Building a Lunar Home

NASA's plans to send astronauts to Mars are dependent on getting back to the moon first and setting up an outpost there to use as a jumping-off point for exploring the Red Planet. That, in turn, requires housing people on the moon for extended periods of time.

Smithsonian reports that figuring out where and how they'll live is the job of Robert Howard Jr., manager of NASA's "habitability design center" at Johnson Space Center in Houston. His challenges are many, including making sure that astronauts are shielded from solar radiation. And then there's the "eww" factor, the magazine reports: "In a waterless environment every drop of H2O, including sweat and urine, must be recycled and purified."

Options for the lunar outpost range from aluminum tubes to giant balloons.

(Hat tip: BoingBoing)