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ESDMD #0306: Advanced Structures and Materials to Enable Mass-Efficient Habitats

Lighter habitat structures, such as inflatable softgoods, composites and lightweight metals, so habitats fit within launch and landing limits and can scale (bin 6, rating 49 of 57). The thresholds are not set yet: the target's performance, mass and volume figures are all "TBR". It is the first gap in bin 6 (Tech gaps spreadsheet, ESDMD #0306).

Quotations below are from row ESDMD #0306 of the tech gaps spreadsheet unless marked otherwise. ADD Rev C's Appendix D prints the same table for this gap, and it matches the row field for field (ADD Rev C, p. 215).

Description

"More mass-efficient structures are needed to achieve habitation scalability and sustainability goals. Examples include softgood inflatables, composites, and advanced lightweight metallic structures."

Impacts and benefits: "Without gap closure, mass and/or volume of habitation elements may exceed launch/landing capability. Architecture may be constrained to shorter-duration missions to accommodate limits of habitat capability. Architecture may require modular habitation, increasing mass and launches."

Current state of the art

"Multiple options for mass and volume savings such as inflatable softgoods, composites, and lightweight metallics."

Performance target

  • Moon/Mars: "Solutions that allow habitation structures to meet TBR performance thresholds while complying with TBR mass and volume constraints."
  • Mars: "In addition, increased efficiency compared to the lunar performance target."

Child gaps

  • 0306-01: Inflatable softgoods for long-duration missions in extreme surface environments
  • 0306-02: Hard structure integration with inflatable softgoods
  • 0306-03: Lightweight metallic structures for habitation applications
  • 0306-04: Predictive models for long-term behavior of highly loaded inflatables

Traceability

  • Use cases and functions: UC-H-102 L -- FN-H-102 L; UC-H-103 M -- FN-H-109 M; UC-H-110 M -- FN-H-109 M
  • Definition tasks: none listed
  • Cross-reference: FN-H-102 L, "Enable a pressurized, habitable environment on the lunar surface for moderate duration (month+) use", is also one of the Users Guide's Phase 1 functional gaps (Users Guide, p. 9; see Phase 1 functional gaps). This link joins the two sources; neither makes it. The same use case–function pair (UC-H-102 L -- FN-H-102 L) also appears under #0303.

Segments and sub-architectures

Priority

Priority bin 6, overall prioritization rating 49 of 57. The rating is "the gap's location in the prioritized list of gaps", so 1 is the highest priority, and bins group gaps of similar priority, bin 1 highest. Criticality, urgency, breadth and depth set the order; cost is not considered (ADD Rev C, pp. 78, 199; method on the gaps index).

Moon Base relevance

Not established by the sources so far. The Users Guide does not name #0306 among its near-term Moon Base challenges (Technology and knowledge challenges). Its "Initial habitation" challenge, "Demonstrate deployment and operation of a small, pressurized, crew rated surface module", cites #0807 and #0903 but not this gap (Users Guide, p. 13). The function cross-reference under Traceability is a link between sources, not a mapping either source makes.

Sources

Tech gaps spreadsheet, ESDMD #0306 · ADD Rev C, pp. 78, 199, 215 · Users Guide, pp. 9, 13