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An Inflatable Lunar Habitat

NASA is planning to test a prototype house in Antarctica for future moon habitation.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

By Brittany Sauser

Credit: NASA/JSC

NASA's Constellation Program is planning to return humans to the moon in 2020, and this time around, astronauts will engage in lengthy explorations of the lunar surface, requiring them to remain on the moon for long periods of time. For this purpose, NASA is developing astronaut living quarters that are not only safe and durable, but also lightweight and easy to transport. One concept is an inflatable habitat that offers 384 square feet of living space and resembles a backyard bounce house for children. A prototype of the habitat is being sent to the extreme, harsh environment of Antarctica for testing over the next year.

"Testing the inflatable habitat in one of the harshest, most remote sites on Earth gives us the opportunity to see what it would be like to use for lunar exploration," said Paul Lockhart, director of Constellation Systems for NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, in a press release from NASA.

The inflatable habitat is to serve as a safe living space for the astronauts. It's eight feet tall, insulated, and heated, and it has power and is pressurized. It can be taken down and set up in a few hours by four crew members so that astronauts have the freedom to explore more regions of the lunar surface.

The prototype is being shipped to Antarctica's Murdoch Station, where it will be equipped with sensors and monitored by NASA engineers and members of the National Science Foundation, which has partnered with NASA on the project. The company that manufactured the inflatable habitat, ILC Dover, based in Frederica, DE, will also take part in the testing, which is scheduled for January and February 2008.

Tags: nasa, lunar exploration, lunar habitats, moon, Constellation Program

Comments

	McMurdo Station risingblue on 11/28/2007 at 11:47 AM
Posts: 3 Avg Rating:	After spending 3 seasons in Antarctica (at all 3 US stations), and working on Lunar projects here in the US, I can tell you that the temperatures that will be experienced on the moon are far more extreme than in Antarctica. The lunar daily variation spans 280C and will be as low as -233C at the poles. But that's not really my point. The big challenge in Antarctic is the wind, which can be so strong that a human being can not stand up in them. I think NASA's inflatable habitat experiment is more likely to turn into a balloon launch. By the way, NASA has a huge vacuum chamber they could use for testing, which may be a useful test, especially if they could shoot bullets at it during the test. Rate this comment: (Reply)

	An underground dwelling may be safer gabrielg01 on 11/28/2007 at 12:32 PM
Posts: 298 Avg Rating:	Maybe digging an underground colony on the Moon would be safer. It would be protected from small meteorites, and also from the wild temperature swings. Rate this comment: (Reply)

	Re: An underground dwelling may be safer Shiladie on 11/29/2007 at 9:24 AM
Posts: 36 Avg Rating:	long term the underground idea is definitly a better choice, but i believe what they are going for with this expedition is a light weight portable home, so they will be able to move around on the moon's surface and explore different areas of it. Also, with the amount of (or lack of) funding nasa has been getting, i wouldent be suprised if the private sector beat them to it... Google moonbase for the win... Rate this comment: (Reply)