Category Archives: In Space Infrastructure

In Space Infrastructure, Living in Space, Space Settlement

Space settlement roundup – Feb.22.2019

A sampling of items related to human settlements off earth:

** Cylindrical homes on Mars created via 3D printing from local materials have made the AI SpaceFactory team a finalist in NASA’s 3-D Printed Habitat Challenge competition to design viable habitats for living on Mars: AI SpaceFactory builds 3D printed Mars habitat prototype, green-lighted by NASA for final phase – SpaceFactory

Using state of the art robotics and their proprietary polymer, AI SpaceFactory is contending for the final top prize of $500,000 given to the highest scoring team to print a sub-scale habitat in the third and final phase of the construction competition. The 1:3 scale prototype will be printed in front of a live audience at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, from April 29 to May 4.

AI SpaceFactory was one of only four teams awarded among six who submitted entries, placing 2nd overall on the basis of 3D-printed samples that were tested for strength, impact resistance, and durability in extreme temperatures. In contrast to other teams, which used concrete as their construction material, AI SpaceFactory formulated their own material – a “Martian polymer” that can be made from matter found or grown on Mars. The polymer was validated by a third-party lab and proven to outperform concrete in every important way: superior tensile and compressive strength, extreme durability in freeze-thaw cycles, and enhanced ductility. The polymer also provides superior cosmic radiation absorption and thermal resistance (insulation) and can be made without water: essential characteristics in the construction of off-world habitats

In five weeks, AI SpaceFactory progressed from basic tests to an autonomously-printed large-area slab validated by NASA in November 2018. Four weeks later the team successfully printed, in only 24 hours, a large cylinder designed to hold twelve-hundred gallons of water complete with prefabricated wall penetrations robotically placed and sealed “on the fly”.

AI SpaceFactory describes MARHSA as a first-principles rethinking of what a Martian habitat could be — not another low-lying dome or confined half-buried structure, but an airy, multi-level environment filled with diffuse light. This innovation challenges the conventional image of “space age” architecture by focusing on the creation of highly habitable spaces tuned to the demands of a Mars mission. 

The MARSHA approach could work well with SpaceX’s Mars settlement goals: 3D-printed Mars habitat could be a perfect fit for early SpaceX Starship colonies – Teslarati.

You can follow AI Factory and other finalists in the contest at Latest Updates from NASA on 3D-Printed Habitat Competition | NASA.

** Lavatube caves on the Moon and Mars could be excellent locales for early settlements. Bob Zimmerman writes about an opening that appears at the top of a long canyon: The location for a future Martian colony? | Behind The Black

My first reaction was, “Whoa! That tiny pit is at the head of an increasingly growing canyon!” To a caver on Earth, this instantly implies that water has flowed out of that pit and down the canyon, carving it out as it flowed. It also implied that the possible underground passage under the pit’s north rim might conceivably be extensive.

Reinforcing this first impression were the numerous dark streaks flowing down the canyon’s cliff walls to the south. They all seemed to originate at about the same elevation as the pit itself, suggesting they all come from the same contact between two geological layers, a contact where water tends to gather. On Earth, when water seeps downward through water-soluble limestone and then gets blocked at a contact of more resistant material, it then starts to flow horizontally, creating a cave at that contact. The Martian dark streaks and pit in the image to the right suggest a similar process is occurring here.

Bob goes on to discuss the region around the above canyon and what role water may have played in forming the features there.

Nonetheless, the data illustrated by these images makes that tiny pit most enticing. It not only appears to be relatively easy to access its interior, there is visual evidence that suggests the presence of water.

If I was a future settler of Mars, I would give this pit a very high priority for exploration. In fact, I think someone (maybe Elon Musk?) should already be considering a probe to delve its depths.

** Rotating in-space habitats can provide artificial gravity and don’t require that space transports go in and out of deep gravity wells. The Gateway Foundation initiative aims to develop a wheel-shaped station as the first large in-space habitat. This video lays out some of the design features: SpaceX Starship and The Von Braun Rotating Space Station –

https://youtu.be/vTNP01Sg-Ss

Scott Manley gives a brief critique of the Gateway group’s approach: A Realistic Look At The Gateway Foundation & Von Braun Station –

Manley emphasizes that funding is the biggest challenge. I agree and believe that the only viable financial approach to such an orbital facility is one that allows for incremental growth. That is, devise a design that can start small and simple and grows step-by-step, just as happened with most towns on earth. For example, start with two Bigelow habitats connected with a tether and rotating. Prove that this works technically and then show it works commercially by attracting a constant stream of paying visitors. This will then provide the basis to attract more investment to expand to more modules and a more elaborate structure.

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The High Frontier: An Easier Way

In Space Infrastructure, Rockets, Space Systems

Space transport roundup – Feb.19.2019

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A sampling of recent items related to traveling to and through space:

** Second suborbital space flight of Virgin Galactic‘s SpaceShipTwo is expected within the next few days. Here is a new video from VG about preparations for the flight:

[ Update: Here is the official confirmation of plans for a another powered SS2 flight: SpaceShipTwo, VSS Unity, Prepares for Fifth Supersonic Powered Test Flight – Virgin Galactic –

With the usual caveats that apply to all test flights, and with the added uncertainties of weather at this time of year in Mojave, the window for our fifth supersonic powered test flight opens on February 20, 2019, and our test flight is planned for the morning of Wednesday, February 20.

Although we passed a major milestone in December, we still have a way to go in testing the many factors that can affect a flight. So, for this flight, we will be expanding the envelope to gather new and vital data essential to future tests and operations, including vehicle center of gravity.

We are proud to be flying NASA Flight Opportunity program research payloads again. The spaceship will be a little heavier than last time, and very close to a full commercial weight.

We are now at the stage where we can confirm some of the aspects of the customer cabin and this will be a continuing theme as we enter this final stage of flight test. It is of paramount importance to our future business success that we not only give our future astronauts a safe ride, but an experience which exceeds expectations. We know, as part of a Group that has led the way in commercial aviation customer experience, cabin design is fundamental to that objective and so this element is an integral part of our flight test program.

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VG is looking for additional capital following the collapse of a partnership with Saudis who were planning to provided a billion or more dollars for Virgin Galactic and Virgin Orbit projects: Branson hunts Galactic cash after grounding $1bn Saudi deal – Sky News.

** An Arianespace Soyuz rocket is set for launch on February 26th of the first 6 satellites of the OneWeb broadband constellation, which will eventually comprise 900 satellites (the system becomes operational globally with 600).

** SEOPS deployed 2 CubeSats from Northrop-Grumman’s Cygnus cargo vehicle after it departed from the ISS on February 8th. These were the first satellite deployments from the Cygnus for SEOPS™, LLC., a new company based in Houston. SEOPS joins NanoRacks as a provider of satellite deployments from the Cygnus and ISS. NanoRacks also deployed three smallsats from the Cygnus using deployers attached to the side of the Cygnus (see earlier posting).

SEOPS uses a deployer called SlingShot, which is attached to the hatch of the Cygnus by ISS crew members (see two gold colored boxes in image below).

Click for time lapse GIF. “SS Crew members David Saint-Jacques and Anne Mcclain installed two Slingshot deployables, SEOPS-Quantum Radar -1 and -2s, onto the outer hatch of the Cygnus Spacecraft. Also installed in a deployable slot is the UbiquityLink-1 orbit to ground communications hardware. The two passive optical reflector satellites will be released after Cygnus moves away from the ISS.” Credits: NASA

The deployers can also be seen in this image of the Cygnus during its unberthing from the station:

Click for GIF animation. “The Cygnus Spacecraft leaves the ISS with SlingShot payloads in preparation for deployment activities.” Credits: NASA

More about the SEOPS and the cubesat deployments:

Find updates from SEOPS at SEOPS (@SEOPSLLC) | Twitter

** HyperSciences fires projectiles at hypersonic speeds up for suborbital launch or down for deep drilling into the earth: HyperSciences wants to ‘gamechange’ spaceflight with hypersonic drilling tech | TechCrunch


HyperSciences – Aerospace NASA Launch – SeedInvest
from HyperSciences on Vimeo.

** SpaceX:

**** A Falcon 9 launch is set for Thursday at Cape Canaveral following a successful static firing test on Monday. Liftoff time is 8:45 pm. EST (0145 GMT on 22nd). The payloads include the PSN 6 communications satellite for Indonesia, a USAF technology demo smallsat, and the Beresheet lunar lander built by the non-profit group SpaceIL of Israel.

A blurry view of the test via a camera placed outside the perimeter of the Cape by the team at www.USLaunchReport.com:

Here’s an earlier video from USLaunch Report.com showing testing of the erector at pad 40:

**** Super Heavy boosters and Starships will be constructed in Texas, though many components will be built at the company’s Hawthorne, California facility: SpaceX job posts confirm Starship’s Super Heavy booster will be built in Texas – Teslarati.

The new stainless steel structure design promises to lower investment requirements and speed up construction but there still remain big technical challenges for the vehicles to achieve routine, low cost access to space: Elon Musk says SpaceX is developing a ‘bleeding’ heavy-metal rocket ship. Making it work may be 100 times as hard as NASA’s most difficult Mars mission, one expert says., Business Insider – Business Insider Singapore.

SpaceX’s south Texas facility at Boca Chica Beach near Brownsville appears to be safe for the time being from being split by a barrier at the border to Mexico: A $1.37 billion border-security deal might save SpaceX’s launch site in Texas, where Elon Musk hopes to fire off moon and Mars rockets, Business Insider – Business Insider Singapore

Here are a couple of videos from Spadre.com South Padre Island Information showing the StarHopper under construction at Boca Chica:

More StarHopper photos at

**** SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket one year later business case – CNBC – SpaceX hopes Falcon Heavy missions this year will pay back some of the substantial investment that went into the complex but powerful launch system.

** Other space transport news items:

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The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos

In Space Infrastructure, Living in Space, SpaceCasts

Videos: “Space to Ground” report on the ISS – Feb.16.2019

The latest episode of NASA’s Space to Ground reports on activities aboard the International Space Station:

A video about growing flowers on the ISS:

Here’s a recent NASA video about past and future lunar missions:

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Outpost in Orbit: A Pictorial & Verbal History of the Space Station

In Space Infrastructure, Living in Space, micro-g R&D

Refabricator 3D printer on ISS will use recycled plastic as feedstock

Tethers Unlimited sent me this update on the installation of the Refabricator 3D printer on the International Space Station:

Refabricator Installed on the ISS
Tethers Unlimited Announces Successful Installation
of the First Recycler-3D Printer On-Board the ISS

Astronaut Anne McClain installs Tethers Unlimited’s Refabricator™ recycling and 3D printing payload aboard the International Space Station.

Bothell, WA, 8 February 2019 – Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have successfully installed the first integrated recycler and 3D printer into the station’s experiment racks. This technology demonstration, called the Refabricator, will perform repeated recycling and 3D printing of plastic materials to demonstrate capabilities for supporting long-duration crewed space missions with sustainable manufacturing.

The Refabricator was developed and built by Tethers Unlimited, Inc. for NASA’s In-Space Manufacturing Project under funding from NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. It combines the ability to recycle plastic items into high-quality 3D printer feedstock, and then use this feedstock to print new items. It is the first plastic recycler on the space station and the first combination of recycling and 3D printing capability in one unit.

“The Refabricator is key in demonstrating a sustainable model to fabricate, recycle and reuse parts and waste materials on extended space exploration missions,” said Niki Werkheiser, manager of In-Space Manufacturing at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Tethers Unlimited engineers in Bothell, Washington supported the space station operations team while astronaut Anne McClain, also from Washington state, installed the Refabricator into the equipment rack. With the installation complete, Tethers Unlimited eagerly looks forward to the opportunity to begin experiment operations within the next few weeks.

“I’m incredibly proud and thankful for the hard work put in by our team, the astronauts, and the NASA In Space Manufacturing Team to get the Refabricator all the way to installation aboard the space station,” said Dr. Rob Hoyt, Tethers Unlimited’s CEO.  “The Refabricator is intended to demonstrate sustainable in-space manufacturing capabilities that are crucial to minimizing the costs and risks for long duration manned missions on the ISS, to the Moon, and someday to Mars.  It will provide future astronauts the ability to manufacture tools, replacement parts, utensils, and medical implements when they need them and greatly reduce the logistics costs for manned space missions by re-using waste materials and minimizing the amount of replacement parts that must be launched from Earth.”

The Refabricator™ recycling and 3D printing payload has been successfully installed into the International Space Station’s EXPRESS rack.

About Tethers Unlimited, Inc.: Tethers Unlimited, Inc. develops transformative technologies for Space and Defense missions.  Its technology portfolio includes programmable radios for small satellites, advanced space propulsion modules, and systems for in-space manufacturing of spacecraft components.   To learn more about TUI and its products, please visit www.tethers.com.

About NASA’s In-Space Manufacturing Program: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/2356.html

The mission patch for the Refabricator on the ISS.

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The High Frontier: An Easier Way

In Space Infrastructure, Living in Space, Space Systems

Videos: “Space to Ground” ISS report – Feb.8.2019

Here is NASA’s latest Space to Ground report on activities related to the International Space Station:

A Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo ship has been berthed to the ISS since it arrived on November 19th following the launch from NASA Wallops Island on November 17th aboard an Antares 230 rocket. Today the Cygnus left the station: Astronauts Release U.S. Spacecraft from Station – Space Station

The vehicle will maneuver to higher orbits for the release of several cubesats for NanoRacks. It will then de-orbit on Feb. 25th and burn up in the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean.

More at NG-10 Cygnus departs ISS after 3 month science, supply mission – NASASpaceFlight.com.

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The High Frontier: An Easier Way