COLORADO SPRINGS—As part of plans to accelerate the development of a space-based commercial and industrial ecosystem, Sierra Space has formed a long-term strategic partnership with soft goods provider ILC Dover–the current supplier supporting the test and development of the company’s inflatable habitat–or Large Integrated Flexible Environment (LIFE) modules.
The partnership is designed to speed up the on-orbit installation of higher-volume LIFE inflatable modules, which Sierra says will form the catalyst for the commercialization of space leveraging the Colorado-based company’s space platform. Sierra and ILC Dover also have partnered to design the next generation of spacesuits for both extra- and intravehicular activity.
“You’ve got to really bring disruptive cost innovation to the real estate infrastructure in space, and the only way I think we’re going to get there is inflatables,” Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice says. Sierra’s first inflatable space habitat and research module will provide one-third the pressurized volume of the entire International Space Station (ISS) in a single launch.
“We have two versions that we can put in a 5-m fairing, and those size fairings are obviously coming,” Vice told Aerospace DAILY at the recent Space Symposium here.
“Seven-meter fairings are also coming along at a tremendous pace,” he adds, referring to plans disclosed by launch startup Relativity Space for future payload options on the Terran R rocket. “New Glenn will also bring us a 7-m fairing, and so in a single launch we can put up more pressurized volume than the entire ISS. That’s going to change the game.”
“Right now, you have another launch that goes up to do the outfitting, but the habitat itself will be done in a single launch,” he adds. “We also have common modules–everything’s open architecture. So, if we wanted to put up two of these 1,000 cubic meter units, then we just put up two and link them together–and then we provide more power.”
Tests are currently underway on the first proof-of-concept LIFE module, a 10.6-cubic-meter evaluation unit. The first orbital version–LIFE 1.0–will be configured as a 285-cubic-meter unit measuring 6 m long by 9 m in diameter that will launch in a 5-m fairing. The company plans to conduct a demonstration mission and deployment of the LIFE 1.0 module in low Earth orbit (LEO) by late 2025 or early 2026 using a ULA Vulcan 5-m (16-ft.) fairing for launch.
Follow-on versions covered under the new agreement with ILC Dover include the 600-cubic-meter LIFE 2.0, which also will launch inside a 5-m fairing, and the 1,440-cubic-meter LIFE 3.0 variant, which will be enclosed within a 7-m fairing. The LIFE 2.0 variant will be 12 m long and 9 m in diameter, while the 3.0 will be more than 16 m long and have a diameter of 11 m.
Sierra says tests of the full-scale LIFE module are due to begin later this year following the successful completion of a variety of pressure tests on a one-third-scale LIFE version with ILC Dover and NASA. In the meantime, Sierra Space is moving on to tests of its inflatable habitat technology with hard structures inside the pressure shell after completing a monthlong test of the small-scale version overinflated at a constant pressure.
The Accelerated Systematic Creep (ASC) evaluation on the LIFE habitat was the latest in a series aimed at proving the viability of full-scale inflatable structures for use in various roles ranging from LEO space stations to habitats for lunar and deep space exploration. Testing is targeted at NASA’s NextSTEP project for space habitation systems and supports parallel efforts on the Orbital Reef space station project with Blue Origin and other partners.
The test campaign, conducted with NASA, has included both burst and creep tests. In burst testing, the scaled habitat is filled with air until it bursts, and the terminal pressure assessed. In creep testing the article is inflated to a constant pressure and then tested to measure how long it can hold the pressure. The materials under test are sewn and woven fabrics, primarily Vectran, which become rigid structures when pressurized.
The two subscale burst tests in July and November 2022 achieved maximum burst pressure rates of 192 and 204 psi, respectively, exceeding NASA’s safety requirement of 182.4 psi. The first creep test, completed in January, ended with the pressure shell bursting after more than 150 hr., well beyond NASA’s recommended creep duration target of 100 hr.
