by Sierra Space aimed to blow up a space module on video and delivered on that promise in spades.
The company completed its third module test on the trip to certify its module design for eventual spaceflight and to help develop a private space complex to replace the International Space Station (ISS). The accelerated systematic creep test, as the company called the December test, exceeded NASA certification requirements.
“These results will propel us into 2023 as we mature the technology through full-scale development and work toward full NASA certification,” Sierra Space officials wrote in a statement. (opens in a new tab) Tuesday (January 31).
Sierra Space’s Large Integrated Flexible Environment, or LIFE, will be part of the Orbital Reef space station run by Blue Origin. Orbital Reef is one of a small set of industry-led space stations to which NASA provided initial funding in December 2021 as part of a plan to replace the aging ISS in the 2030s or so.
Related: NASA looks to private outposts to build on International Space Station legacy
So far, Sierra Space has conducted three explosives tests for safety reasons, as NASA certification requires extensive ground testing to ensure the design is safe for spaceflight. The December 2022 effort loaded the subscale test module with air pressure and required the module to maintain pressure for at least 100 hours. The explosion occurred after 150 hours, exceeding the requirement by 150%.
Previously, in July and November, Sierra Space conducted two ultimate burst pressure tests which subjected the test modules to ever-increasing air pressure until they exploded. After the December test results are complete, Sierra plans a second systematic accelerated subscale creep test “in early 2023” and then full-scale testing later in the year, officials said in the statement. .
In picture : Inside the Sierra Nevada Inflatable Space Habitat for Astronauts in Lunar Orbit
All testing was done at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, adjacent to the Saturn 1/1B testbed flame trench, in the same area where NASA tested rockets for the Apollo lunar program of the 1960s and 1970s. Testing included Sierra Space, former spacesuit manufacturer ILC Dover, and NASA officials.
Sierra Space isn’t the only space station module maker deliberately blowing things up for NASA. In December, for example, engineers at Lockheed Martin Space’s Waterton Canyon facility in Colorado also blew up a test module for their own ultimate burst pressure test, although this module design is intended to a deeper space destination as NASA seeks to expand its influence to the moon and beyond.
In 2021, NASA provided $415 million in funding split across three teams tasked with creating replacement space stations for the ISS: the Orbital Reef team led by Blue Origin which includes Sierra Space received $130 million, l The Nanoracks LLC team received $160 million and the Northrop Grumman team raised $125.6. million.
An inflatable module is also in action at the moment on the ISS, being tested by Bigelow Space. The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, arrived at its docking port in 2019 and receives periodic checks by ISS astronauts to ensure it can withstand the vacuum of space and the solar radiation.
Elizabeth Howell is co-author of “Why am I taller (opens in a new tab)?” (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a book on space medicine. Follow her on Twitter @howellspace (opens in a new tab). Follow us on twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in a new tab) or Facebook (opens in a new tab).
