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One could fly to Mars in this spacious habitat and not go crazy
On Wednesday, Sierra Nevada Corporation—the company that makes aerospace equipment, not beer—showed off its proposed in-space habitat for the first time. The inflatable habitat is, first and foremost, large. It measures more than 8 meters long, and with a diameter of 8 meters has an internal volume of 300 cubic meters, which is about one-third the size of the International Space Station.
Sierra Nevada developed this full-scale prototype under a NASA program that funded several companies to develop habitats that could be used for a space station in orbit around the Moon, as well as potentially serving as living quarters for a long-duration transit to and from Mars. As part of the program, NASA astronauts have, or will, spend three days living in and evaluating the prototypes built by Sierra Nevada, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Bigelow Aerospace.
The selling point for Sierra Nevada's habitat is its size, which is possible because the multi-layered fabric material can be compressed for launch, then expanded and outfitted as a habitat once in space. It can fit within a standard payload fairing used for launch vehicles such as SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket, United Launch Alliance's Vulcan booster, or NASA's Space Launch System. It is light enough for any of those rockets to launch to the Moon.
[...] What this habitat does not presently have is an exact purpose. Lindsey said the inflatable habitat, which has some similarities in technology to Bigelow's expandable module attached to the International Space Station, could be sized for any number of missions, from a low-Earth orbit space station to a habitat on the surface of the Moon or Mars.
Where is Bigelow's B330?
Related: Bigelow Expandable Activity Module to Continue Stay at the International Space Station
Bigelow Aerospace Forms New Company to Manage Space Stations, Announces Gigantic Inflatable Module
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 22 2019, @07:56PM (1 child)
This shell can be only used underground, where at least some protection is available. It will be a while before humans can live on the surface of other planets. In practice, it might need a new human anyway, in robotic body, for example, as every job on the Moon or Mars (setting aside other planets for now) is too dangerous for a human. But the minimal starting point right now would be building and sending self-powered construction robots that can dig up and secure the suitable underground spaces. Then this material can make them airtight.
For now, though, NASA tourists will be vacationing in this and other tents.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday August 22 2019, @08:43PM
The unacceptable radiation risks are defined to be very low.
We can easily foresee a future in which you live in these places and just use regenerative medicine to counteract any damage caused. And you could get into a nice coffin in the event of a solar storm.
I see no reason why you couldn't increase the amount of shielding used. Starship will be making it cheap to send more tons of it.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]