Inflatable space habitat

An inflatable module called TransHab (a portmanteau of Trans Habitation) was proposed for the International Space Station,[2] and later the private company Bigelow Aerospace revived the design for use in a number of potential civil and commercial applications.

However common elements include interwoven layers of highly durable materials such as Kevlar and mylar around a flexible air bladder which is used to retain an atmosphere.

NASA is currently studying inflatable lunar bases with the planetary surface habitat and airlock unit[5] which is in an early prototype phase, and has conceptual proposals for utilizing expandable-technology space structures in cislunar and interplanetary crewed exploration spacecraft.

[6] From its founding in 1998 until its closing in 2020, Bigelow Aerospace performed pioneering research and development work in coordination with NASA on inflatable space habitats.

Bigelow began to publicly refer to the initial configuration—two Sundancer modules and one B330 module—as "Space Complex Alpha" in October 2010.

Called the Multi-Mission Space Exploration Vehicle (MMSEV), the partial-G torus-ring centrifuge would utilize both standard metal-frame and inflatable spacecraft structures and would provide 0.11 to 0.69 G (1.1–6.8 m/s2 or 3.6–22.3 ft/s2).

[15][16] The proposed Orbital Reef commercial space station includes multiple LIFE habitats in its design.