We could fly to Mars in this spacious habitat and not go crazy

Wednesday, Sierra Nevada Corporation – the company that manufactures aerospace equipment, not beer – unveiled for the first time its habitat in the proposed space. The inflatable habitat is primarily vast. It is over 8 meters long and, with a diameter of 8 meters, has an internal volume of 300 cubic meters, about one third of the size of the International Space Station.

Sierra Nevada has developed this prototype on a real scale as part of a NASA program that has funded the development of habitats that can serve as a space station in orbit around the moon, as well as can be used as living quarters for a long-term transit from / to Mars. As part of this program, NASA astronauts spent or will live for three days evaluating prototypes built by Sierra Nevada, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Bigelow Aerospace.

The selling point of Sierra Nevada's habitat is its size, which is possible because the multilayered fabric material can be compressed for launching, and then expanded and landscaped as a habitat once in space . It can be integrated into a standard payload fairing used for launchers such as SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket, United Launch Alliance's Vulcan booster, or NASA's Space Launch system. It's light enough for any of these rockets to launch on the moon.

"We are offering a huge amount of volume in a small space," said Steve Lindsey, a five-time astronaut at NASA, vice president of the company's exploration systems.

What this habitat does not currently have is an exact goal. Lindsey said that the inflatable habitat, which has some technological similarities with the Bigelow Expandable Module connected to the International Space Station, could be sized for multiple missions, from a low-Earth-orbit space station to a habitat. on the surface of the Moon or Mars.

Comfortable and comfortable

NASA initially requested the development of these prototypes as part of its NextSTEP-2 program to develop a habitat module for the Lunar Gateway, a space station located in a distant orbit around the Moon. It must have been a fairly large installation that astronauts visited once or twice a year.

However, as the Trump administration has attempted to speed up NASA 's plans to land humans on the Moon until 2024, the gateway has been transformed, at least in the past. beginning, in a node with a feeding system and a small housing module composed of docking ports systems. Last month, in the interest of "timing, economy and efficiency" to meet the 2024 deadline, NASA awarded a contract to Northrop Grumman for this small habitat. "By the way, we really would have liked to be able to participate in this competition," Lindsey said. "But that's it."

By presenting its proposed habitat Wednesday at the Johnson Space Center, Sierra Nevada seeks to show NASA and its potential customers the potential for vast, low-mass living spaces in space. Now, the company just needs NASA to set some requirements. For example, how long will astronauts stay on the lunar surface? Will NASA possibly want a bigger habitat for the Moon Bridge? And is it really serious to send humans to Mars?

If the agency is really serious about it, the Sierra Nevada 's home feels sufficiently comfortable even if it' s missing a window. Inside, you felt spacious without feeling too open. The three-storey structure of the interior of the habitat has allowed a team of four astronauts to expand but also to gather spaces for food, movies, and so on. In short, it seemed like a space to live for six months on Mars without becoming completely crazy.

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