toward Earth Independent missions. The near-term need for initial short-duration habitation beyond LEO will be explored including how this capability fulfills NASA's Human Exploration Objectives while leading to a validated system to conduct missions beyond the Earth-Moon system. Various implementation approaches will be discussed including potential commercial design concepts that are currently being investigated under the NextSTEP Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) including a summary of Phase 1 activities, a status on the progress of Phase 2 and forward work plans leading to the planned Phase 3. This paper will also address similar approaches and additions that are provided via international contributions as an integrated portion of the strategy for deep space habitation and the final acquisition approaches under consideration for Phase 3. The paper will conclude with a discussion of how each of the potential options and their element and program dependencies feed into decisions on implementation of habitation in deep space and commercial investment in LEO.