Why Inflatable Habitats Are The Key To A Mars Colony!

We're testing out a new editing style for the videos today! Let us know what you think of the intro and if you would like to see more videos in this style. We appreciate your feedback as we try and make the most entertaining and informative videos we can for you.

Just a heads up: At 9:10, you mention that there is an ~30 PSI difference between Sea Level and space, but that is not correct. At sea level the atmosphere is 14 PSIA (absolute), but in space its -14 PSIG (Gauge). These are different methods of measuring pressure, so you cant just add them together like that unfortunately. absolute pressure is pressure compared to a vacuum, while gauge pressure is compared to sea level. Therefore, a pressure sensor that reads in absolute would read sea level pressure as 14PSIA, while a pressure sensor that reads gauge pressure would show zero PSIG. Basically, this means there is even less of a pressure difference that these habitats need to worry about, merely 14 PSI rather than 28 PSI

I'd definitely watch a Robert Bigelow video. Make one please!

Or drill a tunnel, insert a pod at the entrance which contains an airlock and all the hardware. You then inflate/expand into the tunnel and move in. Provides all the protection you need plus you dont need heavy structure to support the habitat

TBH you need super thick walls/live underground to protect from radiation, particularly the galactic cosmetic rays. You need around ~5inches of al eq shielding to block a 1000MeV Fe Ion for example.

This was really well done. The pacing and content of the B-roll was excellent. And you sold me. You solved a lot of problems.

Great video. I thought the graphics were really good and great content as always. I always love to see your new video. Sending my appreciation x

What about if we look for caves on Mars which we can adapt to live in, during the early period? (the bootstrapping phase) Ideally, we could find a large cave to place our inflatable habitat inside of, for further protection from meteorites, etc. Later on, we can graduate to locally making more permanent facilities from concrete, metal, glass, etc.

I always envisioned a 3D-printed enclosure with an inflatable filling the inside. The natural regolith would give better radioactivity resistance and a hard exterior against weather and such, then the inflatable would provide serious control of the internal atmosphere. The best of both worlds.

I love this channel. There's always something to watch and videos posted very regularly.

Well put together information 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Love the new editing, but why are you mixing units of measurement? Like you said the jumbo life hab was 60 ft in length and 40-50 meters in diameter. It whould be nice if we could have both, not half and half.

I've been wondering what happened to Bigelow Space. Thanks. Glad the balloon concept really works.

Great video. I've been wondering about just how big a LIFE module that took full advantage of the Starship payload capacity could get so that's pretty amazing. It's pretty much a Bigelow B2200 size. One of the things that Bigelow did before its demise was a press event where it had mocked-up the interior of a B2200 and there are videos on YouTube of people walking around inside that mock-up. It was mostly a big empty space rather than being split up into separate levels but the sense of scale was impressive. The jumbo LIFE module is exciting for orbital space stations but for a surface habitat I see one big issue that would need to be resolved. If it's carried to the surface of Mars by a Starship landing vertically then how do you get a hab that size down from the payload bay to the surface of Mars? You couldn't just inflate it in place because it would be incredibly top-heavy and at a 40-50 metre diameter wouldn't be at all stable and if the module is making use of the whole payload space then there wouldn't be space for a crane to lower it down. I'm sure some clever engineers can come up with a variety of clever solutions. Maybe land a crane in a separate Starship that once assembled on the ground could unload the hab module? That might actually be useful beyond the habs so that future cargo-only Starships wouldn't need to allocate any payload space and mass to a crane to unload their cargo because they would know that there was a crane on the surface that could do that unloading for them. Whatever the solution it's definitely an issue that would need to be addressed.

Great video! Keep it up!

That was one of the best presentations I've seen. Totally agree that inflatables are the way to go. Going to subscribe. Thanks. Interesting comments.

great video! i’m extremely excited for a mars colony!

I love this idea. Fast, light, space saving. Flexible yet rigid enough in storms. Could use one as an airlock in a larva tube for example. Anyone seen a flying bouncy castle on YouTube though? Way to go though. Longterm durability would be a concern especially where the fabric meets the hardware

I Agree With You. Interesting To Note, merci.

Great report. Thank you!