--- title: "IKEA Designed the Interior of a Mars Habitat" description: "IKEA interior designer Christina Levenborn just helped researchers outfit the Mars Desert Research Station, a Mars analogue habitat in the Utah desert." date: "2019-12-03" modified: "2019-12-03" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/ikea-designed-interior-mars-habitat" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Mars" - "Space" tags: - "habitats" - "IKEA" - "mars" - "the digest" --- # IKEA Designed the Interior of a Mars Habitat ![IKEA interior designer Christina Levenborn just helped researchers outfit the Mars Desert Research Station, a Mars analogue habitat in the Utah desert.]() *\Image: IKEA\* ## ÅSTRO IKEA interior designer Christina Levenborn just helped researchers outfit the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), a habitat in the Utah desert that acts as an analogue for the Martian surface, [*Fast Company* reports](). IKEA designers have been trying to come up with new methods to make the cramped space feel like a home while maximizing utility. The vision is surprisingly similar to what you'd find in an Earth-based IKEA furniture store: adjustable stools, stackable chairs, and movable trolleys. "We tried to work with products for small-space living situations that could be arranged in a flexible and multifunctional way," Levenborn said. "For the habitat, we brought products on wheels for mobile living, stools for seating, and table surfaces and stackable chairs for saving space." ## Flat Packs The MDRS habitat is a 26-feet-tall domed cylinder that includes a lab, workshop, kitchen, and six small sleeping bunks. Six researchers often spend up to a couple of months in the tight living space, studying the day-to-day experience of what it might be to live on the Red Planet. "We chose to maximize communal space and minimize private space," Robert Zubrin, president of the space advocacy group that runs MDRS, said in [a statement](). "Each crew member has a small bunk they can retire to when they want to be alone, but the space they share is fairly large." The Swedish furniture brand has also released a [collection]() of MDRS-inspired homewares last year, including a rocket-shaped indoor terrarium, and space-age-y air purifiers. **READ MORE:** [Now that Ikea has colonized Earth, it’s going after Mars]() \[*Fast Company*\] **More on IKEA:** *[IKEA Wants to Sell You Robotic Furniture for Your Tiny Apartment]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()