In an effort to determine the viability of inflatable habitats for missions to Mars, NASA is conducting the first test of an expandable module, set to launch on April 8.
The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is specifically designed for use on the International Space Station (ISS).
Designed by Bigelow Aerospace, BEAM will be packed in SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and launching on its Falcon 9 rocket. Once there, the station’s Canadarm2 will grab it and dock it to the ISS. It will then inflate over 45 minutes and be tested over two years. Astronauts will routinely conduct tests to see how well it performs.
When packed, the habitat will be just 1.7 metres across and 2.4 metres tall. Once inflated it will be 3.7 metres across and 3.2 metres tall.
NASA’s long-term goal is to send humans to Mars, with an eye on deep space. But to do that means getting a lot of supplies up into space. And the more weight you have, the costlier the launch. But if you send up a packed habitat, or module, that just needs to inflate with air, you can reduce costs.
WATCH: The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module
These types of habitats could be used to in our trips to Mars, or even for testing in orbit around the moon. But there are a few things that need to be tested first, including durability. Space is full of debris and there’s the chance that it could be hit by a micro-meteoroid (the space station gets pelted from time to time).
If this two-year test goes well, we may very well start seeing inflatable habitats for both transporting cargo in space and for humans to live in while travelling the solar system.
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