02 OCTOBER 2023

Baku, October 2, 2023. While attending the 74th International Astronautical Congress, Sabelt unveiled an innovative technology: the Space Brick, a revolutionary modular system for space living. The Space Brick is a flame retardant expanded polypropylene multitasking element developed for the most extreme environments, that will allow multiple re-configuration options. It can be used for logistics during the space trip (containers, boxes or any parts needed to store and accommodate payload and materials in a space module) and can be disassembled to create new objects for habitation and life in the outer space or planets, starting from the Moon: wall, parts of the floor, shelves, desks, tables and crew quarters.

The Space Brick is made of flame retardant expanded polypropylene molded in a shape of 225 x 225 x 80 mm, with three potential connections on each side, with pins made of polypropylene too and with a density of 38 g/l and a weight of 130g. The polypropylene used for Space Brick is a non-toxic material, not inflammable, chemical resistant, sound and impact absorbing, compatible with human life, water and food. After printing the parts, they are stabilized at constant temperature (80°C) from 3 to 8 hours depending on thickness. This process makes the surface flat, clean and do not generate any dirties. Joints between elements can be repeated many times to assemble or disassemble the composition for the entire components’ life and it’s possible to add more shapes or dimensions in order to build any kind of assembly geometries.

The Space Brick is approved for space flight: Sabelt obtained the space certification in Europe (ESA-Bremen) and USA (NASA-Houston) which made new applications possible: space bricks can generate desk, decks, boxes, shelves, device protections, bags protections, walls, partition parts and panels. Its material is light, a wonderful impact absorber, a great thermal isolator and a good acoustic isolator. In general, by re-using bricks already available, the mission crew would be able to create everything is needed. Last, but not least: the printed surface is very smooth, and it does not generate any debris.

A massive use of Space Brick for the internal outfit configuration of the habitation modules can improve the comfort and the safety of the space life, with few simple operations. It allows the creation of different objects to have always available the right outfit composition, with full customization of the space and volumes and with numerous benefits: the Space Brick reduces the noise inside the space module thanks to acoustic isolation, prevents vibrations, improves the protection against radiation, makes everything re-configurable to be more independent, especially for deep space outpost, reduces the issue of storage and it’s ready to be used for a different purpose. This makes possible on-site production for facilitating construction of human outposts, either on Orbit or on planets. A great achievement, in terms of independence.

02 OCTOBER 2023