HAB & EVA structural integrity
EVA suit takes much stress.
The idea is tha every material has it's limit of how much can it withstand.
First space suit were designed to whitstand hours.
Todays EVA suits at LEO are prepared to work days before they need maintance.
Future moon EVA suit for the constelation program will have to be as strong to be in perfect shape for weeks.
Mars EVA suits are of nothing to camparison. They have to withstand months - even years of continuall usage without failing.
Thay are more exploited too (how long did it take YOU to go from MAIN HAB to BIO HAB and return?). Besides - martian suits have to endure sandstorms, which are not encountered anywhere else.
Every time you bend down to take a sample, every time you make a step, every time you take a breath, make a jump out of very high or be hit by a rover/micrometeorite etc., you are compromising the structural integrity of your suit. Ther's nothing you can do to stop with it, so just live with it (or not!). The only thing you can do is to diagnose the loses and repair your EVA.
That is why a suit must be maintained properly. Every couple of days (weeks?) of gameplay you need to go to the maintence stand and diagnose how much your EVA is used-up. Then you can make some minor repairs to patch-it up. If you don't do that you might find yourselve in a trouble while you are using your suit. It can malfunction and you would loose air, heat, power, stamina or ever your life in a decomperrion.
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With HUB it's very similar. The walls can be hit by common micro-meteorite shower, be irratiated, korode, erode, be hit by a rover
etc...
In this cases a microfracture will emerge. This microfractures are the leading couse of oxygen, heat and power loses over the years in ISS. It's only natural that on Mars where the materials are beying tested even more you will need to check them one in a while....and repair the damages. If you dont repair the microfractures they will grow over time and losses in oxygen, heat (etc.) will be the least of your problems when the entire HAB will be depreasurized! The only way to repair the damages is to count your loses, seal-off the section with a hole in the wall, go outside and patch it up.
An image of an microfracture.
How do you search for microfractures and conserve the walls of your habitat?
You simply take a tool kit and check every single hull-plate on the outside. If you discover a microfacture on one of them you just repair it. By maintaining the plates regulary (once every full-moon
) you ensure than none of the microfractures will apear soon.
Habitat wall plates. Each one of them will need to be checked every once in a while.
