Lunar Living: Va. Engineers Are Testing an Inflatable, Expandable Habitat
By A.J. Hostetler, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.
Aug. 2–HAMPTON If the Michelin Man had a storage unit, it might look like something that has landed at NASA’s Langley Research Center.
Engineers here are testing an inflatable, expandable planetary surface habitat. The early model is a 20-foot-high, 12-foot-wide capsule on legs and covered in white nylon webbing. Later models could be used someday as living quarters, storage units and air locks for astronauts stationed on the moon.
“We’ve been to the moon, we’ve walked on the moon, but we’ve never stayed on the moon,” said Karen Whitley, Langley’s project lead for the lunar habitat.
NASA plans, possibly as soon as 2020, to house crews of up to four astronauts in the first lunar outpost before establishing a colony to use as a launching point for eventual missions to Mars.
At first, like any explorer headed off into the wilderness, the astronauts would need to take their home with them.
“It’s like camping,” Whitley said. “When you go camping, you have so much stuff to take . . . and you have to pack it all in limited space.”
Langley is evaluating a demo model from Delaware-based ILC Dover LP, which has manufactured spacesuits for NASA and has a $3 million grant from NASA for developing habitats. The capsule is made of layered nylon and designed to provide four people with 1,872 cubic feet of living and storage space.
On the moon, the habitat and an attached air-lock unit connected by an airtight door would be pressurized to about what earthlings would feel atop Colorado’s Pikes Peak, 14,110 feet above sea level.
For use on the moon, NASA plans simi lar, larger structures that will protect astronauts from solar radiation, bombarding micrometeoroids and lunar temperatures. Inflatable structures could serve as building blocks for a lunar base camp.
Project manager Judith Watson describes the habitat capsule as a “pop-up camper” to provide extra space for the NASA crew. Once other structures are erected on the lunar surface, the habitats could, for example, be turned into high-tech coat closets for storing spacesuits.
“The drive is to reduce the mass we have to take to the surface of the moon simply because that’s a very expensive process, as well as providing the shielding the astronauts will need to survive for extended periods on the moon,” said John Herrin, Langley’s director of exploration and flight projects.
ILC Dover’s director of research and technology, Dave Cadogan, said inflatable habitats present issues similar to spacesuits, with inner and outer layers aimed at protecting astronauts and connecting pieces.
“The challenging part is the structure itself, and understanding . . . how you incorporate things like windows and hatches, how you make this structure so that you can pack it up into a very tight volume, and then it will autonomously evolve its shape when it’s on the lunar surface,” Cadogan said.
Langley specialists have been studying the habitat’s architecture: how well it attaches to air locks and how to incorporate the windows that astronauts want. Later this year, engineers will investigate how multiple layers of Kevlar or Vectran fabrics might withstand lunar temperatures ranging from minus 387 degrees Fahrenheit to 253 degrees; how troublesome moon dust can leak in and how to best attach equipment to the exterior.
The demo habitat at Langley is usually empty. But as a summer project for the Governor’s School program, two high school students spent a few weeks designing how they would outfit the interior to house astronauts.
The two spoke with astronaut Jerry Ross about his experience on the space shuttle, Russia’s Mir and the International Space Station. Based on Ross’ suggestions, Kurt Brill of Churchville and Justin Carwile of Rustburg concentrated on providing a bunk bed-style storage unit with a lab shelf, a desk with room for two small laptop computers, storage space, a shower and toilet.
With Ross’ endorsement, they decided that astronauts probably wouldn’t need a minifridge after all. Contact A.J. Hostetler at (804) 649-6355 or ahostetler@timesdispatch.com.
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