Bigelow BA-2100

[Dr Mordrid]

Lots of discussion previously about Bigelow's expandable space station modules; the 180 cu/m Sundancer that goes up in 2014 and the larger BA-330 330 cu/m module that will attach to Sundancer(s) and a docking node/propulsion module to make a space station.

The Sundancer is slated to use the Falcon 9 and the BA-330 the Atlas V or Falcon 9 Heavy as launchers. Partners for spacecraft: for now Boeing, and soon it's likely SpaceX will also join in. Mr. Bigelow wants more than one for redundancy.

So far, so good - however......there are also plans for a much larger module for use as construction/refueling/refurbishment facility for beyond Earth orbit manned missions at Lagrange Point 1, aka EML-1, or as one-module space stations: the BA-2100. Bigelow himself plans on using this for constructing his land-able lunar base.

As you might expect the BA-2100 would have a habitable volume of 2,100 cu/m, or 11.67x the size of Sundancer, 6.36 times the size of a BA-330 and 2.1x the volume of the ISS (!!)

Just think about that: a one-launch station larger than the ISS it's taken a decade-plus to build using dozens of shuttle missions, and at a tiny fraction of ISS's $100B cost.

One of their proposals calls for a complex comprising 3 BA-2100's and 6 BA-330's. Do the math and you get 8,280 cu/m.

This behemoth will mass out around 70 MT, so it will have to launch either on NASA's upcoming heavy lift vehicle (HLV) or one of SpaceX's BFR candidates (BFR = Big F'ing Rocket).

Here's a model as presented at a recent commercial space exposition -

[Evildead666]

Oh yeah baby !!
Finally getting to the Space Construction stage

This thing would still be Zero-G though wouldn't it ?
Or would they be able to do rotating ones simulating some sort of gravity ?

[Dr Mordrid]

It would be a zero-G facility. Rotational gravity would likely, at first, be resedved for long manned BEO missions like Mars. EML-1 is "only" 1.5M km, and spacedocks are zero-G by definition (eases assembly.)

EML-1 is important because from there you can go most anywhere using much less fuel (and therefore less mass) vs. launching from Earth orbit.

[Evildead666]

For construction, i totally agree that zero-G is necessary, its just that the Bigelow is inherently cylindrical in shape, and a nice running track like the one in 2001 would be possible

[VJ]

I think the diameter is too small at this stage to properly do it...

[Evildead666]

I'm talking about the biggie, the picture of the BA-2100 above. The people are small enough.
it looks large enough for a ring for running in circles

[Dr Mordrid]

Consider the BA-330 is 45 feet long and 22 feet in diameter. No dimensions are availalable for BA-2100 other than that the docking bay shown at the left end is itself 25 feet in diameter.

Past studies show that you don't need a full 1G, but that as little as .34G is enough. With the ~30 foot diameter of 2001's Discovery you would have to rotate the hab at about 7.5 RPM to achieve this. Increase the diameter and you can lower the RPM's. 10 RPM would give you .61G.

OTOH, other studies say as little as .10G would suffice.

To me it looks like the BA-2100 has to be at least 80 feet, so do the math - I guesstimate 2-3 RPM or less of axial rotation, but of course that complicates docking other than end-on.

[Elie]

We need something like this...



to take us up to something like this


nough said...

[Evildead666]

LOL, Perfect Elie