dr robert skelton a texas a&m engineering experiment station (tees) distinguished professor helped design control systems for skylab nasas first space station now he hopes to design the next one skeltons office in the bright building on the texas a&m university campus is littered with structures created out of wood or metal held together with strings that make the room look a bit like a modern art exhibit the structural paradigm behind them is called tensegrity an amalgamation of the words tension and integrity an internet image search of the word will turn up a number of modern art exhibits skelton believes tensegrity structures which are exceptionally rigid yet lightweight are the solution to some of the biggest problems nasa faces in long-term space flight his tensegrity approaches to in-space construction of a 1g growable habitat proposal was recently selected by the nasa innovative advanced concepts program (niac) as one of eight proposals to receive as much as $500 000 in funding over the next several years to research feasibility this project is trying to solve four space-related problems skelton said first is to figure out how to grow habitats in space second is how to solve the gravity problem--how do we give gravity to astronauts third is how do you shield and protect them from the galactic radiation thats in space fourth is how to manufacture structures in space each of the eight niac proposals are based on ideas that science doesnt yet have the technology to implement others include deep sleep chambers for astronauts and using plasma from a planets atmosphere instead of heat shields to slow down manned spacecraft with this second round of funding the goal is to try and close the gap between the concepts and the technology you see these sticks and strings laying around well this turns out to be the minimum mass way to build structures skelton said pointing to one of the structures in the office so its a new structural paradigm and its a new manufacturing paradigm thats why its on the advanced concepts list its a study about the feasibility for the future its not going to happen overnight it might not even happen in my lifetime but these are the steps you have to take what skelton referred to as the gravity problem is an issue nasa hasnt had to worry much about yet but would as the length of space travel grows astronauts lose bone mass while in space and while exercise equipment aboard the international space station helps slow this process it doesnt stop it thats just the beginning of the problems faced in a zero-g environment i think nasa is finally realizing the need for a 1g program in the space program skelton said there are fundamental questions that we dont have answers to what is the gravitational level thats healthy for human beings can you raise children in 1/3g or 1/2g or do you need 1g we need facilities to study the effects of gravitational environments on the human body to solve this the structure would spin creating artificial gravity due to centrifugal force inside the introduction of gravity into the space program would also help solve another problem food with gravity light and enough space astronauts could potentially grow crops in space a similar problem is radiation for someone in space to have the same protection from radiation that we experience on the earths surface they would have to be surrounded by at least two meters of water the lack of radiation protection hasnt been a huge issue because of the relative short amount of time spent in space so far this is a totally new thing for nasa skelton said theyve never protected their astronauts from radiation before because theyre up there for a relatively short period of time but if you want a permanent presence of humans in space you cant avoid this problem