Are inflatable space stations a meme?

>>9094079
I'd be interested to see the packing geometry of these things if anyone has it

Where are the dolphins?

>>9094079
Inflate my dick.

>>9094079
If you think about it pretty much everything is a meme in the end

>>9094184
>>9094308
>>9094394
Excellent posts, exactly what I've come to expect from high IQ individuals here on 4chins

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>>9094184
>>9094308
>>9094394
Top posts lads. Proud of you.

>>9094079
Maybe, even though they're easier to transport up to orbit you'd still need to haul the water to fill them up, but otherwise does a good job at protecting against cosmic radiation.

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>>9094079
Not sure if they're a meme, but I am sure about one thing. I'm gonna need more of these dank space station pics stat.

>>9094079

The advantage of an inflatable module is that it allows the module to be mass limited in size rather than volume limited.

Generally speaking habitation modules aren't heavy enough to fully make use of a given rocket's up-mass capability, but they can't be any bigger and still fit in the payload faring, so the capability is wasted. An inflatable can be built so that it uses up all the payload margin as structural mass, then in space expand to make use of that structural mass to become much larger than any launch vehicle faring.

There are exceptions to this and inflatables aren't good for some purposes but that's the main idea. Launching the station in your pic related would require a vehicle faring much larger than anything that exists today or will in the near future, if it launched inflated. When stowed it'd fit in the SLS faring.

>>9094079
Bigelow

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>>9094445
that poor fucking tire cover

bit of a niche question, but is anyone taking part in the IStructE design competition this year? it's to design a space station.

I'm thinking of designing an inflatable station, anyone got any good info about it?

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>>9094079

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>>9096042
space bedrooms look so comfy.

Wouldn't they just float away into space like a balloon? Seems dangerous

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>>9096047

>>9096064
I suppose we could just tether them to earth or the moon

>>9096008
OP here. I've been working on this for the competition.

That's exactly why I started the thread.

My issue is that I know fucking nothing about analysing this thing. Any ideas?

>>9094079
There are already two unmanned inflatables on orbit, in addition to the small one docked to ISS. They need manned spaceflight in order to get people up to them, so they're only a meme until SpaceX and Boeing get their MSF going next year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflatable_space_habitat#Flight_experience

>>9094079
Lrn2meme fgt pls

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>>9094079
Why place the battery boxes at the centre end rather than using it near the walls as extended shielding against radiation and protection against micro meteoroids?

>>9096262
>why put highly important (and potentially deadly if they leak) in a safe place, instead of in harms way
micro meteorites can be stopped by tin foil

>>9096290
[citation needed]

>>9096064
this was so stupid and contrived

>>9096262
I can't help but think of what they're going to do when they have an accident and shart in their suit.

>>9094785
>tire cover
Im surrounded by mellenials

>>9096543
>go into bathroom
>close door
>peel off nasty suit and wash it and yourself with a soapy sponge.
>secure waste and cleaning supplies
>hang suit in a place where it can dry
>float naked to your locker and put on some clothing

Much like you would on Earth except you don't want to release excrement into the air vents.

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>>9096572
>hanging a suit to dry
>in zero g

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>>9096290
>being this retarded
micro meteorites can punch through an inch thick aluminum plate

>>9094785
>This fucking imbecile called the axel a tire cover

>>9097087
>>9094785
It's a fucking alloy wheel

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>>9097087
>ESL calls a wheel an axle

>>9094153
there's nothing special to it, its just the inflatable membrane, with structural struts, all the life support infrastructure, and technology gets installed by following missions.
the one they tested on the ISS was a prototype of an inflatable storage compartment. it was quite small deflated, you could pack like 10 of these things into the payload of a falcon9, and add with just one mission a shit-ton of cargo space to the station if that inflatable tech wouldn't be so sketchy

>>9096262
you dont want to have a meteorite punctured ultra high capacity battery in space.
when that shit burns, it burns, you cant put that fire out as long the thermal runaway in the cells is going on. and electricity is maybe the most important thing to keep your life support going, you want to tuck the batteries away

>>9096140
ah cool, you a student?

as for analysing, i don't really know either. They haven't specified what they're looking for, but I would guess check the outer hull against the internal pressure, check the ties/struts against the centripetal force (because it has to have artificial gravity - dunno how else to do that), maybe something about the dock - dynamic loading from an "impact" of an arriving ship? dunno really.

How much progress have you made? the deadline is the 1st sep but I have a dissertation to do too so i haven't really done much yet.

>>9098021
>>9098021
Not a student.

Grad + 3

I've done no work - working on my IPD forms because I'm going for chartership too.

I agree, basic checks and a few indications of section sizes should suffice, but everyone is going to come up with inflatable + spinning ring IMO. I'm trying to come up with something unique or look into stuff that people wouldn't usually consider.

Good luck.

>>9098056
i think you're right that everyone is going to come up with the same general idea. generating the artificial gravity is going to make the possibilities pretty limited imo.

i think the key deciding factor is going to be the details of how it's constructed, rather than the overall concept.

best of luck to you too.

>>9096044
If someone were to shoop /sci/ onto the laptop screen, this could be a fairly zesty meme

>>9097502
>>9097513
I love you long time, but that was meant to be an ironic joke. It would've been much more funny if you hadn't have responded. Furthermore, retards like the pic in >>9094445 aren't as common as this website likes to portray. Go outside, people.

>>9094079
How do you inflate the station in space? Yes, it's a meme.

>>9099183
Having worked as a mechanic, i've sadly found that they are not as uncommon as one would like

>>9099217
By..using gas? How is the inflation-part a mememaker?

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>>9094785
>tire cover
you fucking spacker

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>>9099353

>>9097645
First off, are you sure they would use an ultra high capacity battery rather one optimised for power/weight AND safety?

Secondly, a thermal runaway is avoided by maximising dissipating surface area so the use as an inner lining is ideal also for getting rid of heat. Also, a centrally located high density battery location as shown in the figure would maximise the chance of thermal runaway running to completion and total loss of integrity.

Clearly all indications are that they would never use a battery with the chance of thermal runaway from the very start of the design.

On some level aren't all space stations just really rigid balloons anyway?

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>>9094697
That's why we need to build the Sea Dragon.

>>9096543
Astronauts wear diapers as it is, already, when they're on spacewalks. No one's actually needed to actually use them yet though (or so they claim)

>>9094697
Just means you gotta fill the habitat up with metal, and send a few guys up to weld on extensions

Inflatable is more or less a meme based around temporary modern limitations
But then again, we aren't doing anything in space while missions still cost hundreds of millions & years to plan

>>9096042
This looks great, comfy too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPZ-uWirIN4

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I see no memehate towards Bigelow aerospace

why is that

>>9096599

Yeah, but if you put 10 layers of tin foil 1 inch apart they will stop them. Look up wiffle shields.

It's a solid concept, but the company has issues.

>>9096044
Yeah, if you're into the sensation of constant falling while you sleep.

>>9101408
>>9096044
>>9096042
>>9094079

I want to live there with my husbando. The first tranny in space!

>>9100734
missions are slow as shit because it makes more money to be as snow and inefficient as imaginably possible
why bother being prudent when you're guaranteed millions of dollars despite being a lazy shit

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>>9102506
ok, you go make a ten layer shield and I'll launch a rock at your balls at 30km/s
you willing to put that much faith in tinfoil?

>>9103080
That's basically how the ISS works.

Layers of aluminum and nextel form a Whipple Shield.

Not foil, but still the same idea.

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>>9103105
was not doubting the effectiveness of a whipple shield
I was doubting that tinfoil would be a good idea to make any armour with ever in any form, especially when the thing hitting it is at several times high-hypersonic speed

>>9100345
A large nuclear power plant delivers of te order of 1 GW.
I was told Saturn V delivered 60 GW on launch.

This beast clocks up about 700 GW. That is insane.

>>9103707
if you launched it on land, the noise from it is so intensely loud that it would destroy the hearing of people multiple miles away from it

>>9103715
it would also cause small earthquakes and probably obliterate the launch pad

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>>9103776
Instead we get enough fried fish to feed the crew of an aircraft carrier.

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The Space Station of the Future.

>>9096008
why do i only hear of such copetitions when they are basically over ;(

>>9103776
But then again, so would a nuclear salt-water rocket engine

>>9104697
You have to be a member of the UK institution of structural engineers my dude.

If you're not a member, you won't hear about it. To become a member, have an accredited degree in the uk, and pay the fees.

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>>9096008
do you have limitations on how large it can be?

>>9104697
yeah it's only open to istructe members (including student members)
>>9104800
no limits. a huge scifi ringworld think like that would be cool but it's a structural engineering competition. they are assessing structural calculations, drawings, constructability considerations etc. i am not prepared to do all that for a huge thing like that lol.

to be honest, it's incredibly unlikely that i'm gonna be able to enter. i don't have the time and it's gonna be a huge ballache to print an A1 drawing and post it to them.

>>9102745

Obviously mentally ill people are generally rejected as astronaut candidates, though.

>>9105379
Prime material for testing the radiation shielding on experimental spacecraft though.

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>>9094308
Blow it baby! Blow the D until it explode.

>>9094079
>Fill the walls with 'non-newtonian' liquid
>Easy to transport in cubic containers
>Safer than steel
Profit?

it doesn't make sense until we have some monster heavy lift platform like the originally proposed 12m ITS from SpaceX.

>>9105634
Why?
They're inflatable,that negates the need for large fairings

>>9106009
it makes sense if you want FUCKHUGE open sections in your module in order to satisfy the sci-fi dream of strolling in a park inside a space station with your space gf

>>9105628
hypervelocity impacts would probably btfo of most of those materials.