Application of Composite Materials to Reduce Mass of Internal and External Exploration Habitat Structures

Date

2019-07-07

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

49th International Conference on Environmental Systems

Abstract

Habitats for human exploration missions to the Moon and Mars (including rovers and surface ascent cabins) are often massive elements, which must be pushed through many propulsive burns. Small increases in habitat mass can translate into large mass changes in launch vehicle and propulsion stage masses, which often drive the affordability and complexity of missions. Targeted investments in technologies that substantially reduce mass of habitats, such as lightweight, composite structures, are impactful for any human exploration mission. In previous studies, composite structures have been proposed to significantly reduce the mass of habitat primary structures over traditional aluminum structures. However, these designs faced challenges including certification, damage tolerance, inherited requirements, a lack of early consideration of required joints, and challenges manufacturing large-scale sealed structures. There is an opportunity to achieve substantial mass savings by implementing multiple-composite habitat structures, which apply different, optimal composite materials and structural concepts for each part of the habitat structure (e.g., acreage, discontinuities, secondary structure, interior equipment cases) customized to its unique structural requirements (e.g., strength, loads, and damage tolerance). This paper describes the current progress of a study into composite habitat structures to identify those beneficial composite materials and layups that enable substantial mass savings (target of >20%) at similar cost and risk of existing metallic structures. Composite material systems and structural concepts are assessed for their desirable structural properties, ease of manufacture, technical maturity, cost, and ability to join efficiently with other composite and metallic structures using a representative Mars Transit Habitat. The differences and implications for a lunar ascent module application are briefly discussed.

Description

Matthew Simon, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USA
Lemuel Carpenter, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USA
Glenn Hrinda, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USA
Andrew Bergan, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USA
Jamshid Samareh, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USA
Anatoli Mitrou, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), USA, University of Patras, Greece
ICES502: Space Architecture
The 49th International Conference on Environmental Systems was held in Boston, Massachusetts, USA on 07 July 2019 through 11 July 2019.

Keywords

Habitat design, Human exploration, Spacecraft design, Structures mass, Composite materials, Mass reduction, Mars Transit Habitat, Lunar surface mission

Citation