Posted on 12/06/2017 7:07:14 PM PST by BenLurkin
The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) will stay attached to the International Space Station through at least 2020, NASA announced yesterday (Dec. 4).
BEAM, which is owned by the Las Vegas-based company Bigelow Aerospace, launched toward the orbiting lab in compact form aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule in April 2016. It was attached and expanded shortly thereafter, to test the performance of such inflatable habitats — which can provide more internal volume per unit launch mass than traditional metallic modules — in the space environment.
That work was originally supposed to last for two years, after which BEAM would be jettisoned and, eventually, fall back to Earth and die a fiery death in the atmosphere. But NASA has now signed a new contract with Bigelow to support BEAM's stay at the station for at least three more years, with two additional one-year extension options beyond that.
"Since the initial expansion, a suite of sensors installed by the crew automatically take measurements and monitor BEAM’s performance to help inform designs for future habitat systems," NASA officials wrote in a statement yesterday. "This extension will deepen NASA's understanding of expandable space systems by making the BEAM a more operational element of the space station to be actively used in storage and crew operations."
The new contract began last month, NASA officials said.
Bigelow Aerospace is getting something out of this partnership as well — the chance to showcase expandable habitats' capabilities for future commercial use. The company aims to help establish outposts in Earth orbit and in deep space, such as the surface of the moon.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
One good meteor, travelling at 10,000 MPH or more, can wreck your whole day and Motel.
Sounds like things are going well with the module. this is a very important step in getting space station/base costs down.
At that speed, I don’t think it would matter if the hull was made of aluminum foil and paper, or 1 inch thick aluminum with 2 inch thick plastic cladding. you’d get a hull breach in both cases. The foil and paper might well be easier and quicker to repair.
Inflatable space habitats were invented in the Muddy Charles Pub at MIT over a pitcher of beer.
There once was a man named Bigelow who worked at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study (what capacity I’ve forgotten) in the late 50s. He decided to buy some old stucco home in disrepair and had it moved down the road (quite a sight for a kid) to a lot just up the way from us. It remained in disrepair for decades but on arrival instantly lowered property values a lot.
Wonder if that Bigelow is related to the space Bigelow.
I doubt it. The Robert Bigelow who built the Beam module was born in 1945. He would have been a child during the 1950’s.
The Bigelow I knew had children so it is possible that there is some relationship and could have been the dad. I was only 8 or so at the time
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