SAGA has built four advanced space habitats for the harshest climates on Earth. The latest project is the construction of an analog lunar habitat for the European Space Agency (ESA). ESA is currently finalizing a recreation of the moon’s surface to train astronauts on earth for the crewed lunar mission, Artemis, in 2027. SAGA’s FLEXHab habitat is part of the 1000 m2 facility that simulates a real lunar base.
Sebastian Aristotelis explains that SAGA wants to show the world a new kind of space architecture.
“Traditionally, space architecture is made of plastic, aluminium, steel, and nylon – and it’s white. We wanted to show that the space architecture of the future could be organic. We use wool, cork, felt, and plywood for structures and interiors, wherever possible.”
Low off-gassing qualities are key in lunar habitat materials
Aristotelis says astronauts will live inside the 28m2 FLEXHab habitat for seven days, or even up to four weeks, meaning the compounds and materials must be healthy, with as little off-gassing as possible. That is one of the key reasons the interior of the habitat is lined with WISA®-Birch plywood.
“We had very specific material requirements. We needed the strongest, highest quality plywood with very high tolerance and high density, and we need as little off-gassing as possible from the surrounding materials in the habitat. You can’t get rid of toxic gases in space. We also needed a very healthy, organic glue inside the plywood. I looked around for different types and grades of plywood and I found WISA-Birch. The safety ratings for off-gassing were the highest in the world.”
A clean and safe indoor climate is an essential consideration already from the very beginning of the WISA plywood product design process. The formaldehyde emissions from WISA plywood are well below both US and EU limits for wood-based materials. WISA BioBond is used in the WISA product manufacturing is a new generation bonding solution that replaces a minimum of 50% of the fossil-based phenol in the plywood’s glue with bio-based lignin, the tree’s own natural adhesive.
Many elements in the habitat are made of WISA-Birch plywood: the tables, sleeping cabinets, cabinet interiors, and some of walls inside the habitat. Plywood is also used for some of the structures. Aristotelis calculates that they have used many hundreds of kilos – close to two tonnes – of plywood for the current habitat.
“It is funny that we are using this super nice, high quality furniture plywood, and in some places, you can’t even see it. But we still use it because of the off-gassing and structural benefits.”