Expandable Habitats Leverage Years of Manned Flight Experience
ILC has flight proven and man-rated materials and softgood technologies. Many flight-ready solutions can be derived from Space Suits and other flight or test proven applications. Current NASA habitat programs are providing successful laboratory and analog testing of materials and structures and are raising the technology readiness level needed for future space system implementation.
Key Benefits of Deployable Inflatable Habitats
The primary benefit is enabling very large structures to be packaged into small volumes for launch. ILC has worked on numerous innovative concepts for inflatable habitats over the past decades and pioneered the webbing-restraint structural system in use today. This type of inflatable structure has the redundancy and safety needed to protect humans in space.
Advanced Materials for Flexible Structures
ILC has been leading advanced flexible materials and embedded electronics technologies for habitats. Robust material systems have been tested that utilize multifunction layers to provide thermal, hypervelocity particle impact, and radiation protection while maintaining a safe and comfortable environment for its inhabitants. |
