Sierra Space’s inflatable Large Integrated Flexible Environment (LIFE) modules meant to one day house astronauts orbiting Earth keep exploding—just as intended, and better than expected.
On Monday, the private startup announced the results from its latest Ultimate Burst Pressure (UBP) test meant to help ensure the LIFE module’s eventual final design will withstand the vacuum of space, as well as handle any unwanted encounters with micrometeorites. To celebrate, Sierra Space released a mini documentary on the most recent trial run, highlighting the module’s complexities and progress. Of course, if you want to just see the gigantic space station balloon-home go “kaboom,” just fast forward to the 5:55 minute mark.
On Monday, the private startup announced the results from its latest Ultimate Burst Pressure (UBP) test meant to help ensure the LIFE module’s eventual final design will withstand the vacuum of space, as well as handle any unwanted encounters with micrometeorites. Although similar experiments ran in the past, this marked the first UBP test on a full-scale LIFE prototype. Sierra Space inflated its roughly three-story tall, 27-foot-wide model until it popped with a force equivalent to 164 sticks of dynamite. What’s more, the explosion only occurred after succumbing to an internal pressure of 77 psi—about 27 percent over NASA’s mandated pressure resiliency for space station habitats.
[Related: Watch a space station habitat prototype pop like a water balloon.]
The key to LIFE module’s promising construction is its reliance on highly advanced “softgoods” like Vectran, a resilient synthetic fiber spun from liquid crystal polymers that, once inflated, is stronger than steel. Upon…
Read the full article here