Xavier De Kestelier: Adventures of an interplanetary architect
Xavier De Kestelier: Las aventuras de un arquitecto interplanetario
Xavier De Kestelier is an architect and technologist with a passion for human space exploration. Full bio
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to an exhibition on space,
exposición sobre el espacio,
I think it was 1988,
between the Americans and the Russians
rusos y estadounidenses
transbordador espacial,
they brought a Mir space station.
una estación espacial Mir.
era el módulo de entrenamiento,
and check it all out.
where the wires were,
where they were working.
los lugares para trabajar.
I started drawing spaceships.
a dibujar naves espaciales.
science fiction spaceships, no.
de ciencia ficción, no.
would be made out of,
conformarían la estructura,
where the screws were.
y los tornillos.
become a space engineer,
en los que he participado
that I've been involved with
con formas bastante diferentes,
quite different shapes,
for different environments.
para diferentes entornos.
becomes really interesting
se pone realmente interesante
have been all over the world.
this map wasn't good enough.
no era lo suficientemente bueno.
a project on the Moon
un proyecto en la Luna
un hábitat lunar...
at a habitation on Mars.
una habitación en Marte.
the precedents that are there.
los precedentes que están allí.
it's kind of difficult, of course,
es un poco difícil, por supuesto,
I wasn't even born yet,
yo ni siquiera había nacido aún,
a long camping trip, isn't it,
largo viaje de campamento, ¿no?,
on another planet or a moon,
en otro planeta o en una luna,
how to get it there.
to the Moon's surface,
a la superficie lunar,
El espacio es limitado, ¿sí?
by seven meters, not that much.
no mucho.
or compactable, and light,
o compactable, y liviano,
to a very harsh environment like the Moon.
tan duro como el de la Luna.
en una base lunar
it could be 100 degrees Celsius
podría haber 100 °C
it could be minus 100 degrees.
podría haber menos -100 °C.
any magnetic fields,
solar radiation, cosmic radiation --
-- sea solar o cósmica --
from that as well,
will not get burned up,
que llegue a ella no se quemará,
a los astronautas de eso.
the astronauts from that.
estructura necesitamos?
y necesitamos masa.
and we need mass.
ourselves from the temperatures,
de las temperaturas,
as you can see.
como pueden ver.
and a lot of lab space,
y mucho espacio de laboratorio,
the support structures in,
y también la cámara de aire.
that domed structure,
esa estructura abovedada,
to get this material from?
from Earth to the Moon?
de la Tierra a la Luna?
because it's way too heavy.
porque es demasiado pesado.
and use local materials.
y usar materiales locales.
we deal with on Earth as well.
en la Tierra.
en cualquier país que construyamos,
or whatever country we build in,
what are the local materials here?
what are the local materials?
¿cuáles son los materiales locales?
regolith, Moon regolith.
regolito, regolito lunar.
up to a few meters everywhere.
por todos lados.
qué es una impresora 3D,
what a 3D printer is,
probably something about this size
tal vez es algo de este tamaño
that are about this size.
a massive 3D printer to the Moon
a la Luna una impresora 3D enorme
something like this one here.
más pequeño, algo como esto.
a small robot rover,
un pequeño robot,
a thin layer of regolith,
the robot that will solidify it,
structure that we're printing,
es bastante particular,
is a closed-cell foam structure.
de espuma de celda cerrada.
to solidify certain parts,
ciertas partes,
less binder from Earth,
menos aglutinante de la Tierra,
with a protective dome
nuestro proyecto de Marte.
printing these dome structures.
estas estructuras de domo.
between Mars and the Moon,
entre Marte y la Luna,
and the real distance,
y la distancia real,
Curiosity, looking back at Earth.
mirando hacia la Tierra.
that's Earth, 400 million kilometers away.
a 400 millones de km de distancia.
of the Earth to the Moon, pretty far away,
de la Tierra a la Luna es muy distante,
con, por ejemplo, el rover Curiosity.
with, for example, the Curiosity rover.
desde la Tierra.
ve a la izquierda",
would take 20 minutes to get to Mars.
20 minutos en llegar a Marte.
before it can tell me,
antes de que pueda decirme,
de manera autónoma.
son altamente riesgosas.
doesn't arrive at Mars.
no llega a Marte?
just one or two rovers
solo uno o dos rovers
a termite's mound, you know?
of the colony of the termites away,
de termitas,
to build the mound.
or robots don't arrive,
o los robots no llegan,
but you will still be able to do it.
pero aún se podrá hacer.
three different rovers.
tres rovers diferentes.
and bringing it to the structure.
y llevarlo a la estructura.
the little ones with the little legs,
los pequeños con patitas,
and sit on a layer of regolith
create that dome structure.
esa estructura de domo.
enjambre de robots.
It's a small swarm.
Es un pequeño enjambre.
to move sand around,
or giving them a predescribed path.
derecha, ni dio un camino predeterminado.
an obstacle, like a rock,
un obstáculo, como una roca,
their batteries died,
o se agotaban sus baterías,
to finish that task.
we decided to do three domes,
decidimos hacer tres domos
podrían formar una base,
each of the domes
porque cada uno de los domos
built in the floor,
de la vida construido en el piso,
well, this is pretty crazy.
bueno, esto es bastante loco.
get involved in space?
se involucró con el espacio?
or a design view,
o una mirada de diseño,
and really constrained problems.
que tienen muchas limitaciones.
a place for design and architecture
para el diseño y la arquitectura
interplanetary habitation.
otros cuerpos celestes.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Xavier De Kestelier - Architect, technologistXavier De Kestelier is an architect and technologist with a passion for human space exploration.
Why you should listen
Xavier De Kestelier is interested in designing long-term space habitats and believes that architects have a crucial role to play in the design of any future settlements on Mars or the moon. He has worked on research projects with both ESA and NASA and is interested to see how 3D printed structures could protect astronauts from solar radiation, meteorites and extreme temperatures.
He was previously co-Head of Foster + Partners' Specialist Modelling Group (SMG), the architecture practice’s multi-disciplinary research and development group.
Over the years De Kestelier has been a Visiting Professor at Ghent University, Adjunct Professor at Syracuse University and a Teaching Fellow at The Bartlett School of Architecture. Since 2010, he has been one of the directors of Smartgeometry, a non-profit educational organisation for computational design and digital fabrication.
Based in London, De Kestelier is currently principal and executive board member at international design practice HASSELL where he leads the global efforts in design technology and digital innovation.
Xavier De Kestelier | Speaker | TED.com