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Comment by mdorazio | Hacker News Reader

I'm kind of disappointed by how small that module is based on the rendering. One of the big advantages of inflatables is that you can get really large structures for small launch mass and volume. In any case, it will be very interesting to see how this performs over time, especially with respect to blocking radiation for the hypothetical crew inside.

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Well, it is a prototype. Hopefully if this works well we'll see full-sized modules soon. It's the obvious way to get large amounts of living space into a small spacecraft payload bay.

The article says that Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 are still operational; but the wikipedia pages for them contradict this. It looks like they've both suffered avionics failure and are just dead carcasses. (As expected. They both lasted well beyond their design lifetime.) It says they're going to decay and reorbit within a decade, but I'm a bit surprised they didn't have deorbit systems.

Incidentally, if you web search for "genesis 1" you get some really non-spacecraft-related results...

Likewise, the square-cube law could mean that the smaller versions are necessarily less impressive with repect to what you can squeeze into the uninflated volume of the module.

I think the problem with inflatables is you want a lot of stuff in the walls for heating and cooling etc. Plus, the ability to close a door in the event of a leak, fire ect and lower the pressure is huge from a safety standpoint.

PS: Also, if you willing to have seams you could build very large ridged structures, just ship walls vs completed modules.

It's a proof of concept for testing. You don't need to launch a full size module for that. It would be too costly and probably too dangerous.

They're surprisingly heavy. The 330 weights 20 tons.

I guess it's all the shielding etc.

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