NASA Blows Up the Newest Part of the ISS

Proving that even astronauts aren't immune from holiday weekend honey-do lists, flight engineer Jeff Williams blew up the first inflatable space structure on the ISS on May 28. Dubbed the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, Williams spent the better part of seven hours filling the BEAM via a manual air valve and slowly letting the pressure in the module equalize.

Inflatable structures could be a key solution to humanity's increased attention towards space exploration. According to Science News, the timeline and checklist for landing a human on Mars looks about the same as it did in the 1990s, meaning the first mission to Mars is on track for the 2030s. This comes after NASA constructs an orbiting station around the Moon in the 2020s, to serve as a jumping off point for future missions.

The primary benefit is that inflatable structures take up considerably less room in the cargo holds of LEO-bound rockets, when each ounce of cargo is precious and itemized. BEAM is outfitted with several sensors and instruments to determine the habitability of inflatable structures in space. Scientists are primarily concerned with how BEAM handles collisions with space debris and exposure to radiation. Over the course of the next two years, astronauts will spend test periods in the BEAM collecting data and assessing its utility.

BEAM is constructed of two metal bulkheads, an aluminum structure, and panels of fabric layered with internal bladders-once inflated, it will occupy 565 cubic feet. When testing of BEAM is complete, NASA will jettison BEAM from the ISS via the Canadarm2 so that the BEAM burns up before reentering Earth's atmosphere. If the BEAM proves viable, NASA intends to develop more inflatable structures for future space missions.

The concept of space inflatables has been floating around NASA for many years. It was first envisioned in the TransHab project launched by NASA in the 1990s, which would replace the ISS with an inflatable space station. The TransHab featured a foot-thick shell made of 24 material layers that would protect the station from debris and meteorites that could travel seven times faster than a bullet. TransHab was shelved when ISS budget cuts force NASA to abandon the project. Instead, NASA licensed the technology to Bigelow Aerospace, who parlayed the concept into the BEAM 15 years later.

Had NASA been able to develop TransHab further, it's possible we as a species would be just a bit closer to Mars. Nonetheless, BEAM and space inflatables look like a promising way to begin the next odyssey of space exploration.