Categories
20th Century

Retro NASA Concepts for Space Habitats

The Stanford Torus

The is called the Stanford Torus, and it was introduced in 1975 as a proposed design for a space habitat. The Stanford Torus got its name from the proposal being discussed at Stanford University, and the design including a torus – a doughnut shaped ring. mmm Space donut

Exterior View, art by Don Davis. Source
Exterior View, art by Don Davis. Source

The ring rotates once per minute creating artificial gravity from the centrifugal force. Stanford Torus was designed to house 10,000 to 40,000 permanent residents. Sunlight was provide to the interior via solar mirrors.

Cutaway View, exposing the interior, art by Rick Guidice. Source
Cutaway View, exposing the interior, art by Rick Guidice. Source

The torus would require nearly 10 million tons of mass! Construction would have to use materials extracted from the moon or asteroids. Luna soil would be used as a radiation shield.

The Bernal Sphere

This space habitat was first proposed in 1929 by John Desmond Bernal. It was described as a hollow non-rotating spherical shell with a 10 mile diameter, filler with air. It was to hold 20,000 to 30,000 people.

Interior view looking out through large windows, art by Rick Guidice. Source
Interior view looking out through large windows, art by Rick Guidice. Source
Cutaway view of Bernal Sphere, art by Rick Guidice. Source
Cutaway view of Bernal Sphere, art by Rick Guidice. Source
Exterior View, art by Rick Guidice. Source
Exterior View, art by Rick Guidice. Source

Images are from NASA on The Commons and are under Public Domain License. Information is from Wikipedia(CC BY-SA 3.0).