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Hi, I'm JD and this week on NASA Now we'll look at plans
to use inflatable structures as possible habitats
for humans living on the Moon and Mars.
But before we get to that,
let's find out what else is happening at NASA NOW!
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NASA's trapped Mars rover finds evidence of subsurface water.
Scientist say the ground
where the rover Spirit became stuck last year holds evidence
that water, perhaps as snow melt,
trickled into the subsurface.
Which makes Mars an even more interesting destination
for further exploration.
Last week, NASA and the other International Space Station
partners celebrated 10-years
of people living permanently aboard the space station.
NASA commemorated the event
with a live news conference featuring the current space
station crew.
NOW, let's take a look back at the past!
August 12, 1960 - NASA launches the passive communications
satellite Echo 1, which becomes the first inflatable structure
to be placed in orbit.
With future human missions planned at greater distances
from Earth and for extended stays,
NASA engineers are working now to develop new concepts
for habitation modules.
One option being studied is inflatable structures.
Here's Judith Watson to tell us more.
My name is Judith Watson, I am a senior research engineer
at NASA Langley Research Center.
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The inflatable structure can give us a lot more volume.
It's a packageable structure so that the sides can sort of fold
down around a central section.
So, when we take it to space then we can expand it.
So, it expands just like a balloon but it's much tougher
than a balloon, and that way we can get up to 2 to 3 times
as much volume for our crews and our equipment.
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Whether it's on the Moon or Mars or someplace else,
it has to handle the temperatures
that that environment is in.
It has to protect the crew from radiation, provide protection
from micrometeoroids or orbital debris that a might be in orbit.
We can only put so much into orbit at one time.
So, having something that weighs less is important
and that is one of the possibilities
with these structures is that for the amount of volume
that we get, we get, it doesn't require as much mass
or as much weight to put it into orbit.
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The inflatable structures and inflatable habitats,
we have been looking at Vectran and Kevlar
as two types of materials.
Both these materials are similar,
they're very high strength fabric materials
and that's why we like to use them
because they can handle the loads
that the pressures is going to create.
At the same, time they can be fairly tough materials,
so one of the things that we'll look
at is how well they handle being hit by a micrometeoroid.
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Solar proton events are the solar flares that you hear about
or see about being disruptive.
They are short term and we can do a lot of design
to protect people from those for a short period of time.
Now, the nice thing about all these layers that we are looking
at tend to be organic material and that helps us
in radiation protection.
The Galactic Cosmic Radiation, or GCR,
is something that's going on day-in and day-out,
and on Earth we're protected from it by our atmosphere
and a magnetic field that we have around the planet.
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There is not one part of this
that we don't use mathematics on.
In order to figure out the volume, that we need
for the crew, ah, how much space is available for them?
What our pressures are?
How the changes affect us, we have to use math for that?
How thick our materials are?
How do you deploy it?
How do you change from a small volume to a large volume?
Mathematics is in, is in every aspect of what we do.
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Did you know that the first serious design and manufacture
of an inflatable space habitat was in 1961
with a space station design produced for NASA by Goodyear?
Although the design never flew,
it laid the foundation for future research.
Now it's time to check out what's up!
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November is the time for the annual Leonid Meteor shower.
Look for the Leonids after midnight from November 10th
through the 23rd, with the peak occurring
on November 17th and 18th.
Wait until the Moon sets in the hours before dawn
for your best chance of seeing them.
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Now it's your turn!
Check out these exciting resources and activities
on the NASA Explorer School's Virtual Campus.
This week you have two great classroom activities.
In one, you and your team will use NASA's
"Moon Math" computer software
to investigate lunar habitat design.
In the other, you'll simulate the effects
of high-speed micrometeoroid impacts
with a hands-on investigation called "Pea Shooter Meteoroids!"
For more information on these and other related activities,
visit the The NASA Explorer Schools Virtual Campus.
Well that's it for NASA NOW, Be sure to tune
in to the Virtual Campus next week when we take a ride
on the A-Train to explore the relationship
between clouds and climate.
We'll see you THEN on NASA NOW!
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NASA NOW is brought to you from the Virtual Campus
at NASA Explorer schools.