Continued successful development testing of an 8.2-meter (27-feet) diameter Space Deployable Habitat Module for LIFE (Large Integrated Flexible Environment) application, jointly designed, and fabricated by ILC Dover Astrospace and Sierra Space, has validated and advanced many critical structural components of the habitat's "softgoods" shell. The objective of this paper is to present further results from successful Ultimate Burst Pressure (UBP) tests with integrated blanking plates and Accelerated Systematic Creep (ASC) tests performed in late 2022 and 2023. The additional UBP tests further verify that the structural integrity of the system is at or above the 4.0 factor of safety required by NASA for certification. The ASC tests verify that the creep life of the structural components is much higher than the required 60 years (4X 15-years life). This paper will also discuss updated structural and system architectures that would enable greater capabilities in expanding usable volume and mission operations.
Morgan et al. (Sun,) studied this question.