Pneumocell

Inflatable structures specialist Pneumocell in Austria performed a system study in 2021 of an inflatable lunar habitat, based on prefabricated ultralight structures.

Created: 2023-01-13

Updated: 2024-03-02

Company - Pneumocell

Founded
Country: 2008; Austria

Funding: Yes, ?

Website: Pneumocell

Product/Service - PneumoPlanet

Classification: Surface Habitats & Structures

Category: Surface Habitats

Fields: Inflatables

Status: Concept

First launch: Not announced

PneumoPlanet - Study of an Inflatable Moon Habitat

The goal of this study was to develop a design for a lunar habitat in the close vicinity of one of the lunar poles and to demonstrate the feasibility of the suggested design in view of the available resources. The habitat should operate self-sufficiently in the long term by producing and recycling its own oxygen and food inside large greenhouses and almost exclusively by using solar irradiation power. The proposed concept features a combination of:

Once inflated, these habitats would be buried under 4–5 m of lunar regolith for radiation and micrometeorite protection. Above each habitat a truss holding a mirror membrane would be erected, designed to rotate to follow the sun through the sky. Sunlight from the mirror would be directed down through an artificial crater, from which another cone-shaped mirror reflects it into the surrounding greenhouse.

The study was supported through the Discovery element of ESA's Basic Activities. It came about after Pneumocell submitted their idea to the Agency's Open Space Innovation Platform, OSIP, seeking out promising ideas for space research from all possible sources.

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