Kind: captions
Language: en
when Cruz first occupied the
International Space Station in 2000 it
marked the beginning of over 20 years of
continual human residence in
space but NASA plans to retire and
deorbit the station in the
2030s The Hope is that it will be
replaced and then
some we're going back to space to stay
we've proven that we can live in space
for long periods in the International
Space Station and now we're pushing the
envelope
again a variety of companies are eager
to join this new phase of space
habitation which holds promise for
scientific
breakthroughs it's really Sierra space's
mission to fill that Gap fill that void
have an opportunity to have a platform
in
space NASA contracted Sierra space to
develop a new generation of inflatable
habitats designed and built to allow
humans to live and work in space as well
as on the moon and eventually on
Mars the habitat is called life for
large integrated flexible
environment today's engineering
challenge is to destroy it we're at
Marshall space flight
center for today's event we're doing
what's called an ultimate burst test
we're going to take this article and
we're going to pressurize it until it
fails
huge explosion equal to 150 sticks of
dynamite it's going to be
epic they are in the exciting process of
watching their program intentionally
fail they're in that learning mode where
you know they go out and say we're going
to blow this thing
up one unique feature of the life
habitat is that it can be compressed to
fit into a single Rockets payload
housing and then in inflated by a factor
of six when deployed in
space you have these goals of going to
the moon or going to Mars a lot of focus
is being there not everyone's thinking
about actually living there and so this
is where we start to fill in those
gaps the life article is 300 cubic M we
can put three floors inside this have up
to six people live inside this for
months on
months at the core of the life habitats
technology are what are known as soft
Goods flexible immensely strong
materials that can be tightly packed
down and then
inflated the life habitat is made up of
four different layers each with its own
purpose such as holding in air providing
insulation and repelling dangerous
micrometeorites which can travel at tens
of thousands of miles hour and are
common in outer
space but the most critical iCal layer
of the life habitat is the restraint
layer or primary structural shell which
the company is testing here the
restraint layer is composed of hand sewn
pieces of fabric made of high strength
synthetic Space Age material called
vectran vectran is a chemically spun
material made to be harder than steel so
it comes in a thread and then that
thread is woven into a strap you could
hang seven cars on this strap and that
strap would never break like so many
modern Technologies at its core the
habitat and its vectran webbing depend
on age-old knowledge in this case on the
Art and Science of making baskets out of
plant
fibers when you're designing structural
systems you don't start from scratch and
basket weaving has been around for
thousands of years but we've applied it
so you can use it in space
today's test is crucial for assessing
how the life habitat manages the air
pressure introduced in
space at sea level on Earth the average
air pressure is around 15 psi pound per
square
in that's the normal pressure that will
fill the
habitat however the structure has to
withstand significantly higher pressures
to prevent any risk of a disastrous
explosion
that's where today's test comes
in humans are very squishy and they
don't play well outside of their own
environment being Earth so when a new
habitat is developed a lot of
intentionality goes into it so that the
human body is not exposed to things like
radiation extreme temperatures lack of
oxygen and anything that could be flying
around out there in
space the life habitat is following the
NASA guidelines for operating pressure
safety which is a Time 4 safety Factor
so we have a 15.2 PSI operating pressure
we times that by four it gives us a 60.8
to reach the desired pressure of 60.8
PSI the habitat will be connected to air
pumps regulated by valves controlling
the flow of air the team will monitor
the habitat's inflation from a control
room more than a/4 mile
away we have sensors on the top and the
the bottom of the article which are
going to give us what we call strain
data all those thousands and thousands
of data points our analysts are going to
take and take a look at it so we can
validate on Earth how our modules
operate along with validating it in
space today's test will be the first
ever of such a large inflatable
structure but the team has already done
several smaller burst
tests you want to build articles fast
test get that
data prior to this we did four articles
which gave us that data to catapult us
and give us the confidence to go into
our first full scale
burst Central to the habitat concept by
NASA and Sierra space is the vision that
multiple structures can be sent into
space gradually and linked together like
buildings along a city block modularity
is key to this concept you have a
modular design that you can configure
any way you need need to you're going to
have a medical facility you're going to
have exercise you're going to have place
for people to live to enjoy themselves
in
space as the team prepares for the
evening's burst test Beth licavoli makes
her final checks on the life habitat's
vast array of wires and sensors we're
pretty much Looking ready for
burst safely watching from the control
room the team monitors the test in front
of a dozen screens that will capture the
burst so right now we're inside the test
room and we're taking a look at what is
happening on the screens and we're
preparing everything for the test range
sight's been closed down um everything
is good to go the habitat sits out under
the lights at one PSI but that soon
changes we are pressurizing to 15 psi
for a 5 minute hold oh you can hear it
yeah go
time fill rate uh 3.06 PSI per minute 35
PSI 35 PSI all right all on the way to
burst here we go let's do this but about
half an hour into the test something is
going wrong the flow of air has started
to slow slowing down but the team still
hopes they can meet their goal got to
hit 61 call it 61 okay
61 this is where it gets dicey
hearing a little movement come on any
second
now 61 PS 61 PS
done fantastic let's keep going though
that is amazing they've reached NASA's
Target PSI but the habitat is not
filling as fast as expected are we
fighting it now yeah oh my gosh yeah one
potential explanation a leak
that could be disastrous in
space we still
dropping yeah about an hour into the
test they decide to end it short of
their ultimate goal you good with
r311 closed
okay close it let it leak down the lack
of an explosion is a major
disappointment testing to failure is
crucial to understanding the habitat's
ability to withstand pressure
after the habitat is deep pressurized
and safe the team gathers to determine
the source of the
leak all those straps want to be aligned
with the bottom of the plate so there
there is nothing pushing on that bladder
or doing anything I would I would highly
doubt that there's a leak right there
okay there's an air of excitement and
then there's an air of like ah I wanted
a big burst know you want to take it to
that failure this valve seemed like our
culprit we over pressurize it as air
pressure built up in the valve it
overcame the force of the spring holding
it closed allowing air to escape when we
found out that it was the valve a little
bit of a sense of relief you know
knowing that the design of the structure
was very viable they decide to shut the
problem valve off fortunately the
remaining working valve is still able to
inflate the
habitat the following night the group is
back in the control room 25 psi 25 psi
got our fill rate 2922 2922 PSI per
minute ramp to
burst just keep going 55 PSI better than
last time
PSI 63 PSI 63
PSI they've reached the same pressure as
the failed test the night
before going the burst and it keeps
Rising 70 PSI 70 Psi Psi 76 PSI this is
insane that's insane I heard a little
[Applause]
pop all right I'm I well
guys this was the first one that we
could really feel the ground shakee in
this control room which is incredible to
see it to really be here uh it's kind of
surreal and now they know the habitat's
limit 77
PSI it was just an amazing moment it's
one of those things you don't forget in
your career and you always talk about it