International Space Station Expedition 36 EVA-23

Cause: The suit of Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano had a leak and began to drown him on an Extra Vehicular Activity while performing a routine spacewalk on the ISS. The Fan Pump Separator of Parmitano's suit began to allow a liquid into the helmet. 

What happened?: The EVA was cut short due to the liquid in Parmintano's suit. He was able to survive the mishap.

Outcome: The NASA investigation into the leak discovered that the issue was that pressurized water was breaching the helmet through a fan inlet. 

On January 21, 2019 Emiliano Sala a soccer player, transferred from French team Nantes, to English Premier League club Cardiff City FC. He took his private jet, with his pilot David Ibbotson, and the night of January 21, contact with the plane had been lost, somewhere over the English Channel.

- The aircraft was a single-turbine aircraft, model Piper PA-46 Malibu.

- The police searched for 2-3 days, having almost no luck finding any sign of the aircraft. 

- They called off the search as all hope seemed to be lost, until players from around the world began donating money to have private search done.

- The accident was most likely caused by engine issues. The plane was flying at about 5000 feet, with excessive winds and snow storms, and little to no visibility.

- Emiliano Sala sent audio messages to friends, saying the plane he was on, appeared to be falling apart, and that he was excited to start training with his new club.

- He didn't want to travel that night, as he was very tired but he had obligations to his new club in England, so he took the first chance of transportation he could get.

- Sunday, February 3, 2019, body found in the wreckage.

- February 7, 2019 divers confirm body to be Emiliano Sala.

In mid 2017, Elon Musk laid out another of his in depth plans for how he will be landing humans on the surface of Mars by the mid 2020’s.  This is just one of many instances of the human spirit looking to inhabit the Red Planet.  From science fiction to reality, back to fiction, this endeavor is speculated to become somewhat common in many of our lifetimes.  But living on Mars is hard.  The nights are cold (so are the days), you can’t breathe, and the soil is toxic.  Overall the astronauts, visitors, and settlers who will be attempting stays on Mars will face some large challenges, but living on Mars is completely possible.  We live in space, we live underwater, we live in Antarctica, anything is possible.  

Between the public and the private sectors, the launch vehicles, deep space habitats, landing vehicles, long term habitats, space suits, and vehicles are being developed with extreme vigor, but one gap remains tucked between these various scales: the emergency shelter. With the number of complex factors in this new environment, the chances that something go wrong is quite high, and redundancy is key.  We will be filling this gap through an exploration into emergency shelters.  Starting with designing for our own climate difficulties in the Winter of Vermont, and eventually accounting for temperature, pressure, and air, we will eventually build up to full-scale, occupiable shelters.