The space housing of the American Lockheed Martin exploded during the test. Video

In early July 2023, it became known that the aerospace company Lockheed Martin tested an inflatable space module designed for astronauts.

The concept of inflatable habitat is being developed as part of NASA the NextSTEP program, which aims to improve technologies that provide long-term human spaceflight beyond low Earth orbit. Thus, the US Aerospace Department intends to implement the Artemis 2 manned mission into lunar orbit at the end of 2024 and the Artemis 3 mission with landing on the surface of a natural satellite Lands in 2025.

Although these missions are important in themselves, NASA will essentially use them as some kind of "springboard" to create a permanent presence in orbit around the moon and on its surface. This, in turn, will help develop the technologies necessary for future expeditions to Mars.

Inflatable habitats like the one Lockheed Martin creates are well suited to space infrastructure because of their relatively light weight and compactness. During the tests, the module withstood a pressure increase of up to 17.22 atmospheres (1.74 MPa) - this is about six times higher than the calculated figure. After reaching the specified value, the module exploded.

Lockheed Martin space housing explodes during test

This is the second such rupture test Lockheed Martin has conducted for its inflatable space dwelling technology. Next, the company intends to evaluate the operational characteristics of its design. In particular, the reliability of hatches, portholes and other elements will be investigated. It is proposed that small and easily transportable universal inflatable modules provide an economical and efficient way to build large-scale structures in space.^[1]

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