Next Stop: Jupiter? How Kazakh teens are shaping the future of space settlements with NASA

The team’s visionary projects, YURT and Icarus, imagine autonomous space habitats near Jupiter, designed for sustainable human life. The inspiration came from earlier experiences in space-themed challenges, explains Anastassiya Tsoy, a member of the first-place team: “We heard about this contest because we participated in Space Hack 2024. There we won first place, and it inspired us to participate in the International Space Settlement Contest. We have chosen the name Yurt in honor of the traditional nomadic dwelling. We were very interested in Jupiter's orbit, so we have chosen the orbit near Jupiter that occasionally passes close to Ganymede and Calypso.”

Her team, including Yuliya Kim, Kamila Ertyskizy, and Ilyas Daulet, presented YURT, an orbital station near Jupiter designed for 30,000 people, equipped with an artificial gravity system and full life-support infrastructure.

The second-place team, the Icarus project, envisioned a modular space station orbiting Ganymede, the largest and most massive moon of Jupiter and the entire solar system, designed to accommodate up to 45,000 residents. Led by Assan Tabyldy and mentored by 12th-grade student Adil Sandykbayev, the team adopted a highly experimental and flexible approach to their design.

When asked how they approached challenges like designing an artificial gravity system, Sandykbayev explained, "Well, the artificial gravity system is quite complex. It required much knowledge in physics, but mostly it's about creativity. I guess every high schooler knows the mechanism of creating artificial gravity, but in order to make it suitable for the environment that we built, it required much more creativity than actual knowledge.”

Assan Tabyldy elaborated on the development process: “The artificial gravity was created using spinning model modules. There were huge rings attached to the central cylinder, and the rings were spun using engines that were attached to parts of the ring, and these engines spun the ring, creating artificial gravity.”

As for the conceptual foundation, Tabyldy elaborated on where the core idea came from: “We took inspiration from Gerard K. O'Neill's works, the founder of the space settlement contest. We decided to take inspiration from the O'Neill cylinder, but the O'Neill cylinders weren't suitable for the modularity of the station. Instead, we decided to make rings that will resemble a new cylinder but will be modular.”

The competition, with more than 26,000 students participating, was challenging; however, as Tabyldy explained, the uniqueness of Kazakhstan teams work lies in the chosen approach.

“I feel that what makes us stand out is our experimental approach,” he said. “Because to create energy, we used wings in the atmosphere of Jupiter and wind turbines attached to those wings and to calculate all physical data we needed for the lift coefficient of the wing. We built a wind tunnel in our laboratory.”

Learning that they placed second was a thrilling moment for all: “When we first found out we took second place, we were excited. We decided to order pizza at our laboratory, where we were sitting, so we celebrated this, and we also called our mentors and thanked them.”

Looking to the future, the students were asked what they believed the first steps should be if their concepts were ever to be realized. “I think the first steps necessary to build those stations are to prepare people who will live there because life beyond earth is very challenging. Therefore, people who live there should be not only prepared mentally but also prepared physically, and they should be educated about the cause and about living beyond Earth's atmosphere,” Tabyldy responded.

Tsoy agreed with practical concerns. She believes that the project can become a reality in 100 years or more; however, there are still limitations due to problems that need to be solved first: “I think that the first step is to find a transport to Jupiter and also to find money because the financial potential of your station is approximately $22 trillion, so it would be hard to find financial aid. Also, I agree with Assan that we need to prepare people first.”

Discussing the future of space settlements, Tabyldy shared a long-term vision: “I think first, settlements in space will be purely scientific settlements. They will not be automated, and they will not be autocratic. Soon, in 100–200 years, people will be able to create autonomous stations on the surface of the planet as well as in its orbit.”

On whether these student innovations could shape space technologies, he confidently asserted that “our projects have innovations in them, and those innovations are assessed by people in a professional environment such as NASA and the National Space Society. Those people take ideas they see in the projects and apply them in real-world situations.”

As for their personal ambitions, both teams are optimistic and patriotic. “All of our members haven't chosen their path in the future yet, but we definitely are confident that we want to develop the space sphere in Kazakhstan because we have Baikonur in Kazakhstan, and we think that Kazakhstan has great space potential,” Tsoy said.

Tabyldy added that “the Icarus team is dedicated to improving life in Kazakhstan and especially improving aerospace in Kazakhstan. We have great potential. We have a lot of resources as well as a lot of space to build new cosmo ports and space to build launch pads for the rockets. So Kazakhstan has great potential, and we are eager to develop it.”

He also said that the idea to go to space is a possibility in their minds: “If it's possible in the future for tourists without special training or with a short amount of training to visit space, we would definitely be eager to visit space, especially low Earth orbit or stations on Jupiter's orbit.”

Earlier, it was reported that NASA astronauts have returned to Earth after 9 months in space.