Oops! They’ve done it again. Sierra Space blew up their space habitat for the third time – intentionally — all in the name of testing.
The commercial space company conducted a new duration test called an Accelerated Systematic Creep Test for their LIFE Habitat (Large Integrated Flexible Environment), putting a 1/3 size scale model of the space module under gradually increasing excess pressure until it failed. The habitat burst after more than 150 hours of constant pressure, exceeding NASA’s certification target of 100 hours.
Sierra Space told Universe Today that the results of the test indicate that the test article exceeded the pressure shell on orbit lifetime performance requirement of 15 years with margin. That means astronauts could live and work in a full-size version of the inflatable habitat for up to 60 years in space.
The video below shows the impressive explosion:
Continue reading “Sierra Space Tests Another Inflatable Space Station Module … to Destruction”