Balloon animals and bouncy castles on the moon: The case for inflatable habitats

Yearly, NASA’s Breakthrough, Revolutionary, and Recreation-Altering (BIG) Concept Problem invitations pupil innovators to construct and show ideas that may profit future human missions to the moon and past. This yr’s theme is “Inflatable Programs for Lunar Operations,” which might enormously cut back the mass and stowed quantity of payloads despatched to the moon.

That is vital for the Artemis Program because it returns astronauts to the moon for the primary time because the Apollo Period over fifty years in the past. It can additionally cut back the prices of sending payloads to the moon, Mars, and different deep-space locations.

The BIG Concept Problem is sponsored by NASA’s House Know-how Mission Directorate (STMD) as a part of a collaborative effort between its Recreation Altering Improvement (GCD) program and the company’s Workplace of STEM Engagement. The competitors is managed collectively by the Nationwide Institute of Aerospace (NIA) and the Johns Hopkins Utilized Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL) and funded by the GCD and the Nationwide House Grant Faculty and Fellowship Challenge. As a part of the problem, groups of 5–25 college students and their school advisors will submit proposals, and 5 to eight finalists will probably be chosen for additional growth.

Regardless of a long time of progress and growth, the best challenges for sending crewed missions to space stay quantity and mass limitations. Prefer it or not, launches are nonetheless topic to the Rocket Equation, which creates a vicious cycle the place bigger payloads require extra propellant to interrupt freed from Earth’s gravity. This, in flip, means bigger rockets with heavier propellant tanks, and so forth. As such, massive buildings can’t be positioned on the lunar or Martian floor with out advanced deployment mechanisms and on-site meeting.

NASA has explored a number of options to this drawback, which embody utilizing native sources to create building materials and supply for astronaut wants—aka In-Situ Useful resource Utilization (ISRU). This has the benefit of decreasing the quantity of provides astronauts might want to carry with them whereas decreasing dependency on resupply missions. One other answer is to ship massive, inflatable programs, that are low-mass and could be tightly packed into payload fairings. As soon as they attain their vacation spot and are inflated, they broaden to turn into many instances their stowed quantity.

Together with superior materials and inside strain stiffening, inflatable programs can provide strong habitats and environmental safety in opposition to harsh extraterrestrial situations. That is the aim of the 2024 BIG Concept Problem, the place collegiate-level groups are tasked with designing habitats that incorporate inflatable elements. These vary from towers, gantries, and antennas to comfortable robotics, actuators, connectors, deployment mechanisms, airlocks, and short-term shelters. Niki Werkheiser, Director of Know-how Maturation at NASA’s STMD, stated in a latest NASA press launch:

“This problem is especially thrilling as a result of it applies out-of-the-box pondering to the design and engineering processes that will probably be required to include inflatable elements into space missions. Harnessing the spectacular creativity demonstrated by this collegiate cohort might current really novel options for future space exploration.”

Finalists will probably be chosen by a panel of NASA and trade consultants who will consider the proposal and video package deal of mission eventualities that incorporate inflatable programs. The 5 to eight phrases chosen will obtain a stipend of between $50,000 and $150,000, together with bills for {hardware}, supplies, testing tools, software program, and many others. The groups will spend the following 9 months additional creating, refining, and testing their proposals and making ready a 15–20 web page technical write-up detailing their outcomes. This will probably be adopted by the annual BIG Concept Discussion board subsequent Fall, the place they are going to be invited to current their ideas for a technical design evaluate.

This can embody proof-of-concept demonstrations in analog take a look at environments that simulate lunar situations. Stated Tomas Gonzalez-Torres, the space grant mission supervisor for NASA’s Workplace of STEM Engagement:

“In the case of mission-critical know-how for upcoming space exploration efforts, academia is a crucial associate. Collegiate-level groups push the envelope when it comes to creativity but in addition in demonstrating know-how readiness for modern concepts. These concepts could be infused into know-how growth at micro and macro scales.”

This yr’s competitors compliments the 2023 Lunar Forge Problem, the place undergraduate and graduate college students had been awarded as much as $180,000 to design, develop, and show applied sciences that may allow the manufacturing of lunar infrastructure by ISRU-derived metals. These and different applied sciences will probably be essential to the Artemis missions and the long-term objectives that NASA, fellow businesses, and business companions have to ascertain everlasting infrastructure on the moon. Along with fostering lunar exploration, analysis, and presumably settlement, these efforts will allow future missions to Mars and past.

To be taught extra concerning the 2024 BIG Concepts Problem and the way it’s possible you’ll enter, try the BIG Concept web site at bigidea.nianet.org.