View Full Version : NASA Inflatable tent!!
Green Bean
01-26-2006, 11:29
New Tent designed by Cam Brensinger the man who has helped NASA design a spacesuit. THe tent is named the NEMO has no poles, No Rainfly, and is inflated by a hand pump. Cam Brensinger says in Backpacker "Tents have been Honda Civics. I wanted to make a BMW." I just thought this was amazing but i will stick with my Eureka!! ~GB
vipahman
01-26-2006, 11:47
Interesting but not exciting because it costs 3-4 times that of equivalent tents and weighs a lot. The only plus I see is that it's freestanding and sets up fast. Funnily the 1-person Burrito weighs more than the 2-person Hypno!
terrapin05
01-26-2006, 11:53
I saw something about the NEMO and it looks awesome and makes sense,but i also wondered what wind would do to it,espeacialy if there is a slight leak or is not fully inflated,it might have you screaming eureka!! Id like to hear if anyone has any personal experience with it,till then im stickin to my tent..
vipahman
01-26-2006, 12:10
You should scream Eureka. Because Eureka tents weigh less than Nemo tents for 1/3 or less of the price. Just because it's inflatable, doesn't mean squat. The tent market has already lightened up well beyond all Nemo tents. Get all the specs at http://nemoequipment.com.
fivefour
01-26-2006, 13:35
I can't see it standing up to high winds.
RockyTrail
01-27-2006, 00:22
With the NASA connection it's reminiscent of the inflatable airplane.
Neat idea but that bubble eventually burst too.
http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/Shumaker/4265L-3.jpg
Just Jeff
01-27-2006, 00:45
What if there's a big temperature drop overnight?
peter_pan
01-27-2006, 09:00
Inflatable dolls will never replace the real thing either...but a few will sell.
BTW , the US Army looked at an air arch supported prototype tent, huge ones for field hospitals etc about 30 years ago before settling on the family of TEMPER tents and ISO expandable van shelters...
Pan
icemanat95
01-27-2006, 09:24
Yeah, a large temp drop in the night (pretty common in desert and mountain environments) would cause the inflatable arches to lose pressure and support. You'd have to wake up and pump them up again.
Leaks are also almost inevitable. It's one thing to wake up in the middle of the night and realize your thermarest ain't cutting it anymore, it's another to wake up with your tent on your head. It's relatively easy to identify the leaks in a thermarest and affect a field patch, it's a totally different issue with a tent.
It's a gimmick.
fivefour
01-27-2006, 14:28
How big is the pump ? And you have to wonder how much that weighs. Blowing that thing up by mouth makes me dizzy thinking about it.
What if there's a big temperature drop overnight?
Also, what if the temp drops at night, you re-inflate the tent, then sleep in late in the AM, as the temp rises, , , , , , ,
BANG!
Well, it would be an effective alarm clock LOL.
saimyoji
01-28-2006, 15:11
For all the engineering NASA does, I'm sure they could come up with a solar powered inflation-control attentuator (keeps constant pressure in the support arches during the night as the temp. changes. I think they could also include a pressure release valve to avoid bursting.
The tents were shown at the ATC biennial conference last summer -- or at least tents of a similar design.
The pump is a foot pump, which I believe was permanently attached to the tent. It took just a few seconds to pump up a tent. I doubt if a sudden chilly night would cause the tent to collapse, nor for that matter an especially sunny day. But I'd have to resurrect 50-year-old chemistry and physics to know for sure.
I'm sure there is a weight penalty and a convenience benefit.
Weary