Toroidal Lunar Habitat - ILC Dover

ILC Dover participated in the NASA JSC lead Toroidal Lunar Habitat program as component manufacturer for the softgoods portion of the habitat structure. The program is a study of lightweight expandable structures, hatch and vehicle integration. The central core is 12 ft in height and the hatch is 40 inches in diameter. The inflatable shell is packaged around a rigid internal core which acts as a mounting surface for outfitting gear during launch. The principal advantage of these structures is their ability to be packed into small volumes for launch and large internal volume when deployed as compared to rigid structures.

The webbing structure was sized for 9 psid operation (FS=4). The structure consists of a Vectran bladder and Kevlar webbings and a specialized coated fabric bladder for containment of the inflation gas. The structure will eventually incorporate a thermal/MMOD cover.

Inflation Test at ILC dover after Fabrication

Toroidal Habitat Lunar Base (NASA)

Inflated at NASA JSC with hardware integrated