The seventh key validation test for Sierra Space‘s new expandable space station technology is now scheduled for this June at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The test will consist of a second full-scale structural test on a LIFE 285 unit and is likely to accelerate this innovative technology to on-orbit operations.
The first full-scale burst test last December proved the efficacy and safety of these revolutionary inflatable habitats. The module reached 5.3 bar before it burst, exceeding by an astonishing +27% NASA’s recommended level of 4.2 bar. This requirement is set by multiplying the maximum operating pressure of 1.05 bar by a safety factor of four.
The full-scale UBP test unit reached 77 psi before it burst, which well exceeds (+27%) #NASA’s recommended level of 60.8 psi (maximum operating pressure of 15.2 psi multiplied by a safety factor of four).
— Sierra Space (@SierraSpaceCo) January 22, 2024
Full video: https://t.co/5XumopCb0H@NASA_Marshall pic.twitter.com/WO4YyPUA05
The company’s second full-scale test next month will be another Ultimate Burst Pressure (UBP). Success would be a further milestone for the project, which will have completed seven key stress tests in just two years.
Furthermore, Sierra Space is the only space company that has advanced to full-scale structural testing of commercial space station technology.
Advertisement
Sierra Space unveils their expandable modules portfolio
This technology is the basis of Sierra Space’s co-development of Orbital Reef with Blue Origin. It will also be employed by Sierra Space itself for a pathfinder space station, which will be focused on biotech research.
For this reason, the habitats will come in a wide range of sizes, stretching between 285 to 5000 cubic meters of volume at operational conditions in space.
“Sierra Space’s expandable space station technology, based on the LIFE habitat product line, leverages a discriminating technology that has no equal. The product line-based solution is built upon architecture and geometry that utilize low-volume launches that become high-volume space stations,” said Sierra Space Vice President of Space Destinations, Shawn Buckley.
The LIFE pressure shell is constructed of high-strength woven fabric materials, or softgoods, consisting primarily of Vectran, which form rigid structures when pressurized in orbit.
Advertisement
Sierra’s technology
Vectran is a fiber, spun from a liquid-crystal polymer (LPC) characterized by high strength and Young’s modulus, low creep, and good chemical stability. Pound for pound, Vectran LPC fiber is five times stronger than steel and ten times stronger than aluminum.
The Vectran fabric also has the unique ability to be “bi-directionally” packed, granting an exceptionally compact size at launch and low mass.
The advantages of such a technology are obvious: the cost to deliver habitats to space decreases dramatically as the ratio between operational volume and launch volume increases and as the mass of such volume decreases.
The test article, currently in assembly, is equivalent to one-third the volume of the entire International Space Station (ISS). The volume of LIFE habitats will be scaling with the availability of bigger rocket fairings on larger launch vehicles currently in development. The company is aiming to launch its first habitat in 2026.
Advertisement
