Inflatable space stations was my first thought.
(Who am I kidding, inflatable space stations is often my first thought about many things.)
But seriously, was recently watching the "Man in Space" series that Disney did in the 50's with Werner von Braun — he where shows us his inflatable space station. So I've been kind of thinking more about that of late.
Sierra space seems to be furthest along on this. Videos of their burst tests are pretty epic as well.
https://www.sierraspace.com/commercial-space-stations/life-s...
What happens with debris or micro debris? They say it's stronger than steel, but steel doesn't really on the entire piece being critical to the structure, so holes won't necessarily lead to catastrophic failures. Or what am I missing?
You’d probably want an auto sealing system. You can coat the inside of your bike tire in a goop that hardens if a puncture happens. The positive pressure squishes the liquid out the hole and it hardens. That will probably be standard equipment in space soon.
"Inflatable" doesn't have to mean "tightly stretched rubber like a balloon" or "lowest bidder plastic heat-bonded together with a picture of a flamingo in it". You can build strong materials that will still inflate, especially with .5-1 atmospheres of pressure, no problem.
I'm pretty sure everyone is using a standard pressure and composition on their spacecrafts and stations now. If you want to dock with existing craft and not have managing atmospheres be a big problem, you want to stick to the standard.
I am not a professional space station designer, but I think I'd want it to remain structurally sound and consistent even if the internal pressure was removed for maintenance or lost in an accident.
Granted, "inflatable" could also mean "gas-powered setup", distinct from regular shape-keeping. (And, heh, station-keeping.)
which is what this paper is about.
I thought throw tent. Too many fiberglass splinters in my fingers growing up. Why can’t we just invent one that unfolds and snaps into place?
That's pretty cool. Wonder what the upper limits of this technique would be, given stronger base materials?
ie rapid deployment of light weight bridges in disaster areas, military engagements (such as fording rivers), and that kind of thing
Better foldable beach/camping chairs?
I think a promising direction for future research could be to develop a sort of elastic, self-lubricating sleeve structure.
Great now do one that holds vacuum. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_airship
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