The proposed inflatable airlock design will have immediate application in expanding the utility of any human space exploration architecture while benefiting from system cost and payload volume reduction. The proposed technology will find direct application within NASA and industry in ongoing inflatable structures programs such as lunar surface habitation architecture and rover vehicles. Other NASA applications include habitats, large-scale space hangars for on-orbit assembly, design and analysis of space-based inflatable structures such as telescopes, inflatable aerodynamic decelerators, antenna reflectors, cryogenic propellant tanks, debris shields, rescue vehicles, and barometric chambers Non-NASA commercial applications include many potential venues including underwater habitats, deep sea emergency escape systems (submarine), portable storage tanks for oil transport, high altitude air ships, aerostats, compressed air energy storage, remote fuel depot stations, remote water storage tanks for forest fire control, deep space antenna reflectors for ground stations, antenna radomes, emergency shelters, and troop shelters with integrated ballistic protection.
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