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Inflatable Toys in Space
Alexey Goldin writes "An inflatable heatshield --- a new technology with a potential to make space access cheaper will be tested on Feb. 9 by Lavochkin Association (Russia) and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace (Germany). A new word in inflatable toys business :-). " This ranks up there with the Mars Pathfinder, where they just surrounded the lander in airbags and let it drop - elegant engineering at its finest.
Using a gas to expand a solid such that surface area and pressurization meet certain criteria isn't a particularly ridiculous or childish notion. Those car tires you're driving on ain't exactly solid material!
The great thing about inflating something is that, until it's necessary, it can be almost invisible. Many materials can be inflated to many times their compressed size, and still maintain properties that a given situation requires. The fact that their expansion involves temporary forces that would be impossible to deliver under any predeployed material can be quite a blessing as well.
I always thought it'd be fascinating to have shipping material that operated is miniature airbags...whenever an excess shock was registered, the peanuts would pop and grow, absorbing the shockwave.
Yours Truly,
Dan Kaminsky
DoxPara Research
http://www.doxpara.com
Overheard near Area 51:
"Whadda mean there's an inflatable doll in orbit?"
"Well, sir, atleast the aliens have a sense of humor."
"Indeed, shoot another one down - we can't store these nukes forever."
"Yes sir!"
Check out BOSS an inlatible satillite. BOSS stands for Big Occulting Steerable Satillite. It will let you do things like directly view earth-like planets in orbit around stars from 5 Parsecs (18 lightyears) away.
A wealthy eccentric who marches to the beat of a different drum. But you may call me "Noodle Noggin."
Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati
I remember these inflatable cones were proposed decades ago for space station lifeboats. An astronaut in a suit would be able to do an emergency re-entry with this technology. I think NASA was not considering full lifeboats due to mass and complexity -- they already have human-qualified life support spacesuits.
next - one with fully articulatable joints and 3 orifaces! :)
Can't wait!!!
(resisting the urge to shout first post...)
Observe, reason, and experiment.
Observe, reason, and experiment.
(if you're too dumb, just pray)
The atmosphere of Mars is about 6 millibars (about 150x less than Earth). An inflatable heat shield might save space and reduce mass, but it would have to inflate out into something really large to slow down descent through increased drag.
Inflatable tech would work well as cushions to soften impact, and could save a lot of cash by reducing the weight of the probe, but this won't work well to slow impact, will it?
Sure, Mars only has 1/3 the gravity of earth, but that still makes (with the cheesy math of 1/3 of 150x thinner) a 50x hit in efficiency in drag vs tests on earth. Plus, the probe will probably still have some of its momentum left from the trip to get there.
Still, at a fraction of the cost, and super-compact, storage, it certainly couldn't hurt to pack along a few dozen cool inflatable extras on a probe. Go-Go-Gadget-Hand-Glider!
The stuff they use to make these things is flexible, yet extremely durable. Think about it. We already have spacesuits designed to protect astronauts from micrometeorites, balloons that can protect a spacecraft from impact without being punctured by hitting rocks after a fall from at least 400 feet, and if a stray supply module hits one of these things, it's most likely going to bounce off, rather than puncturing it. The result is going to be much better than if it hits a solid container, which will probably buckle under the stress and cause joints and connections to come apart.
Think about how much it takes to puncture and completely deflate a steel-belted radial tire, and then realize that tires are like paper balloons compared to the inflatable tools being designed for space.
NASA's been looking at inflatable technology for quite some time and I'm sure that this is just another application of new materials and ideas (the article must be Slashdotted).
If you think about it, inflation makes complete sense. Given the cargo limitations of today's launch vehicles, inflatable cargo takes up a lot less space. I saw NASA's 'architect', Constance Adams, speak at my school once and they've been designing an inflatable habitat for the space station for quite some time now. The great thing about an inflatable habitat is that it takes very little air in the vacuum of space for it to be structurally stable enough for construction habitation. Furthermore, inhabitable systems use an endoskeletal design for their interiors, rather than the exoskeletal designs of current tin cans, leading to a more flexible design. In addition, materials used for the skin are much lighter than their metallic counterparts, saving launch costs.
If you think about it, in space, most things are in tension because of the outward pressure of the required internal atmosphere. Why not use this force to your benefit, right?