March 16, 2015

We think it's actually a bounce house for the astronauts. (Credit: NASA)

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com @BednarChuck

It might look like a moon-shaped bouncy house, but a large, shiny, silver inflatable sphere scheduled to be transported to the International Space Station (ISS) later this year is actually a new expandable habitat co-developed by NASA and Bigelow Aerospace.

BEAM us up, Scotty!

Known as the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), the habitat is scheduled to be carried to the orbiting laboratory on a SpaceX flight this September, according to a Washington Post report published on Friday. Upon its arrival, it will be attached to the ISS and will undergo extensive tests over the next two years to see if it can handle the rigors of space.

[STORY: Inflatable bouncer injuries on the rise]

BEAM recently passed the US space agencys rigorous certification requirements, the newspaper added, but only time will tell if the habitat can withstand the radiation of space, the movement of the ISS itself, and potential collisions with the countless fragments of debris in orbit.

On its official website, Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace noted that it had been awarded a $17.8 million contract for the development of expandable space habitat technology. The module will be berthed to the stations Tranquility node, and a pressurization system will be activated by the ISS crew in order to expand the structure to its full size.

During the trial period, astronauts will periodically enter the module to gather performance data and inspect the unit, and at the conclusion of the two-year test, the BEAM module is slated to be jettisoned from the space station, where it will fall back towards Earth and burn up in the atmosphere.

More:

Introducing NASA's bouncy-house habitat for the ISS