Sierra Space's Commercial Space Station Technology Nears Certification

Company's LIFE^® 10 Test Article Ruptured at 255 PSI – Highest Pressure and Loading Yet

Record Sixth Structural Stress Test Exceeded NASA Factor of Safety Recommendations by High Margins

Company's First Full-Scale Ultimate Burst Pressure Test to be Featured in the PBS NOVA Documentary Series "Building Stuff" on November 20^th

Sierra Space, a leading commercial space company and defense-tech prime that is Building a Platform in Space to Benefit Life on Earth^® announced today the recent completion of a sixth successful stress test, and the fourth Ultimate Burst Pressure (UBP) test, for its LIFE^® 10 commercial space station technology. This test of the revolutionary expandable LIFE platform, or Large Integrated Flexible Environment, was the final UBP test that Sierra Space needed to perform on LIFE 10 to fulfill Factor of Safety (FOS) recommendations ahead of certifying the structure for human habitation. Download photos and video of the recent test here.

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Sierra Space's LIFE 10 article, in an Ultimate Burst Pressure (UBP) test conducted on October 29, 2024, ruptured at the highest pressure yet, 255 psi, and was the highest loading to date of any test article in the three-year restraint layer certification test campaign. (Photo: Sierra Space)

The LIFE 10 article in this most recent test, conducted on October 29^th at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, ruptured at the highest pressure yet, 255 psi, and was the highest loading to date of any test article in the three-year restraint layer certification test campaign. The 255 psi failure point exceeds any guideline for restraint layer capability recommended by NASA in all applications and environments. As a standalone product line, this test proved that the LIFE 10 restraint layer surpassed NASA's 4x factor of safety recommendation in both LEO and lunar environments. LIFE 10 has an internal volume similar to that of a 10-ft-long moving truck, making it an ideal module for the surface of the moon.

In a LEO environment where the maximum internal pressure of the module will resemble that of Earth at 15.2 psi, the LIFE 10's factor of safety is greater than 16x. In a lunar environment where – due to different operational needs – the internal pressure is lower (around 10.8 psi), LIFE 10's restraint layer has an impressive 23x factor of safety. With such high margins, Sierra Space is concluding the UBP portion of the LIFE 10 test campaign, solidifying Sierra Space's position as the industry leader in commercial space station development.

LIFE 10 is a one-third scale version of the company's LIFE^® 285 habitat, which inflates to the size of a three-story apartment building on orbit. Sierra Space has conducted two UBP tests on LIFE 285-scale modules in the past year; the first one will be featured in the NOVA documentary series "Building Stuff," in an episode premiering November 20^th on PBS (see preview here).

“Our company is fully committed to developing the necessary technology to ensure there is no gap in LEO when the International Space Station is decommissioned,” said Sierra Space CEO, Tom Vice. “We are leading the industry in the development of revolutionary expandable structures that will bring to life the world’s first end-to-end business and technology platform in Low Earth Orbit, enabling humanity to find the answers to some of the toughest problems faced on Earth.”

“Sierra Space’s LIFE habitat scalable architecture is designed for a broad spectrum of space applications. The LIFE 10 design which started out as a scaled version of the LIFE 285, is now directly applicable for lunar surface infrastructure development,” said Shawn Buckley, VP, Destinations & In-Space infrastructure at Sierra Space. “Whether it’s supporting missions in Low Earth Orbit, deep space, or even on the moon and on Mars, LIFE has so many practical applications. At Sierra Space, we’re proud to lead the way in inflatable habitat technology and continue pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in space innovation.”

About Sierra Space

Sierra Space is a leading commercial space company at the forefront of innovation and the commercialization of space in the Orbital Age®, building an end-to-end business and technology platform in space to benefit life on Earth. With more than 30 years and 500 missions of space flight heritage, the company is reinventing both space transportation with Dream Chaser®, the world’s only commercial spaceplane, and the future of space destinations with the company’s inflatable and expandable space station technology. Using commercial business models, the company is also delivering orbital services to commercial, DoD and national security organizations, expanding production capacity to meet the needs of constellation programs. In addition, Sierra Space builds a host of systems and subsystems across solar power, mechanics and motion control, environmental control, life support, propulsion and thermal control, offering myriad space-as-a-service solutions for the new space economy.

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