The snag that foiled NASA’s plans to inflate an expandable habitat on the International Space Station has been sorted out.
Scientists will attempt to inflate the experimental habitat BEAM once again on Saturday.
After analyzing data from Thursday’s first attempt, the space agency and Bigelow Aerospace, the company that created BEAM, believe the module is in good health.
NASA has been exploring alternative technology that can help it achieve its goals to travel deeper in space. It has expressed interest in expandable equipment such as BEAM because it is lighter and more compact than the metal structures that have been traditionally sent to orbit.
So what was the glitch that stopped astronauts on the space station from inflating BEAM with breathable air? The answer is fabric friction, Bigelow engineer Lisa Kauke said.
When BEAM, short for Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, was added to the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket payload, it may have been packed up longer than expected, according to Bigelow engineers.
The fabric-like material that BEAM is made from was compressed, changing the way the material behaved in space temporarily, making it more rigid during the expansion process.
“The impact of the compression affected the layers,” Kauke said during a teleconference from Johnson Space Center in Houston. “Layers have a memory to them. The longer they are packed the longer it takes for the materials to relax.”
Scientists first noticed a problem with BEAM when the pressure to volume ratio wasn’t adding up. When pressure goes up, volume should also increase, but that wasn’t happening, according to Jason Crusan, director of NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems.
NASA and Bigelow Aerospace decided to stop inflating the habitat, which should increase to the size of a small bedroom, just to make sure there was no damage to the space station during the process.
Overnight, scientists saw some good signs. The BEAM looked like it was still pressurized, although it wasn’t, meaning that the fabric was gaining its elasticity back. During Friday’s teleconference, NASA announced that it will try to inflate the structure again Saturday and it will broadcast live on NASA TV, starting at 8:45 a.m. ET.
“We are confident that it will be expandable at some time. There’s no reason to believe BEAM is at risk,” Cursan said. “There’s a lot of valuable data here. We’re probably being overtly cautious.”
Right now, NASA plans to have astronauts enter BEAM three to four times a year to see how the habitat is faring.
After its two-year stint in space, BEAM will jettison back down to Earth, and burn up in our atmosphere.