United States of America as Represented by the Administrator of Nasa

Gerard D Valle

Jasen L Raboin

William C Schneider

Gary Robert Spexarth

William R Doggett

Horacio M De La Fuente

Christopher J Johnson

John T Dorsey

Thomas C Jones

Russell W Smith

Bryan C Yount

Gregg A Edeen

Lynn M Bowman

Molly M Selig

Winfred S Kenner

Alberto Makino

Clarence E Stanfield

Timothy S Roach

Judith J Watson

Mary Jane E O'Rourke

Shalini Gupta Pandya

A deformable closure mechanism for an aperture that may include an aperture seal that has a seal seat between an internal support structure and an external support structure. A barrier structure may be configured to resealably close the aperture, and have a central membrane and a barrier sealed that is inflatable in order to engage the barrier structure with the aperture seal.

Deformable closure mechanism

An inflatable module comprising a structural core and an inflatable shell, wherein the inflatable shell is sealingly attached to the structural core. In its launch or pre-deployed configuration, the wall thickness of the inflatable shell is collapsed by vacuum. Also in this configuration, the inflatable shell is collapsed and efficiently folded around the structural core. Upon deployment, the wall thickness of the inflatable shell is inflated; whereby the inflatable shell itself, is thereby inflated around the structural core, defining therein a large enclosed volume. A plurality of removable shelves are arranged interior to the structural core in the launch configuration. The structural core also includes at least one longeron that, in conjunction with the shelves, primarily constitute the rigid, strong, and lightweight load-bearing structure of the module during launch. The removable shelves are detachable from their arrangement in the launch configuration so that, when the module is in its deployed configuration and launch loads no longer exist, the shelves can be rearranged to provide a module interior arrangement suitable for human habitation and work. In the preferred embodiment, to provide efficiency in structural load paths and attachments, the shape of the inflatable shell is a cylinder with semi-toroidal ends.

Inflatable vessel and method

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Pearland, TX, United States of America

Gerard D Valle