Space technology in construction

2005/03/01 Kortabitarte Egiguren, Irati - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Materialak
• Teknologia

The European space agency (ESA) has designed with space technology the new base that the Germans will install in Antarctica, Neumayer-III. German scientists want to ensure that the environment is the least damaged possible and the ESA house meets this requirement.

However, the idea of building a space house on Earth arose about five years ago, following the earthquake of Izmit (Turkey) in 1999. Taking advantage of the space technology, those of the ESA wanted to build a house totally safe before the earthquake.

Aesthetics of fiction

The house of the Germans has a spherical aspect. The materials are also special and are designed to avoid vibrations and harm the environment.

The building has an area of approximately 3,300 m 2 and is designed to be autonomous. It uses solar energy efficiently. At the same time, it has cutting-edge water recycling and purification systems. Among the experts also revolves the idea of launching a system to remove pathogenic particles from the air.

The initial objective was to use CFRP lightweight material (carbon-fire-reinforced-plastic). This is what those of the ESA use in the great structures of spacecraft, in the antennas and in the solar panels, since it offers sufficient protection to face a sudden earthquake. However, this last argument generates numerous opposing opinions since in the current design steel and reinforced cement are used to maintain induced forces. The CFRP offers multiple design options for both the interior and the exterior of the house.

In parallel to the development of compounds such as carbon fibre, for example, the possibility of natural fibers used in automotive for the construction sector is being studied. In this way, the combination of these last and carbon fibers can be used for the construction of walls and secondary structures of the home.

Engineers and designers proposed a structure of 12 ‘legs’ and spherical shapes, since thanks to the legs, the house is more protected from soil movements. Thus, the house is able to withstand earthquakes of 7 degrees on the Richter scale, winds of 220 km/h and floods of 3 meters, among others.

The construction of houses in Antarctica must be, in particular, of great mobility and that do not generate any type of pollution. They must ensure the strict environmental legislation of Antarctica. And, of course, they have to endure an unpleasant environment or, as it were, in some way, cold temperatures.

For this project, the German government has contributed 26 million euros and, if everything goes well, the Neumayer-III will replace Neumayer-III in 2008.

All mentioned is, of course, a concrete and singular project that no one questions. However, the construction sector is of great importance at the European level, in which approximately 28% of the European population works. In addition, the influence of new technologies in recent years is manifested in numerous buildings, with the incorporation of new materials and techniques. The main objective of these new technologies is energy saving and cost reduction.

The relationship between the environment and construction is growing. However, photovoltaic solar energy, thermal solar and geothermal energy are still used in very few households. Therefore, we still cannot speak of a technologically very advanced sector. However, experts consider that space technology will contribute little by little interesting and beneficial solutions for the construction sector.

Space technologies in everyday life Below are some ‘small’ examples that allow to amortize the enormous expense that is made in the exploration of space and show that it is not useless to society. Do they have anything to do with space ships and hams? It seems that more and more. In fact, the controls made by the ham before their commercialization are currently performed by systems designed to analyze the health status of astronauts. In the San Sebastian shell, the buoy sensor that has analysed the quality of water in summer, is the same technology designed to study the air of spacecraft. They have also created pyjamas to prevent the sudden death of children through the astronauts' health control garments. The knee prosthesis of the paraolithic athlete Czyz Wojt has also been made with space technology. With this technology he won three medals and a record in the Athenian games. With the technology and material developed for space, the carbon fiber, a band of antenna expansion was transformed into a knee prosthesis. The accelerometers designed for spacecraft gave rise to airbags currently used in cars.

Bioclimatic architecture

More and more homes, factories, offices are needed... and is constantly being built in every corner of the world. However, it is rarely taken into account the environmental impact of a building.

In this sense, more than one architect has begun to care for the design of buildings to minimize the discomfort to the environment. That is, the term bioclimatic architecture is still not very known, but more and more are heard.

How is bioclimatic architecture defined? It is an architecture adapted to the environment, which tries to generate the lowest possible impact on the environment and that seeks to reduce pollution by reducing energy consumption. All this with a design and an adequate selection of materials, taking advantage of everything that the environment offers.

The main energy source of bioclimatic housing is the Sun. It is the easiest energy to find and take advantage of anywhere, economically, clean and not exhaustible. And it is that no one can deny that the Sun is an excellent source of energy. Every day we receive from Earth an enormous amount of energy from the Sun and have learned to exploit this treasure.

The energy emitted by the Sun has two ways of application: the direct use of heat, that is, the thermal use, and the transformation of this energy into electricity, that is, the use of energy by the photovoltaic way. The design of the bioclimatic house aims to make the most of solar energy. This energy is used to heat the house, illuminate and heat the water.

In this sense, the construction works of an educational center with a bioclimatic building in Tolosa will begin in May. The building will adapt to the topography of the terrain, with a strict and compact typology, with thermal insulation and that guarantees energy savings thanks to its special narrows. In addition, it will be oriented to the East-West, with solar façade to the South with various energy accumulation systems: glass gallery, thermal and photovoltaic panels, etc.

The new building will also have water saving resources. For this purpose, rainwater will be collected and reused in the toilets and irrigation. Lighting and elevator of low consumption, special boiler of gas...