Annika Rollock presents TESSERAE Orbital Case Study at ICES 2024
“Development of a Flight-Scale TESSERAE Habitat Concept for Biotechnology Research Outpost Applications”
Annika Rollock presents the TESSERAE Orbital Case Study at a Space Architecture technical session at ICES 2024. Credit: Georgi Petrov
Aurelia’s Vice President of Engineering Annika Rollock returned to the International Conference on Environmental Systems this year to present the engineering team’s most recent work on our ongoing TESSERAE case study. “Development of a Flight-Scale TESSERAE Habitat Concept for Biotechnology Research Outpost Applications” was published in the ICES 2024 Proceedings last month.
At ICES last year, Dr. Rollock presented Aurelia’s Space Architecture Trade Study: a first-of-its-kind deep dive review of a broad array of habitat papers, concepts, and designs for space to catalog past, present, and future designs and assess feasibility. Following the publication of the initial Trade Study results, the research team conducted a preliminary design analysis of a flight-scale version of our self-assembling TESSERAE habitat. In the executive summary published earlier this year the team provides an overview of the Orbital Case Study, including initial design considerations, alignment with space industry goals, and the status of current trades for power, thermal, structures, and additional sub-systems.
The ICES paper describes the team’s initial findings from the Orbital Case Study. Co-authored by Rollock, Max Pommier, and Ariel Ekblaw of Aurelia Institute as well as Wiliam O’Hara of Final Frontiers LLC, the paper covers the mission overview of a projected biotechnology research station in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), applies human-centered design principles and rigorous engineering figures of merit to the design, interior concepts, power and life support systems, outfitting considerations, and more. Rollock presented the case study in a Space Architecture technical session.