Bigelow is a private company that makes space station modules. Like the race to drastically reduce launch costs in rockets, Bigelow is working to reduce costs for space station modules.
Posted on 03/15/2015 11:50:06 AM PDT by Vince Ferrer
Nevada-based Bigelow Aerospace has been showing off the latest addition to the International Space Station: an inflatable module that will be used as a lounge and test facility in orbit.
The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is a 13ft by 10ft inflatable capsule that will be lofted up to the ISS as part of a SpaceX resupply mission on September 2, weather permitting. The 3,000lb unit will be attached to the ISS for two years and give the crew somewhere new to stretch their legs.
The BEAM uses multiple layers of high-tech fabric to keep the air in and micrometeorites and other space debris out. By eschewing metal, the Bigelow module is much cheaper to get into orbit than a standard capsule, and the cloth walls have been extensively tested.
Bigelow launched its first bubble capsule into orbit in 2006, and a second one in 2007. They are both still in orbit, and the outer skin has survived longer than expected. The BA330, a 45ft by 22ft module that the firm wants to use as a habitat in space and on other planets (think space hotels), is entering production.
In 2012, NASA signed a $17.8m deal with Bigelow to provide a module for the ISS, and on Thursday Bigelow showed off the space-station-bound module to the press.
"NASA understands that the agency can generate more innovation and attract more investment in space by partnering with America’s commercial space industry and its entrepreneurs," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.
"Our plans for exploration in the 21st century intentionally rely on American commercial partners in every aspect of what we do, whether it is rockets to get to space or new technologies such as the BEAM expandable habitat for living in space." ®
Bigelow is a private company that makes space station modules. Like the race to drastically reduce launch costs in rockets, Bigelow is working to reduce costs for space station modules.
That is a very strange title.
Somehow I deduced that Deuce Bigelow had a new movie in space. So I clicked on it.
Is there room from a prayer rug?
Designed and manufactured by a private company. Launched into space by a private company. I shudder to think of what this would cost if NASA designed, built, and launched it.
I like your screen name. :-)
Eyew...what a deflating notion!
They would still be doing feasibility studies.
...’bout damn time there is an alternative to Boeing beer cans to live in up there...
Astronauts getting blow-up jobs... it was just a matter of time.
Except that the ISS doesn’t DO ANYTHING. Some rich dingbat diva is getting ready for her $52M joyride to the exclusive hotel in LEO.
There is a surprising amount of space................on the outside.
The Bigelow modules are a great idea that should have been used for years.
I read to fast again, I thought it was “When do we get inebriated?”
LOL!
Somehow, this reminds me of the combat jet aircraft that carried an inflatable raft in the cockpit in case the pilot had to ditch over water. The result was several crashes that occurred when the device accidently inflated while in flight. The solution was to give each pilot a dagger, mounted near the control stick that could be used to deflate the raft. I wonder if the ISS is so equipped?
To me it looks like the Jiffy Pop Popcorn things that you put on a stove top.
The entrance to that room is the air lock.
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