Sierra Space, a leading commercial space company and defense tech prime, announced that it recently conducted successful hypervelocity impact trials at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, to optimize the structural integrity of Sierra Space’s Large Integrated Flexible Environment (LIFE) habitat. The goal of this NASA-supported testing was to refine a shield for the company’s expandable, flexible space station structure to make it capable of withstanding impacts from hazards in orbit.
The LIFE habitat’s shield, constructed from innovative, high-strength, flexible “softgoods” – a chemically-woven fabric material called Vectran, provides a lightweight yet durable alternative to traditional rigid structures. The Sierra Space and NASA test teams used a two-stage light gas gun to simulate micrometeoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) impacts to LIFE’s outer shield. The testing aimed to select materials and configurations that enhance the habitat’s shielding performance while achieving significant mass savings, critical for space missions.
“Our innovative space station technology drives scientific discovery and fuels a low-Earth orbit economy,” said Shawn Buckley, Vice President, Space Destinations Systems at Sierra Space. “This collaboration with NASA advances our efforts to develop a shield that protects against micrometeoroids and space debris, bringing us closer to launching the LIFE habitat into orbit and readying our technology for repeat and long-duration space missions.”
The impact testing, conducted under an unfunded Space Act Agreement called Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities (CCSC-2), used NASA’s .50 caliber two-stage light gas gun to replicate MMOD traveling at speeds around seven kilometers per second. Housed in the Remote Hypervelocity Test Laboratory, the gun uses gunpowder (the first stage) and highly compressed hydrogen (the second stage) to accelerate projectiles at high velocities to simulate orbital debris impacts on spacecraft and satellite materials and components. Testing is conducted in a near-vacuum chamber to simulate space conditions.
Material Selection and Testing Process
The impact trials were conducted in two phases. The first grouping of shots varied the softgoods materials while keeping gun parameters constant, simulating MMOD impacts to directly compare how each material performed. After identifying the most promising materials, the team adjusted gun parameters to develop an equation characterizing the efficacy and performance of the selected shield stack. During the tests, 40 experimental shots were fired toward the materials to confirm the configuration selection. Once the team had established a strong but mass-efficient shield configuration, 19 additional shots were discharged at the material. These efforts were critical to mitigate future risks posed by MMOD—tiny, high-speed particles that can cause significant damage to spacecraft and habitats in orbit. Sierra Space team members traveled to White Sands to observe the shots firsthand and collaborate on real-time adjustments to the follow-on tests based on immediate results. This hands-on approach allowed for rapid, data-driven decisions to refine the shield design.
Collaboration with NASA Drives Innovation
Throughout the process, Sierra Space collaborated closely with NASA, leveraging its expertise to analyze the data and determine the best path forward. This collaboration underscores the shared commitment to advancing space habitat technology capable of withstanding the harsh conditions of space, including MMOD threats. Sierra Space remains dedicated to pioneering space technology and exploration. The successful testing marks a key milestone in developing the LIFE habitat as a reliable, MMOD-resistant solution for long-duration space missions. Additional testing will further refine LIFE habitat for the first launch to low-Earth orbit.
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