Balloon House on the Moon?

NASA Headquarters – November 28, 2007 – Have inflatable housing — will travel. Don’t laugh. It might be the new mantra for NASA astronauts going to the moon for long-term missions. NASA will conduct a 13-month test of the inflatable prototype structure in the cold, harsh, isolated landscape of Antarctica starting in January 2008. "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. NASA's Constellation Program is working to send humans back to the moon by 2020. After initial sorties, the astronauts will set up a lunar outpost for long-duration stays, and they will need a place to live. The inflatable habitat is one of several concepts being considered for astronaut housing on the moon. But it has the advantage of being lightweight, and that’s an important advantage. "To land one pound of supplies on the lunar surface, it'll require us to launch 125 pounds of hardware and fuel to get it there," Lockhart said. "So our habitation concepts have to be lightweight as well as durable. This prototype inflatable habitat can be taken down and redeployed multiple times, and it only takes four crew members a few hours to set up, permitting exploration beyond the initial landing area." The structure looks something like an inflatable backyard bounce house. But it is insulated and heated, has power and is pressurized. It offers 384 square feet of living space and has, at its highest point, an 8-foot ceiling. During the test period, sensors will allow engineers to monitor the habitat's performance. To enable lunar exploration, the Constellation Program is developing a new fleet of spacecraft and rockets, as well as transportation and power systems for use on the surface of the moon. NASA is partnering on the project with the National Science Foundation and ILC Dover, the company that manufactured the prototype structure. .

NASA, the National Science Foundation and ILC Dover unveiled an Antarctic-bound inflatable habitat. The habitat, will be put through its paces as a component of the McMurdo Station in Antarctica from January 2008 through February 2009. Using reports from explorers braving this harsh environment and data collected from habitat sensors, designers will evaluate the concept of using inflatable structures to support future explorers on the moon or Mars. Erick Chiang, director of NSF's division of Antarctica infrastructure and logistics, enters the inflatable habitat. Credit: Peter West / NSF More Information Exploration Systems Mission Directorate Constellation Program NASA

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