Digital Cellular Solid Pressure Vessels: A Novel Approach for Human Habitation in Space

摘要

It is widely assumed that human exploration beyond Earth's orbit will requirevehicles capable of providing long-duration habitats that simulate an Earthlikeenvironment: consistent artificial gravity, breathable atmosphere, andsufficient living space- while requiring the minimum possible launch mass. Thispaper examines how the qualities of digital cellular solids - high-performance,repairability, reconfigurability, tunable mechanical response - allow theaccomplishment of long-duration habitat objectives at a fraction of the massrequired for traditional structural technologies. To illustrate the impactdigital cellular solids could make as a replacement to conventional habitatsubsystems, we compare recent proposed deep space habitat structural systemswith a digital cellular solids pressure vessel design that consists of a carbonfiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) digital cellular solid cylindrical frameworkthat is lined with an ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) skin.We use the analytical treatment of a linear specific modulus scaling cellularsolid to find the minimum mass pressure vessel for a structure and find that,for equivalent habitable volume and appropriate safety factors, the use ofdigital cellular solids provides clear methods for producing structures thatare not only repairable and reconfigurable, but also higher performance thantheir conventionally-manufactured counterparts.