Lightweight materials for advanced space structures

A. SIMONE, Thales Alenia Space

Extending human access and sustainable presence to Moon and Mars is the natural evolution of the capabilities acquired in LEO through the participation to the International Space Station (ISS) .The main goal of manned exploration is to achieve a prolonged stay in space e.g. in an orbital station  or in planetary bases on the Moon and/or Mars.

TAS-I has been developing technologies for the carrying out of a new generation space modules which will offer increased habitable volumes suitable for long term missions. The enabling capability requested for future long duration exploration missions is based on the inflatable modules technology able to provide huge habitable on–orbit volumes with reduced mass and volumes at launch (due to high packaging) and hence limiting the number of launches to achieve the required habitable volumes

The functional layers for this type of modules are essentially based on textile materials (technical materials with high structural performance fibers) and polymeric materials with high air tightness, provided by a nanostructured functional upper layer to increase the space material compatibility.

 
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