World's tallest 3D-printed space habitat fits perfectly inside Starship

What will it be like living in space?

Danish architecture firm SAGA Space Architects worked with students between the ages of 6 and 18 at the Institut auf dem Rosenberg to build a Starship-ready space habitat.

The Institut auf dem Rosenberg, a Swiss boarding school, hopes the initiative will help students to dream of designing new space innovations.

Following years of work on the project, the space habitat prototype is now on display at a Swiss experimental park, a press statement explains.

A Starship-ready student space habitat

The habitat was designed to fit inside the shell of SpaceX's Mars-bound Starship launch vehicle, which could launch to orbit for the first time this summer.

The structure is a three-story building with various workstations for astronauts and areas where they can relax. It was revealed during a presentation on Wednesday, July 20, timed to coincide with the 53rd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

The prototype's impressive 23-foot (7-meter) stature makes it the world's tallest 3D-printed polymer structure.

According to the institute, students will complete "immersive learning modules" inside the habitat. "Our aim is to provide future leaders with early exposure to the question of advanced space exploration, allowing our students to approach and solve ... complex questions from a collaborative and holistic point of view," Bernhard Gademann, director general of Rosenberg, said in the statement.

The Rosenberg Space Habitat is the result of two years of work starting from "initial creative concepts and paper models", the institute explained. The 3D-printed outer shell was crafted by a partner company from Milan, Camozzi, while the interior structure was built by Ingersol in Copenhagen.

The team decided to use polymer due to the fact it "provides more versatility than concrete that is used in most 3D printed structures." The material also features a UV stabilizer to make it more durable against the high ultraviolet radiation on the moon and Mars.

New space habitat will help students embrace new technology

The prototype features a Spot robot that will help students during their learning modules, and modular furniture can be moved around to change up the workspace.

The institute explains that students will participate in projects to investigate "human well-being, using facilities to test hardware and software tools and applications and to develop monitoring tools for remote mission control systems. Learners will also explore the importance of sensory stimulation in remote living environments with light, sound, and smell installations."

The Rosenberg Space Habitat is designed to serve as a learning environment for students that will help them embrace new technologies and inspire them to design innovations for the next generation of space explorers.