LIFE Habitat | Sierra Space Successfully Completes Month Long Creep Test

Sierra Space has successfully performed a month-long Accelerated Systematic Creep (ASC) test on LIFE – the first milestone in its 2023 testing campaign.

Engineers loaded a one-third-scale version of the inflatable habitat with a sustained amount of pressure over an extended period until it failed.

The campaign demonstrated that the LIFE habitat pressure shell design has a predicted life of far greater than 60 years – or 525,600 hours – based on Sierra Space’s 15-year on-orbit life requirement and the applied 4x safety factor.

The next series of one-third-scale LIFE certification tests will focus on inserting hard structures into the pressure shell and correlating the results to previous tests. Sierra Space anticipates moving toward full-scale LIFE habitat tests later this year.

Thanks to a recently signed Space Act Agreement with NASA, Sierra Space will expand its collaborative environment with Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), in Huntsville, Ala., to continue critical work on LIFE. Alabama is the seventh location across the nation where Sierra Space operates facilities, joining Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.

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[jeremyfarmer]

Can't wait for a full scale test, if they do one.

[waynesworldofsci-tech]

I’m really looking forward to seeing the first orbital tests. Once those tests are successfully completed, these habitats are going to become standard.

And oh how that is going to supercharge business and science in LEO. Yep, I’m excited! As a young child I watched the Mercury sub-orbital flights on a black and white tv screen, and I’ve been excited about space ever since.

It isn’t my field, I’m an anthropologist, but oh man what an exciting hobby!

[robsonhahn]

For one moment looks like it exploded because the girl pressing it...
😅😂😂😂

[microMobilidade]

Would an impact absorbent cover help protect against micrometeorites? Now we know that a pebble field shield will absorb more than a solid shield (meteorite deflection test). So how about a net holding thousands of tennis ball sized asics gel balls

[martythemartian]

Beautiful editing :D
"Hey everyone, let's all gather around the test article and..." BANG!
(new online ad) Wanted: Replacement team of highly skilled space designers and engineers.

[kaanboztepe]

i keep remembering what the mythbusters thought the public. it is science if you write down what you blow up

[icare]

With over 38 years of advanced material reinforcement, manufacturing, testing and failure analysis engineering experience, great milestones being achieved.

[MX]

Did you know it was going to level the shed, or was that just a bonus?

[MrFranklitalien]

an inflatable module the size of a starship ferring would yield a 60m diameter hab :) cant wait until we see all that this technology has to offer

[Gliccit]

Why was the test carried out with gas, rather than liquid as per usual standards for pressure testing?

[mfzb]

But why blow up the building? 😅 could've maybe opened a door? 😂

[BrianKelsay]

Never could figure out why NASA didn't commit to this technology before. Lots of extra room, takes up less space during a launch. Maybe they had bad experiences with pop-up campers growing up. 😂

[thaddday]

What does this prove? And why waste all that money constructing a building only to blow it up? Put your fancy woven ball in a vacuum chamber and turn it on. Wouldn't this be the ONLY test you'd need? When does pressure ever get so great in a space capsule or module where it would explode a building? Why test this? Yes, it's fun and makes for clickbait viral videos, but what is the scientific purpose to keep doing it...and not test in a vacuum chamber? I think then we would all see how silly your company's business plan is. Prove me wrong!