In space, no one will hear you scream about the lack of luxury

Aerospace design will be the thing of the future so we have to start introducing it to the young generation. After 10 years there will be a boom in this industry RAFFI TCHAKERIAN Industrial aerospace designer

How are we going to play football on the Red Planet? What are the hobbies human beings can develop on Mars?

They may seem like questions straight out of science fiction – but as the UAE plans to establish the first human settlement on Mars by 2117, students in Dubai are being asked to find the answers nearly 100 years early.

Pre-college students can help to design the lifestyle of the future at a free workshop being hosted by Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation, starting on Tuesday.

The three-day event, called Living on Mars, will be led by industrial aerospace designer and institute faculty member Raffi Tchakerian.

As space travel will become the norm in the future, there will be a boom in the demand for aerospace designers, Mr Tchakerian said.

The workshop will teach participants how to develop Mars habitation concepts and come up with sustainable settlement proposals that will enable people to survive and create new civilisations in space.

“Design until now has been foreign to aerospace,” Mr Tchakerian said. “Most of it was handled by engineers and rocket scientists.

“Today, for the first time, we have designers getting access to space.

“When you have the public gaining access to this harsh environment, it will be a problem if it’s not designed by people who understand human factors and the delicate nature of trapping someone in a closed environment.

“There is a desperate need for creative minds to design and tackle the interactions between humans, the tools and technologies they will use, and the environments in which they will live, especially in outer space,” he said.

Designers will be needed to create completely new environments to make sure people do not suffer from monotony and boredom, be it through creating a virtual reality environment or new games, including holographic ones.

The number of designers who are working in aerospace is limited.

“Aerospace design will be the thing of the future so we have to start introducing it to the young generation who want to tackle design,” Mr Tchakerian said.

“This is something they will be doing five to 10 years from now. After 10 years there will be a boom in this industry.”

During the workshop, students will design shelters and habitats using the resources found on site.

“They will use mud, glue, synthetic material, sand, 3D printers and 3D modelling devices. The students will have to create a new lifestyle.

“They will choose locations on Mars.

“Each person will choose where they want to build and they will envision what this future colony will look like,” Mr Tchakerian said.