Abstract With NASA's Artemis program currently underway, the necessity to have lunar structures that can house astronauts for months at a time is now greater than ever. This paper investigates current deployable lunar habitat concepts and finds a paucity of detailed papers in the literature. The hybrid deployable lunar habitat architecture considered here went through many design iterations to simplify and support its manufacturing. A novel deployment mechanism is developed utilizing the release of pressurized gas for an autonomous deployment sequence. A prototype was fabricated that demonstrated a successful proof of concept, leaving a robust foundation for future research.
Highlights delom Hybrid autonomously deployable structures for lunar habitats are studied. Such structures have solid elements plus an inflatable component that deploys after landing. Astronauts arrive at the Moon and have the structure waiting for them. A key design challenge is the deployment mechanism. A scale model is designed and manufactured to test concepts.
Mechanical design of a lunar habitat structure and deployment mechanism
Acta Astronautica ; 213 ; 102-120
2023-09-01
19 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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