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." ®
They’re going to have to be a device to orient toward Mecca too.
And that will be pretty much all that is left of ISS after the Russians take their parts in a few years to build there own station.
“It will give us so much extra space in our room to do activities!”
A play room for the kids.
“Somehow I deduced that Deuce Bigelow had a new movie in space. So I clicked on it.”
What’s the name of the new movie?
Deuce Bigelow:
Bigelow Aerospace Shows Off Its Vision for Expandable Space Stations
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/bigelow-aerospace-shows-its-expandable-space-station-future-n322521
Cool! It’s about time people living in orbit had reverse bouncy castles.
I shudder to think of what this would cost if NASA designed, built, and launched it.
...
Look at the cost of the ISS for an idea.
A zero G reverse bouncy castle. Doesn’t get better than that.
“Behind every advance of the human race is a germ of creation growing in the mind of some lone individual, an individual whose dreams waken him in the night while others contentedly sleep.”
Crawford H. Greenewalt
a bit of irony:
“Robert T. Bigelow is an American hotel and aerospace entrepreneur. He owns the hotel chain Budget Suites of America and is the founder of Bigelow Aerospace.”
International Space Station Combustion and Fluids: How the ISS Enables Discoveries in Microgravity
"The International Space Station Program Science Office has in work a 15-book Researcher’s Guide Series by discipline. The purpose of the series, which is planned for completion in 2015, is to educate potential users of the ISS platform on how their ground‐based experiments can be translated to the space environment. Each guide is designed to “start the conversation” of how new researchers can find opportunities as well as assistance in the proposal development process. All the books in the series can be found here. Completed books are available for download in .pdf format below."
bah, hambug
Building more crystals? Herding more ants? Confounding more spiders?
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