(Source: RLV News)

An article in The Engineer reviews progress in developing inflatable space habitats, including work by Anglo-Italian aerospace materials firm AeroSekur:

It’s all very well producing an inflatable balloon but if people are going to live in it you have to start thinking about other issues - in particular that of interfaces such as the exits and the entrances - and that’s quite a difficult engineering problem,’ said Mark Butler, Aero Sekur’s chief executive. ’For instance, if you put them on the circumference, you have to start dealing with high hoop stresses and model those. We also need to look at how to inflate these modules and how to pack them and, where possible, use regenerative life-support systems. It’s a tough engineering problem, but we’re getting there.’

• Space Inflators | In Depth -- The Engineer