The first expandable habitat ever to be installed on the International Space Station could be the key to creating sustainable homes in space and aiding the journey to Mars, according to NASA.

The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, may “create homes millions of miles away, on the journey to deep space destinations, including Mars,” the agency said.

Installed on the International Space Station at 5:36am EDT on Saturday, BEAM is effectively a flat-packed space habitat that is only unfurled to its full size when it arrives at its destination. As a result, it is cheaper to transport than alternative habitat structures.

It will be expanded at the end of May, and will remain attached to the station for the next two years to allow the agency to fully test the module. After this, it will be burnt up in the Earth’s atmosphere.

“The space station provides an ideal laboratory to test the BEAM expandable module in the harsh environment where it will have to operate,” said NASA’s chief scientist for the International Space Station, Julie Robinson.

“BEAM has many desirable features for space habitats. Attaching this expandable module to the space station offers NASA the opportunity to expose it to the radiation, temperatures, pressures and micrometeoroid environment, and measure how it holds up.”

If BEAM proves as successful over the next two years as its creator Bigelow Aerospace hopes, it could be used both in long-term missions, and in the establishment of other habitats in low-Earth orbit.

“Expandable habitats significantly decrease the amount of transport volume for future space missions,” said BEAM project manager at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Rajib Dasgupta.

“These expandables take up less room on a rocket, but once set up, provide greater volume for living and working. After thorough testing, we believe crews travelling to the moon, Mars, asteroids or other destinations could use them as habitable structures or as labs or work areas.”

It is also possible that BEAM, or its sister module – the standalone B330, could be used to form the basis of the first private space station, something that industry experts believe is on the horizon.

We're about to have another module on @Space_Station. Arm attaching inflatable module #BEAM to the Node 3 aft port. pic.twitter.com/Q0eCdLBUZQ — Tim Kopra (@astro_tim) April 16, 2016

Weighing 1,400kg when both packed and expanded, BEAM is transported at less than a quarter of its expanded volume.

When packed, BEAM measures 2.16m x 2.36m, giving it a volume of 3.6m³, however when it is expanded, it measures 4.01m x 3.23m, giving it a volume of 16m³.

The module was delivered to the International Space Station on Saturday by SpaceX’s Dragon craft, as part of a 3,100kg cargo haul. Among the other items delivered were the ingredients to make tacos, which were duly enjoyed by astronaut Tim Kopra.

The ISS’ robotic arm attached BEAM to Tranquillity, the European Space Agency-supplied module also known as Node 3.