NASA selects OSU as finalist for inflatable loft competition

Friday, September 17, 2010

Mechanical and aerospace engineering students Kristin Nevels (left), Ben Loh, Chad Harland, Shea Fehrenbach and Bryan Todd make up the OSU team “Space Cowboys”. The team is one of the only three finalists for a NASA and National Space Grant Foundation competition to create an inflatable loft for future space explorers to live in. NASA and the National Space Grant Foundation have announced the selection of Oklahoma State University as one of only three finalists in a competition to design, manufacture, assemble and test an inflatable loft for future space explorers to live in.

The OSU team, called the “Space Cowboys”, was chosen, along with teams from the University of Maryland and University of Wisconsin-Madison, based on initial proposals for concepts that can be integrated with NASA’s current operational hard-shell prototype habitat.

“All three teams will go head-to-head at the Johnson Space Center in Houston next summer to demonstrate an attachable, inflatable habitat that could serve as the next generation lunar module,” said Dr. Jamey Jacob, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, who will serve as adviser to the OSU team.

“Of course, OSU is pleased and excited to be selected for this opportunity, despite the fact that both Maryland and Wisconsin have very large aerospace engineering programs. Our students are among the best and brightest in the country, so I have no doubt that we will prevail—but it won’t be a cake walk,” said Jacob.

The schools will compete by successfully demonstrating their own versions of the next eXploration Habitat or X-Hab in June 2011 in Houston, where the winning team will be awarded additional funds to integrate their design with the NASA habitat during field testing in August and September.

“This competition gives these students the opportunity of a lifetime,” said NASA Chief Technologist Bobby Braun at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “They'll design and build new hardware. If their team wins, they'll get the chance to integrate their designs into a NASA hard shell habitat and see it field tested next summer.”

The National Space Grant Foundation will award the three teams $48,000 each to cover the costs of their design development and participation in the head-to-head competition. An additional $10,000 will be awarded to the team that wins the competition to offset their costs of participating in the integrated field testing.

However, based on his estimates, the $48,000 will not cover the cost of constructing the prototype as well as travel to NASA, so Jacob is seeking corporate sponsorship for the OSU team.