Imagine being a deep-space astronaut.

You and your colleagues are floating hundreds of thousands of miles away from Earth, protected from the most hostile environment only by your habitat — an enclosed space station. A lot of things could go wrong, and help is months away. What if a piece of equipment malfunctions? What if a crew member becomes terminally ill, or a space object punctures the hull? You’ll be on your own.

That’s why the habitat needs to be sturdy. Not only does it need to endure space travel, but it must also provide protection from micrometeoroids, space radiation, fires and diseases. Furthermore, it must be able to recycle as much as 98% of water and 75% of oxygen.

To accomplish all that and more, such a habitat needs to be equipped with various systems and gear, such as life support, environmental monitoring, crew health, extra vehicular activity (EVA) space suits, fire-safety technologies and radiation-protection systems.

Those systems would be housed aboard pressurized habitation modules, used by astronauts in their daily lives aboard the space station. Since some missions can last 1,100 days or longer (Mars-bound missions, for example), it’s crucial that the habitat can accommodate multiple crew members over prolonged periods.

An artist’s concept of the interior of a deep space habitat. NASA

Obviously, there’s no room for errors or miscalculations. A lot of testing and prototyping needs to be done before viable models and technologies that can be used in a construction of a space-worthy habitat are developed. To accomplish this, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has decided to partner with the private sector.

“NASA is on an ambitious expansion of human spaceflight, including the Journey to Mars, and we’re utilizing the innovation, skill and knowledge of both the government and private sectors,” said Jason Crusan, director of NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems.

“The next human exploration capabilities needed ... are deep space, long-duration habitation and in-space propulsion. We are now adding focus and specifics on the deep space habitats where humans will live and work independently for months or years at a time, without cargo-supply deliveries from Earth,” NASA said when announcing the NextStep partnerships on Aug. 9.

To build functional prototypes of effective habitats, NASA selected the following six companies: Bigelow Aerospace, Boeing Co. BA, -2.97% , Lockheed Martin Corp. LMT, -3.93% , Orbital ATK Inc. US:OA, Sierra Nevada Corp.’s Space Systems and NanoRacks.

The companies have been given 24 months to develop ground prototypes of deep-space habitats or appropriate concept studies. This means that the final results are expected in 2018, with total contract awards of around $65 million.

NASA’s roadmap for a journey to Mars. NASA

This is part two (here’s part one) of a multi-level effort whose final goal is to launch manned missions to Mars and back. But to get there, NASA will first have to establish a viable habitat in space near the moon. Once properly tested and designed, it will serve as a real deep-space environment in which astronauts will operate. It will provide crucial data, which will be used to construct habitats and rockets that will carry crews and their cargo to the Red Planet.

This entire endeavor to create enduring private-public partnerships on NASA’s roadmap to Mars is called NextSTEP, or Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships. The success of the partnership with domestic companies will be used to gauge the level of necessary international involvement, and will provide a series of technological breakthroughs and advancements that may then be used to upgrade current habitation systems and components aboard the International Space Station.

Some concepts are already available for public scrutiny and are a good indication of the project’s magnitude:

Sierra Nevada Corp.’s habitation prototype, based on its Dream Chaser cargo module. Sierra Nevada Corporation/NASA

A feasibility study that NanoRacks will conduct on converting a launch vehicle’s upper stage into a habitable home. NanoRacks/NASA

Orbital ATK’s cislunar habitat based on the design of the Cygnus spacecraft. Orbital ATK/NASA

Lockheed Martin’s refurbished multi-purpose logistics module prototype. Lockheed Martin/NASA

Bigelow Aerospace’s XBASE docked at the International Space Station. Bigelow Aerospace

What do you think about NASA’s plan? Will humans set foot on Mars by 2030? Please let me know in the comment section below.