Inflatable Moon Base To Be Tested In Antarctica

So you've been shipped off to Antarctica to live in the frigid wastes in an inflatable igloo. What's next, the moon?

That's about the shape of it, according to NASA. The space agency is packing up an inflatable habitat this week that is ultimately proposed for use on the moon, shipping it off for an extended 13-month test at Antarctica's McMurdo Station.

"Testing the inflatable habitat in one of the harshest, most remote sites on Earth gives us the opportunity to see what it would be like to use for lunar exploration," said Paul Lockhart, director of Constellation Systems for NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, Headquarters, Washington.

The structure being tested looks a bit like one of those bouncy carnival huts for kids (which, that reminds me, someone really needs to start making for adults.) It's insulated and heated, powered and pressurized, offering about 384 square feet of living space, with 8
feet ceilings.

Best thing about it? It's light. NASA says it it will require about 125
pounds of fuel and hardware for every pound of supplies carried to the lunar surface. Something that can be inflated, rather than pieced together from metal or even lightweight plastic, would certainly be helpful.

However, other ideas are being tested as well, and NASA won't have to make a decision for years to come.

NASA Tests Lunar Habitat in Extreme Antarctic Environment [NASA]

(Image: A smaller test version of an inflatable habitat. Credit: NASA)