A small West Coast company is helping astronauts return to the moon in 2026. ALUULA Composites has signed on to provide its durable, lightweight fabric to build space habitats.
The Max Space inflatables can be transported in very small packages and then expanded to create a much larger workspace.
“Max Space is doing the design work and they are putting together an expandable habitat to use in space,” ALUULA president and CEO Sage Berryman said.
“They’re doing it under contract with NASA. So they’re doing the fantastic and amazing work. We have the privilege of providing them a textile that they can use in that environment. They’re doing the build and they will launch it with SpaceX, we’ve heard, in 2026.”
The ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) laminate is attractive, Berryman explained, because it has eight times the strength-to-weight ratio of steel and is extremely tough.
“It was actually originated by a bunch of engineers, chemists and wind sport enthusiasts. When you’re on the water, using a kite or a wing, you need something that’s very durable and very light and it was developed in that context.”
The material recipe can be customized, Berryman said, and the company also has a research and development partnership with Michelin.
“We’ve had companies researching, trying to use it in air ships and it’s performing quite well in that use. There’s a number of different uses where the old materials just don’t perform at the right level because they’re not strong enough and they’re not light enough.”
The B.C. company, which is fairly young — it started in 2020 — is also committed to sustainability.
“It’s the first material that’s been done as a composite not using glues, so that also allows it to be recycled at the end of its useful life, which is pretty different in a material that’s polyethylene — plastic-based,” Berryman said.
“Our goal is to make products that are able to be fully circular and that’s an exciting thing as well.”
And a deal that will see her creation on the moon is pretty cool, Berryman said.
“Having these opportunities to have these unique materials in unique applications is really exciting. And when you start talking about a project that’s not a huge project for us, but it’s huge in its meaningfulness, when you’re working with Max Space that’s working with NASA that’s going up on SpaceX, it is exciting,” she said.
“And it is a really unique opportunity for a smaller company that’s doing something on the west coast of British Columbia that’s going to have that type of impact.”