Innovative Sensor Applications in Space Habitats

The inflatable habitat can effectively alleviate weight and cost limitations, making it suitable for space applications, but it also faces the challenge of reliably monitoring structural health, which is crucial for astronaut safety. Ohanian explains, “Placing sensors in highly flexible materials is very challenging, as traditional methods cannot be used to measure strain. The traditional approach is to fix sensors to rigid structures, but installing them in such flexible fabric structures is difficult, posing challenges for collecting effective data and early warning of potential failures.”

This inflatable structure is susceptible to creep and micrometeoroid impacts in space. Creep refers to the phenomenon where solid materials experience an increase in strain over time while maintaining constant stress; micrometeoroids are tiny rock particles in space that can cause wear or puncture the fabric used in inflatable structures. Both hazards can jeopardize astronaut safety. In the face of failure risks, maximizing safety and stability is of utmost urgency.

LUNA has proposed a targeted structural health monitoring (SHM) scheme: embedding sensors in flexible fabric materials instead of using external sensors (see Figure 2). Ohanian states, “For embedded sensors, we have come up with various innovative methods based on LUNA’s high-level sensing technology to provide strong assurance for addressing the high-risk challenges faced by inflatable habitats in space.”

Figure 2: Embedded sensors deployed in the SHM of space inflatable habitats

LUNA provides unprecedented data quality for real-time and long-term monitoring of inflatable material structures by embedding sensors in the fabric of inflatable habitats. With the successful performance of this technology in a series of laboratory simulation tests, creep tests, and simulated micrometeoroid impact tests, this innovative approach has been validated and elevated to a new level. A current NASA project is conducting ground tests where sensors are deployed at a 1/3 scale in a more space-like real environment and material structure to verify their testing effectiveness. If successful, this will be used for future space mission inflatable habitat structural health monitoring, such as the Lunar Orbital Space Station and even Mars mission transit and orbital habitats.

John Ohanian presented a paper containing technical details of this project at the recent ASCEND 2020 conference, which is hosted by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) to explore space science and technology.

We invite you to watch a recorded video of John Ohanian’s presentation titled “Structural Health Monitoring of Space Inflatable Habitats” at the ASCEND 2020 conference to learn more about this technology.