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Massive 'Tycho' Space Station 10X Larger Than the ISS Wins Inaugural Aurelia Prize
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artifex piefed.social artifex@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-06-10
Quote

A hard shell that unfolds like oragami will fit in a single Starship payload but expand to over 250k cubic meters of space (which seems impossible, that's like 10 olympic pools) and offers practical solutions for many of the common engineering challenges with building long-term human habitations in orbit.

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threelonmusketeers sh.itjust.works threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-06-10
#2 · Quote Reply

Huh, so it's kind of like an inflatable module, but made of interlocking rigid panels? An interesting concept. I am undecided as to whether the increased volume would be worth the additional complexity.

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burble lemmy.dbzer0.com burble@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2023-06-28
#3 · (edited) Quote Reply

Huh, so it's kind of like an inflatable module, but made of interlocking rigid panels? An interesting concept. I am undecided as to whether the increased volume would be worth the additional complexity.

It's cool to see concepts like this, even if I don't expect anything like it to happen anytime soon.

Another one that comes to mind is ThinkOrbital's spherical station made from welding together rigid panels like a soccer ball.

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burble lemmy.dbzer0.com burble@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2023-06-28
#4 · Quote Reply

I'm here for it

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RecursiveParadox piefed.social RecursiveParadox@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-10-18
#5 · Quote Reply

I'm here for it

Yes bassmang.

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bitteroldcoot piefed.social bitteroldcoot@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-11-22
#6 · Quote Reply

Seem like a good way to get rid of some billionaires.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_submersible_implosion

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artifex piefed.social artifex@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-06-10
#7 · Quote Reply

Huh, so it's kind of like an inflatable module, but made of interlocking rigid panels? An interesting concept. I am undecided as to whether the increased volume would be worth the additional complexity.

It’s apparently a much bigger internal volume than you’d get with today’s inflatable tech. With the caveat, of course, that inflatable tech has been tested already and this has not (though we’ve used origami techniques to expand payloads before, like on the JWST)

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very_well_lost lemmy.world very_well_lost@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-30
#8 · Quote Reply

Seem like a good way to get rid of some billionaires. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_submersible_implosion

In many ways, the engineering of a space habitat is a lot easier than a deep-sea submersible...

A space station only needs to keep 1 atmosphere of pressure in, whereas a submarine has to keep hundreds of atmospheres of pressure out.

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bitteroldcoot piefed.social bitteroldcoot@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-11-22
#9 · Quote Reply

In many ways, the engineering of a space habitat is a lot easier than a deep-sea submersible... A space station only needs to keep 1 atmosphere of pressure in, whereas a submarine has to keep hundreds of atmospheres of pressure out.

don't kill my dreams like that.

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very_well_lost lemmy.world very_well_lost@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-30
#10 · Quote Reply

don't kill my dreams like that.

Well, don't lose hope. Rockets still explode in giant fireballs more often than any other form of transportation.

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HubertManne piefed.social HubertManne@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-03-13
#11 · Quote Reply

In many ways, the engineering of a space habitat is a lot easier than a deep-sea submersible... A space station only needs to keep 1 atmosphere of pressure in, whereas a submarine has to keep hundreds of atmospheres of pressure out.

I was under the impression just a cloth type of thing could be vaguely in the vicinity and the airflow would send it to the hole. Its like strong enough to drag things over but not so strong it will tend to rip up the surface or something.

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bitteroldcoot piefed.social bitteroldcoot@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-11-22
#12 · Quote Reply

Well, don't lose hope. Rockets still explode in giant fireballs more often than any other form of transportation.

Thanks man., I needed that.

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davidgro lemmy.world davidgro@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-13
#13 · Quote Reply

Well, don't lose hope. Rockets still explode in giant fireballs more often than any other form of transportation.

Are you including Formula 1 and similar?

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Cocodapuf lemmy.world Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-10-06
#14 · Quote Reply

Are you including Formula 1 and similar?

Hmm... Yeah that probably applies to formula 1 as well. We'd have to do the math to know for sure, but a quick Google search says that about 3% of astronauts/cosmonauts have died during a mission. I'd be surprised if the fatality rate for race car drivers is higher than that.

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