ILC Dover develops and manufactures a variety of inflatable habitats, airlocks, and shelters for use in low Earth orbit and lunar/planetary exploration.

Built for today's space stations and tomorrow's planetary bases, ILC Dover's inflatable habitats are designed to support safe, scalable living environments from low-Earth orbit to Mars. Leveraging our heritage and government partnerships, we deliver lightweight, mission-critical systems that support commercial, defense and civil exploration goals."

Designed for commercial space stations as well as Moon and Mars missions, inflatable space habitats are set to revolutionize lunar and planetary exploration. ILC Dover’s proven systems and processes meet the stringent requirements of space habitation, ensuring the highest levels of quality, reliability and safety.

Habitats for Space Exploration

Our inflatable habitats, airlocks and shelters are designed for use:

  • In low Earth orbit
  • In cislunar space
  • On the surfaces of the Moon and Mars
  • In transportation systems for traveling to Mars
  • As airlock systems for extravehicular activity
ILC Dover partners with commercial customers, DoD and defense organizations to create adaptable habitat solutions that meet rigorous technical and mission-readiness standards.
Lighted Space Habitat photo

Features of Space Habitats

ILC Dover performs the design, systems engineering, and manufacture and test of the habitats on-site or at remote locations for our customers. Leading features of our space habitats include:

  • Lightweight and more compact to launch than a rigid habitat
  • Expands to provide an area to live and work based on mission needs
  • Provides protection from harsh space and planetary environments
  • Capable of multiple operational pressures
  • Suited for incorporation of structural health monitoring, internal hardware mounting and partition capability