A team of students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison won NASA’S 2011 Space Habitat Competition, the eXploration Habitat (X-Hab) Academic Innovation Challenge, to design and build a space habitat.

Fabric manufacturer MarChem CFI donated its Odyssey IV fabric, a flame-retardant version of its Odyssey III fabric, to the project.

According to the judges, the Wisconsin team’s design held promise for habitability and application to the Desert Research and Technology Studies mission simulation because it had little leakage in the inflatable system.

The team will take its inflatable space loft to NASA’S annual Desert Research and Technology Studies field test in Arizona, where it will be tested as part of a simulated astronaut mission to an asteroid.

“MarChem CFI was privileged and honored to contribute its product to the University of Wisconsin team,” said Alan Prelutsky of MarChem CFI’s parent company, DASH Multi-Corp. “NASA officials acknowledged that this winning technology concept will be a valuable part of its human space exploration planning activities.”