Is this project an undergraduate, graduate, or faculty project?
Undergraduate
group
What campus are you from?
Daytona Beach
Authors' Class Standing
Jackson Schuler, Junior
Lead Presenter's Name
Jackson Schuler
Faculty Mentor Name
Frank Radosta
Abstract
The future of interplanetary habitation will be built through the use of Inflatable Habitat Modules, or IHMs. Though previously theorized, recent developments in material science and manufacturing processes have allowed IHMs to be lighter, smaller, and more durable than any hard-shell module with the same deployment size. However, the one problem that has not yet been tackled is providing a floor for terrestrial counterparts in the otherwise rounded modules. Project Vestia aims to design and create a full-scale, functional build of a collapsible floor made of individual panels which would fold during transit using methods similar to origami. Utilizing these methods, the floor will be able to collapse from 4 meters by 10 meters once deployed to 3 meters by a quarter meter thick. When extended, the floor will be capable of supporting 20,000 earth-equivalent pounds on the Martian surface (7,500 pounds on earth), and will weigh less than a half a ton. This system is optimized such that the SpaceX Starship launch vehicle would be capable of shipping 48 of these condensed habitats, which would contain the equivalent living space of over 17 times the habitable volume of the ISS. This new system will pave the way for future astronauts, both public and private, to inhabit worlds beyond our imagination. This project is in its early stages of securing funding and design, and will be moving into final design and construction by March of 2021.
Did this research project receive funding support from the Office of Undergraduate Research.
No
Project Vestia: Habitation of the Future
The future of interplanetary habitation will be built through the use of Inflatable Habitat Modules, or IHMs. Though previously theorized, recent developments in material science and manufacturing processes have allowed IHMs to be lighter, smaller, and more durable than any hard-shell module with the same deployment size. However, the one problem that has not yet been tackled is providing a floor for terrestrial counterparts in the otherwise rounded modules. Project Vestia aims to design and create a full-scale, functional build of a collapsible floor made of individual panels which would fold during transit using methods similar to origami. Utilizing these methods, the floor will be able to collapse from 4 meters by 10 meters once deployed to 3 meters by a quarter meter thick. When extended, the floor will be capable of supporting 20,000 earth-equivalent pounds on the Martian surface (7,500 pounds on earth), and will weigh less than a half a ton. This system is optimized such that the SpaceX Starship launch vehicle would be capable of shipping 48 of these condensed habitats, which would contain the equivalent living space of over 17 times the habitable volume of the ISS. This new system will pave the way for future astronauts, both public and private, to inhabit worlds beyond our imagination. This project is in its early stages of securing funding and design, and will be moving into final design and construction by March of 2021.