NASA has kicked off a competition among university engineers to
design an inflatable habitat that is "light-weight, safe, and
reliable" to house future astronauts "in space and on other
planetary bodies." On the line is $58,000. The eXploration
Habitat (or X-Hab) "lofts," as NASA is chicly terming them, must
be designed to sit as an expansion atop the agency's existing
hard shell prototype, which will include (cramped) spaces for
activities like suit maintenance and geological research. The
challenge, open to all university seniors and graduate students,
is intended to spur interest and research in math, science, and
engineering, and will honor each of three winning teams with
$48,000 and a shot to field test their prototype for a final ten
grand. Realizing the seriousness sheltering astronauts inside of
a sophisticated moon bounce, the proposal guidelines make the
difficulty of the challenge clear: the lofts must be "analogous
to a terrestrial home lasting 25 years with a low-carbon foot-
print and Net-Zero r