NASA - Bigelow expandable ISS habitat - launch Sept. 2015

[Dr Mordrid]

This tech had been delayed pending the availability of commercial crew spacecraft (coming 2016-2017) and less expensive launchers (done deal.) Time to get cracking....

NASA & Bigelow Aerospace of Las Vegas, NV have contracted for a test of their expandable habitat technology at the International Space Station. A formal announcement will be made Jan 16, 2013 at Bigelow's HQ by NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver and CEO Robert T. Bigelow.

The BEAM (Bigelow Expandable Activity Module) will be launched compressed inside a SpaceX Dragon's unpressurized cargo Trunk and attached to ISS Node 3. There it will be used for storage & logistics - basically to prove the integrity of its hull and seals in a manned spaceflight environment.

Once proven this would open the way for larger, more complex habitats for use at ISS and for long duration cislunar and deep space missions by both NASA and the commercial operators

Bigelow Aerospace is teamed with both Boeing and SpaceX, and intends to launch and operate private space facilities built from modules ranging from 330 to 2,100 cubic metros, the latter being twice the volume of the ISS.

Bigelow's tech can also be used to build synthetic gravity centrifuge habitats, similar to the crew core of the Discovery in 2001.

Contractor BIGELOW AEROSPACE, LLC
NORTH LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
Contract Number NNH13CH31C
NASA Center HQ - Headquarters Acquisition Division
Place of Performance North Las Vegas, NV (District 01)
Award Date 12/20/2012
Completion Date 12/19/2017
Contractor Type Small Business
Award Type Firm Fixed Price
Current FY Obligations $6,350,000
Total Obligations $6,350,000
Total Award Value $17,865,903
NAICS Code 541712
Description of Work UNDER THIS CONTRACT, THE CONTRACTOR SHALL CONTRACTOR TO PROVIDE AND OPERATE THE BIGELOW EXPANDABLE ACTIVITY MODULE (BEAM) ON-BOARD THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (ISS). THIS EFFORT IS FOR PHASE 2 OF THE BEAM ISS DEMONSTRATION MODULE PROJECT, AND ESTABLISHES THE REQUIREMENTS, PERFORMANCE METRICS, COSTS, AND MANAGEMENT OF THE EFFORT THAT WILL BE USED TO DESIGN, DELIVER, AND OPERATE THE BEAM.

BEAM


BA Station

[Dr Mordrid]

MEDIA ADVISORY: M13-011

NASA, BIGELOW OFFICIALS TO DISCUSS SPACE STATION EXPANDABLE MODULE

WASHINGTON -- NASA has awarded a $17.8 million contract to Bigelow
Aerospace to provide a new addition to the International Space
Station. The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module will demonstrate the
benefits of this space habitat technology for future exploration and
commercial space endeavors.

"The International Space Station is a unique laboratory that enables
important discoveries that benefit humanity and vastly increase
understanding of how humans can live and work in space for long
periods," NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said. "This
partnership agreement for the use of expandable habitats represents a
step forward in cutting-edge technology that can allow humans to
thrive in space safely and affordably, and heralds important progress
in U.S. commercial space innovation."

Garver and Bigelow Aerospace Founder and President Robert Bigelow will
discuss the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module program at a media
availability at 1:30 p.m. EST (10:30 a.m. PST) Wednesday, Jan. 16, at
Bigelow Aerospace facilities located at 1899 W. Brooks Ave. in North
Las Vegas.

To attend, media representatives must contact Mike Gold at
mgold@bigelowaerospace.com by 8 p.m. EST (5 p.m. PST) Jan. 15.

Journalists interested in a one-on-one interview with Garver should
contact Sarah Ramsey at 202-215-9680 or sarah.ramsey@nasa.gov or
Michael Cabbage at 202-549-8073 or mcabbage@nasa.gov.

For more information about Bigelow Aerospace, visit:

http://www.bigelowaerospace.com

For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

[Dr Mordrid]

From today's presser -

1) BEAM will be 4x3 meters and weigh about 3,000 lbs.

2) It will go to the ISS in the cargo Trunk of the 8th SpaceX Dragon resupply mission - CRS-8 - in early 2015. It will stay for 2 years, proving its durability vs space junk, micrometeors, and its radiation environment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1u1Vl9X_gY

3) once proven NASA has serious plans for the Bigelow habitats - from the Twitterverse -

NASA Watch ‏@NASAWatch
#bigelow - round trip to ISS on #SpaceX Dragon is $26 m.. Boeing cost is $36.75m

NASA Watch ‏@NASAWatch
#Bigelow Beam will launch on a CRS-8 resupply mision & dock w/ Tranquility aft port via #SpaceX dragon

NASA Watch ‏@NASAWatch
#bigelow - we are looking forward to doing other things with expandable technology w/ #NASA. We are looking at senig B330 to L1

NASA Watch ‏@NASAWatch
#bigelow - @LoriGarver speaking (audio choppy) - work w/commercial partners not only to reach LEO but to live there

NASA Watch ‏@NASAWatch
#Bigelow by 2016 we will have two BEAMs ready

NASA Watch ‏@NASAWatch
#bigelow - @LoriGarver - possibulity for extended missions

NASA Watch ‏@NASAWatch
#Bigelow @LoriGarver - this is already contracted #SpaceX flight - no add'l cost . Fly in Dragon trunk - a few $m for Boeing integration

NASA Watch ‏@NASAWatch
#Bigelow already invested $250m - eed to invest that much more

[Dr Mordrid]

Concept for Bigelow Aerospace's commercial Alpha Station with a SpaceX DragonRider (top) and Boeing CST-100 (bottom) docked, and Bigelow is now targeting to have both BA-330 modules (330 cu/meters each) ready in 2016 - just in time for the commercial spacecraft to enter service.

70% the pressurized volume of the ISS at a tiny fraction of the cost, and launchable on inexpensive rockets. Separate the two with a docking hub / connecting passage, set it rotating and you could have artificial gravity.

[Dr Mordrid]

http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/01/inflatable-spacecrafts-other-goal-space-walks-for-tourists.php?m=1

Inflatable Spacecraft’s Other Goal: Space Walks For Tourists

Bigelow Aerospace, the private spacefaring company that NASA is paying to develop and launch an inflatable space module to the International Space Station in 2015, already has plans on how it will separately commercialize the balloon-like craft for its own space operations.

“We have motivations as a company to see the BEAM project be successful outside of the NASA mission,” said Robert T. Bigelow, creator of his namesake commercial space company, which he started from his fortune accumulated as the owner of the Budget chain of hotels, in a phone interview on Thursday.

NASA’s plans call for the inflatable test module, known as the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), to remain connected to the station for two years — with astronauts entering and leaving as deemed fit — then detached and destroyed, burned up in Earth’s atmosphere.

But Bigelow, the company and the man, intend to produce another BEAM habitat that could be attached to a planned Bigelow-owned and built private space station, for use by space tourists and non-spacefaring governments. The first component of that station, a larger inflatable module known as the BA 330, could launch as early as 2016.

The goal is to then use the smaller attached balloon-like BEAM to function as the world’s most spacious airlock, allowing for up to three space tourists to simultaneously spacewalk outside the station simultaneously.

“BEAM would be excellent for EVA [extra-vehicular activity],” Bigelow told TPM, referring to the technical term for activities conducted by humans outside of space craft and habitations like BEAM. “You could accomodate three people in space suits in there very easily. From a practical standpoint, you’d be able to move more people outside of the station at once to do whatever it is they need to do.

In recent years, when repairs to the outside of the International Space Station must be completed by its human crew, NASA usually sends out two astronauts at once. But the rigid “Quest” airlock aboard the International Space Station can only accomodate two astronauts at a time during its depressurization phase, necessary before opening into outer space.

Bigelow’s plan is to inflate the BEAM module to a larger size than the current space station’s airlock, enough to accomodate three people at once.

Bigelow, the man, told TPM that a collapsable airlock could afford several other advantages over its rigid metal counterparts currently in use on spacecraft and the International Space Station. Not having an airlock sticking out of the craft at certain times could make repairs easier, would allow for solar arrays and other equipment to be moved around with greater ease and efficiency, and, perhaps most importantly, would allow for less nitrogen and oxygen to escape into the vacuum of outer space — which happens every time a current airlock door is opened.

“You lose that gas every time you open the outer hatch,” Bigelow explained to TPM.

Bigelow’s BEAM airlock concept would still necessarily allow some of these gases to escape, of course, as soon as the airlock door was opened to outer space. But because the BEAM could be inflated to a larger working volume than the current space station’s airlock, more spacewalkers could be sent in and out simultaneously, necessitating less opening and closing of the door.

Bigelow told TPM that currently, his company is leaning toward allowing its first few bunch of paying space tourists or government astronauts the ability to spacewalk as a bonus atop the cost of the tickets up to the private space station. The starting price is $26.25 million for a two-month long stay, with transportation provided by SpaceX’s Dragon capsule.

Spacewalks have advanced along with the rest of human spaceflight capability since the Cold War and the first-ever spacewalk by Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov during the Voskhod 2 orbital mission, as The Atlantic’s following video montage compiled of NASA archival footage shows. But Bigelow’s plans, if fulfilled, would mark the first private spacewalks in human history.

[Dr Mordrid]

https://twitter.com/Leone_SN/status/562332184464601089

@BigelowSpace's inflatible space station module now to fly to ISS September-ish aboard @SpaceX's 8th paid cargo run, per NASA budget doc.