Inflatable space habitats are a relatively new concept in the realm of space exploration. Although these possibilities have already been raised since the 1960s, when the initial space race was at its peak, they have only really begun to be taken into account when various pioneers of the private space industry have come into play and have achieved reduce project costs.
One of the many advantages of these habitats is that they can be launched packaged and deployed already in space, so the initial size is much smaller and, thus, the aforementioned costs as well. One of the companies that is working on inflatable habitat technologies is Max Space. The company is fairly new to the private space industry, but its founders are not.
One of them is Aaron Kemmer, who was also behind the space start-up Made In Space and the second is Maxim De Jong, a collaborator at Bigelow Aerospace. It must be taken into account that, this time, the objective is much greater than in his previous projects. And it is about creating a habitat with a pressurized volume of more than 10,000 m³.
Such a volume would be more than enough to establish permanent human habitats not only in space, but also on the surfaces of other planets. A space station can, therefore, be generated in a much simpler and cheaper way than those that have been sent to space to date. The project is based on an expandable architecture with decoupled structural elements.
Thanks to this, the habitat can be launched with a single space rocket and is also scalable. This implies that, according to its creators, it is possible to put the volume of the entire International Space Station into orbit in a single mission and at a much lower cost. The structure of the inflatable habitat is made of a ballistic grade material and, as its manufacturers claim, much more resistant than current metal structures.
The Max Space company states that the habitat has a lower mass than any other pressurized architecture, but for now no further details are offered in this regard. According to forecasts, the first habitat of this type is expected to travel to space in 2026, when the first test flight of the technology is scheduled with the help of a SpaceX rocket.
Max Space plans to produce habitats of this type of very different sizes to adapt to different circumstances. There are many potential uses for this type of project in the future, which can range from orbital stations to the installation of possible bases on the surface of the Moon or even on Mars.
If you want to learn more about these new inflatable habitats and everything they are capable of achieving, you just have to take a look at the video that accompanies this article.