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The terrestrial prototype of the lunar bridge of the Sierra Nevada Corp. is deployed at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on August 21, 2019. The large inflatable structure's housing, or LIFE, is inflated to its expanded diameter of 27 feet (8 meters).
(Image credit: Robert Z. Pearlman / Space.com)
HOUSTON – One day, astronauts can orbit the moon, live on the lunar surface or travel to Mars in a multi-storey inflatable habitat, if NASA had adopted the model of a Colorado company.
Sierra Nevada Corp. (CNS), Wednesday, Aug. 21, took a close look at its full NASA model Moon door, a human-assisted orbital platform to support missions on the moon's surface and future flights into deep space. Developed as part of the agency's NeXTSTEP-2 (space technologies for the exploration partnerships-2) contract, the SNC Earth prototype is one of five concepts that NASA is evaluating for a future use as part of its Artemis architecture program.
Johnson Space Center has just completed the tests and they have put a team inside for about three days – what they call "daily tests," said Steve Lindsey, SNC vice president. Space Exploration Systems and former NASA member Astronaut: "This is where you go through a simulated mission, you test the functionality of the space and how it works to accomplish the mission."
Related: 6 private concepts of deep space habitats to pave the way for Mars
"We do not have the official results of these tests, but we are told that everything has gone very well, so we are very excited about it," said Lindsey.
SNC's housing design is essentially based on its ability to increase in volume once launched into space. The large inflatable tissue environment, or LIFE, may initially be compact enough to fit into a 5.4 meter rocket fairing and then extend to 8 meters by 27 inches in diameter.
A crew work area on the second floor of Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Lunar Bridge prototype at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on August 21, 2019.
(Image credit: Robert Z. Pearlman / Space.com)
The LIFE pressurized volume is 300 cubic meters (10,600 cubic feet), or about one third of the pressurized volume of the International Space Station.
"We wanted to get the maximum space so that astronauts could stay in a habitat, while remaining compatible with a rocket," said Lindsey. "The advantage of a tire is that you can launch it inside a payload fairing, mount it in space, and then [there], inflate it, spread it to a size like this and you'll get a huge amount of volume. "
The Astro Garden concept from Sierra Nevada Corp. in the land prototype of the company's Lunar Bridge at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on August 21, 2019.
(Image credit: Robert Z. Pearlman / Space.com)
The exterior of the LIFE prototype housing consists of a pressurized urethane bladder, a nylon liner and a Vectran woven fabric backing layer. Additional insulating layers would be added to a space module for thermal control and protection of micrometeorites.
In developing this habitat, SNC also drew on its experience to build a small space plane that NASA has commissioned to carry out six cargo replenishment missions from 2021.
"We have exploited a lot of technologies from our Dream Catcher program. For example, this module at the back is based on a freight module from the Dream Chaser program, "said Lindsey, referring to the logistics and control module attached to the rear of the housing LIFE.
Related: Dream Chaser: The Sierra Nevada design for Spaceflight
Looking through a porthole in the Logistics and Control Module from Inside the Large Inflatable Cloth Habitat, or LIFE, of Sierra Nevada Corp., which is part of its land-based prototype of Lunar Gateway at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on August 21, 2019.
(Image credit: Robert Z. Pearlman / Space.com)
The interior of the hab is divided into three floors, maximizing the use of volume under pressure. For the prototype, SNC equipped the floors with a scientific laboratory, a microgravity garden, a medical bay, rooms reserved for crew members, a waste management system (or bathroom) and a kitchen.
"We worked very hard on human factors, which is why we had research stations, workstations for robotics, crew quarters and everything they would need to do." function, "said Lindsey.
The prototype contains no windows allowing astronauts to see the moon (or Mars), but these could be added.
"We can install windows, and we have a disposition to do that," Lindsey told Space.com. "We continue to work on this contract, and that's one of the things we are looking at."
Steve Lindsey, Vice President of Space Exploration Systems Sierra Nevada Corp. and former NASA astronaut, shows a compact "brick" that can be used to protect against radiation on board its "Large Inflatable Fabric" habitat, or LIFE, as part of its Lunar Gateway land prototype , at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on August 21, 2019.
(Image credit: Robert Z. Pearlman / Space.com)
In addition to SNC's Gateway concept, NASA is evaluating the NeXTSTEP-2 models of Bigelow Aerospace (inflatable habitat specialty), Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. The agency recently announced its intention to award a contract to Northrop Grumman for a "minimal" module on housing designed to support the deployment of an initial version of the Gateway by 2024, but a larger module on the Gateway's habitat can still be necessary for prolonged operations on the lunar surface.
SNC is also studying other applications for its design, based on its work with the terrestrial prototype.
An overview of the living area and crew kitchen on the third floor of LIFE (Large Inflatable Fabric Environment) Habitat of Sierra Nevada Corp., which is part of its terrestrial prototype of the Lunar Bridge , at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on August 21, 2019.
(Image credit: Robert Z. Pearlman / Space.com)
"We are looking at this not only for the gateway, but also for a possible human occupation on the surface of the planets, be it on the surface of the moon or at the surface of Mars in the future, "Lindsey said. It can be sized according to the needs of the crew. For this particular effort, we needed a thousand-day transit mission to Mars. It is sized to support that. "
Robert Pearlman is a Space.com contributor and the publisher of collectSPACE.com, a Space.com partner site and the main news publication on the history of space. To follow CollectSpace sure Facebook and on Twitter at @CollectSpace. follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+.
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