Inflatable Habitat Burst Pressure Test at NASA

As NASA prepares to send humans back to the Moon and beyond to Mars, inflatable habitats are concepts being considered for Lunar Surface Habitats and Mars Transit Habitats.

Burst pressure tests are necessary to meet human safety certification, and engineers use them to determine the ability of the habitat to withstand internal pressure and the maximum internal pressure required to cause failure of the habitat’s woven, structural shell.

The test, conducted in collaboration with Sierra Space and ILC Dover, took place at NASA’s Johnson Space Center as part of the NextSTEP-2 Habitat Systems contract managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.

#NASA #PressureTest #Artemis #shorts

[badlydressedboy]

This is sure to give poor old Mark Watney flashbacks

[SeanBZA]

More importantly, what was the burst pressure, and how will this change with exposure to harsh sunlight and vacuum.

[RicardoNunoSilva]

Super slow-motion footage would have been awesome. It would have been even more interesting and informative.

[IstasPumaNevada]

It was stated in reply to other comments that the test item burst at 192 psi, exceeding the safety requirement of 182.4 psi, but that this was also a 1/3rd scale object.

Will the psi requirement for the full-size habitat also be 182.4 psi? Or was that pressure scaled up to account for the smaller size of the test object?

[bblod]

Jar Jar Binks says that's a Big Boomer.