Aegis Station
Creators: name: Aaron C Smith
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025

description: Executive Summary

The Aegis Station Project proposes building humanity’s first scalable orbital city, assembled in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), with radiation shielding sourced from lunar ice mining.

By minimizing mass lifted from Earth and exploiting in-situ lunar resources, Aegis becomes a sustainable stepping-stone to Mars, the asteroid belt, and beyond.

The station's modular, expandable design creates artificial gravity via rotation, shields crews from cosmic radiation, and serves as a logistics and research hub for the Solar System.
description: Aegis Station Technical Description




Overview

Aegis Station is a modular, rotating orbital habitat designed for long-duration human habitation in space. Initially assembled in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) (~400–500 km altitude), Aegis combines artificial gravity generation, radiation shielding sourced from lunar water, and expansion capabilities to serve as a sustainable platform for research, industry, and interplanetary mission staging.

The Station is intended as humanity’s first permanent off-Earth settlement and scalable space city.




Structural Design



Core Design:



Central non-rotating hub housing docking ports, communication arrays, and central utilities.

Primary structural backbone for power transfer and logistics coordination.


Spinning Habitat Ring:



Rotating at ~1.5 RPM (one revolution every ~40 seconds).

Major radius: ~150 meters.

Tube minor radius (cross-section): ~50 meters.

Generates ~0.5g centrifugal artificial gravity at habitation level.

Internal subdivisions: living quarters, research labs, medical facilities, hydroponics, recreational areas.


Hull Protection:



Double-wall construction:



Inner pressure hull (crew compartments).

Outer hull (micrometeoroid protection).


Intermediate water shielding layer (1–3 meters thick, sourced from lunar ice) provides radiation protection against cosmic rays and solar storms.


Expansion Capability:



Modular node ports allow connection of additional habitat rings, laboratories, and manufacturing facilities over time.






Energy and Life Support



Power Systems:



Solar array wings mounted on non-rotating hub.

Small backup fission reactor or radioisotope generators for redundancy.


Life Support Systems:



Closed-loop oxygen, carbon dioxide scrubbing, and water recycling.

Hydroponics modules supplement food and oxygen production.


Radiation Mitigation:



Primary radiation protection achieved with lunar-harvested water shield surrounding the crewed areas.

Emergency hardened shelters within core modules for intense solar flare events.






Docking and Logistics



Docking Facilities:



Central hub supports multiple spacecraft at once.

Capable of receiving crew transports, cargo supply ships, and water tanker vehicles.


Elevator Systems:



Pressurized elevator shafts connect the stationary core to the rotating ring.

Systems incorporate maglev-style low-friction mechanisms for safe transfer.






Key Dimensions and Masses






Feature



Value







Major Ring Radius



150 meters





Tube Minor Radius



50 meters





Dry Station Mass (no water)



~550 metric tons





Full Mass with Water Shield (1m)



~800–900 metric tons





Crew Capacity



60–100 (expandable to 200+)





Water Mass for Shielding



~287,000 metric tons (for 1m thick layer)








Primary Functions

✅ Permanent human orbital habitation.✅ Deep-space vehicle assembly and refueling hub.✅ Scientific research across zero-g and partial-g environments.✅ Emergency shelter capability for Earth-based disasters.✅ Future Solar System expansion staging base.




Strategic Importance

By combining LEO accessibility, lunar resource harvesting, and modular expansion, Aegis Station is the critical foundation for long-term space settlement and industrialization.

It provides the infrastructure needed for Mars missions, asteroid resource operations, and future colonies around outer Solar System bodie