Book Review: Creature Comforts in Space
Creature Comforts in Space: Designing Enjoyment & Sustainability for Off-World Living
Samuel M. Coniglio IV
141 pages
2024
While the public pays a lot of attention to spectacular rocket launches, people are far less focused on what it takes to live and work in space. We’ve all seen video of astronauts floating around in microgravity, but what challenges do they face in that novel environment? The world’s two space stations are in low Earth orbit, where they are regularly resupplied and their occupants are protected from damaging radiation by the van Allen Belt. As NASA and other space agencies plan human missions to the Moon and Mars, the task of keeping astronauts safe, healthy, and comfortable will become more difficult.
Sam Coniglio shines a light on these issues in his new book, “Creature Comforts in Space: Designing Enjoyment & Sustainability for Off-World Living.” The book, which has a forward by Space Frontier Foundation Co-founder Rick Tumlinson, is divided into five chapters that examine different aspects of living and working in space.
Chapter 1 deals with the dangers, opportunities and analogs of space. Exposure to vacuum is fatal, microgravity weakens bones, and radiation raises the risks of cancer. Coniglio explores the systems needed to keep people alive on deep space missions, the benefits and challenges of artificial gravity habitats, and what was learned from the Biosphere 2 project in Arizona.
The second chapter examines how space food and drinks have come a long way since the early days when astronauts ate and drank out of tubes. Astronauts on missions to Mars will be difficult to resupply, so new approaches to feeding them via advances in food storage and in-space greenhouses will be needed.
Particularly interesting is the author’s work with designers Nick Donaldson and Brent Heyning to develop a zero gravity cocktail glass. In spite of limited funding, they made good progress only to be stopped by NASA, which doesn’t allow its astronauts to carry alcohol to the International Space Station. There is probably a market for the glass on private space stations expected to begin operation in the late 2020’s.
How do you go to the bathroom in space? Well, it’s complicated. Coniglio has a few ideas about how to improve the disposal and processing of human waste in Chapter 3.
NASA’s Skylab and Soviet space stations had collapsible showers that allowed astronauts and cosmonauts to get clean on a periodic basis. These were not very successful because of the time and effort to set them up and clean them afterward. There is no shower aboard the ISS; instead, astronauts use wet wipes, wash cloths, towels and no wash shampoo to stay clean. Coniglio discusses his idea for an advanced shower system that could be used on future space stations and deep space missions.
Chapter 5 covers other creature comforts to make life better in space, including space robots, vacuum cleaners, space games, zero-gravity yoga, and more.
Coniglio’s ideas are informed by his experience in camping, which includes multiple trips to the Burning Man gathering in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. He has clearly thought a lot about these subjects, which he explains in an easy-to-understand manner. There are images and illustrations throughout the book.
“Creature Comforts” in Space is an excellent book for anyone wanting an overview of what it is like to live and work in space.
Where to Buy It
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Creature Comforts in Space: Designing Enjoyment and Sustainability for Off-World Living
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Creature Comforts in Space: Designing Enjoyment and Sustainability for Off-World Living
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