Human interstellar exploration involves navigating through a realm of significant uncertainty. Assessing the exact impact and consequences of moving at high velocities through the interstellar medium is challenging. Interstellar space is home to considerable amounts of cosmic dust, comprising microscopic particles with a wide range of sizes and compositions. At high speeds, spacecraft face significant risks from accumulating collisions with these particles. However, the expansive nature of interstellar space currently makes it impossible to accurately measure and chart the spread of this dust along specific trajectories. Interstellar space is also filled with high-energy cosmic rays, emitted by distant stars and other cosmic bodies. Dominated by protons and atomic nuclei, these cosmic rays travel nearly at the speed of light. The enduring effects of exposure to such radiation on the spacecraft, its crew, and the life support systems that sustain them remain unknown. The question then arises how to design an interstellar spacecraft capable of withstanding such inherent uncertainties. The solution requires a system robust enough to remain functional across diverse conditions. To try to cover for all possibilities in a top-down approach quickly becomes unfeasible. A promising direction is a bio-inspired adaptative approach. The Evolving Asteroid Starships (E|A|S) project integrates the utilization and recycling of local resources, self-organization, and bioregenerative principles to create a resilient spacecraft design. This aligns with the top priorities from NASEM's 2023 decadal survey, emphasizing space research on circular materials and bioregenerative life support. Within the framework of the E|A|S project, two distinct computer models have been developed, aiming for their eventual integration into a unified multi-model system. The inspiration for these models came in part from ESA's MELiSSA program and a visionary 1982 NASA study on a self-replicating lunar factory. Once living artificial ecosystems and self-organizing architectures are deployed, one is confronted with potential chaotic behaviour characteristic of complex systems. Sets of critical conditions that can push an otherwise stable self-sustaining system into collapse and failure were identified. It's crucial to gain a deeper understanding of how these systems function over extended periods, both under ideal environmental conditions and within the unpredictable exacting context of the interstellar medium. To address these challenges, the key drivers of systemic resilience (or lack thereof) were identified through an exploration of the characteristics of the individual components of each system. Moreover, potential mitigation strategies were also explored. These include enlarging buffer capacities, integrating redundancy, and enhancing system adaptability.

Space-based manufacturing is considered a crucial next step for the further development of human settlement in space. There are vast quantities of building resources distributed throughout space, with asteroids among the most apparent candidates for large-scale mining and resource provision. In this presentation, we present a hybrid simulation model in which building materials extracted from asteroids are used in a differential 3D manufacturing process to create expanding modular space architecture. This work is part of the larger research programme E|A|S (Evolving Asteroid Starships) in which concepts for self-developing and evolvable interstellar spacecraft are being created by the DSTART team at Delft University of Technology. A high-level 'factory model' has been created that simulates the different steps of an entire production chain. The functions of the core disjunct components of the model range from mining, processing, storage, and 3D printing to biological life support and habitation. The model's backbone consists of a heuristic based on a decision tree that handles multiple incoming production requests. Architectural production is needed to cope with (1) population growth of the inhabitants, and (2) the need for replacement of modules due to space weathering caused by particle impact and structural fatigue caused by high-energy cosmic radiation. The simulation model combines DEVS (discrete event system specification) and DESS (differential equation system specification) approaches and includes an abstract animated visualization. The model allows the user to keep track of material flows, bottlenecks and production efficiencies. In a series of simulation experiments three parameters are varied: (1) system properties (including aspects such as processing speed and storage capacity), (2) resource availability (by varying the chemical composition of the asteroids), and (3) production demand (which depends on population dynamics and the need for module replacement). These experiments are designed to increase understanding of the performance of the envisioned system under different conditions. In this paper, the results of these different simulation experiments are described and compared. The relevance for the larger project goals of E|A|S are discussed, and conclusions are drawn for future research on evolvable space architecture concepts.