Inflatable shielding for spacecraft

[Spacescifi]

 

After watching Ad Astra and watching just how hard Brad Pitt collided with spacecraft, I started to think about inflatable shielding for spacecraft.

I know it goes up as a rocket, but it is also possible to inflate balloons all over the 'spine' (the rocket body)  of the spacecraft.

My reason is twofold.

1. So astronauts or debris won't puncture the hull, just transfer momentum.

2. You could ram/push/catch stuff at certain velocities without taking damage to your spacecraft. Newtonian bumper carts.

 

EDIT: I am finally begining to realize that the future of spaceflight will have shapes and designs yet to even be seen in popular scifi.

I actually now see a spaceship as a hard rocket surrounded by plushness.

Seems to offer benefits over the standard hard only spaceship.

Even in a worse case scenario of a crash landing, inflatables hugging the hull could make a gliding descent more survivable. A more soft landing. Because the inflatables will cushion the blow before they fail.

Thoughts?

 

Edited September 23, 2019 by Spacescifi
Edit

[Codraroll]

You really like making new threads, don't you?

[KSK]

Point 1. No reason why not, in principle. It would just be a fancier and more complex Whipple shield. Putting space grade balloons all over your ship would be quite heavy though and you’d need to consider how to repair them post-puncture.

Point 2. Less convinced about this, simply because I can’t think of many situations in space where you aren’t travelling really really fast relative to a collision hazard where airbags aren’t going to help at all (Newtonian bumper carts at orbital velocities is going to end badly with or without airbags) or really really slowly relative to that collision hazard at which point the airbags are situationally useful at best I would think.

 

[Spacescifi]

2 minutes ago, KSK said:

Point 1. No reason why not, in principle. It would just be a fancier and more complex Whipple shield. Putting space grade balloons all over your ship would be quite heavy though and you’d need to consider how to repair them post-puncture.

Point 2. Less convinced about this, simply because I can’t think of many situations in space where you aren’t travelling really really fast relative to a collision hazard where airbags aren’t going to help at all (Newtonian bumper carts at orbital velocities is going to end badly with or without airbags) or really really slowly relative to that collision hazard at which point the airbags are situationally useful at best I would think.

 

 

I was thinking to use it sanely, for intercepting objects that I have adjusted my speed and trajectory for already.

Something orbiting in the opposite direction hitting my vessel would be unhealthy to say the least.

[kerbiloid]

Spoiler

 

 

[KSK]

5 hours ago, Spacescifi said:

I was thinking to use it sanely, for intercepting objects that I have adjusted my speed and trajectory for already.

Something orbiting in the opposite direction hitting my vessel would be unhealthy to say the least.

Possibly, but once you've adjusted your trajectory to intercept the object, you'll just go whizzing on by unless you then adjust your trajectory again to rendezvous with it. And once you've rendezvoused with it, you've matched speeds with it by definition.

C'mon - if there's one thing that KSP is good for, its getting a feel for how this sort of stuff works.

[Spacescifi]

1 hour ago, KSK said:

Possibly, but once you've adjusted your trajectory to intercept the object, you'll just go whizzing on by unless you then adjust your trajectory again to rendezvous with it. And once you've rendezvoused with it, you've matched speeds with it by definition.

C'mon - if there's one thing that KSP is good for, its getting a feel for how this sort of stuff works.

I know, yet there are circumstances where speed may not be totally matched where inflatable shielding can be useful.

Namely rescueing astronauts or catching wanted debris without fully matching speed to save on propellant.

[kerbiloid]

Better shoot sticky threads.

Spoiler

 

[Codraroll]

2 hours ago, Spacescifi said:

I know, yet there are circumstances where speed may not be totally matched where inflatable shielding can be useful.

Namely rescueing astronauts or catching wanted debris without fully matching speed to save on propellant.

There are very few cases where you want to rendezvous with something and the relative speed difference isn't in the high hundreds of meters per second initially, if not more. You would have to spend a lot of fuel if you want to slow down to the point where inflatable shielding would make any difference on the outcome of the impact anyway, and by then it would be a lot easier to just continue slowing down the final few m/s than to prepare for a low-speed collision. If you're going from a relative speed of 700 m/s to 10 m/s and an impact is impending, you might as well go all the way down to 0 m/s. If you wanted to save propellant you'd have to stop at 200 m/s or something, at which point whatever you're hitting is going fast enough to put a really bad dent in your spacecraft (or itself) regardless of how many balloons you put in the way.

And I agree with kerbiloid above, there are stickied threads in this forum for simple questions. No need to create a new one every single day for each new question.

Edited September 23, 2019 by Codraroll

[YNM]

21 hours ago, Spacescifi said:

1. So astronauts or debris won't puncture the hull, just transfer momentum.

2. You could ram/push/catch stuff at certain velocities without taking damage to your spacecraft. Newtonian bumper carts.

We already utilize multilayer shielding.

The problem so far is how to deal with things too large to be truly protected against (and still be lightweight), but too small to be tracked and dodged.

Also if any of the mods here would want to create "Spacescifi's revelations thread" it'd be helpful (or at least the OP should do it, y'know).