Development of Air Chamber in Airbag made by polyimide for Smallest Moon Lander OMOTENASHI

Abstract

The world's smallest moon lander (OMOTENASHI) will be launched by NASA's space launch system. The lander impacts to the moon at 100km/h. The landing impact is absorbed by crushable materials and an airbag consisted of an external cover and an air chamber made by polyimide films. However, the coexistence of tough glued strength and lightweight will not be expected. Meanwhile, welding technique for polyimide films has been proposed which can be fabricated stronger and lighter than the glued films. In this paper, the development of the air chamber fabricated by using the welding technique for polyimide films is shown.