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posted by martyb on Wednesday February 21 2018, @02:50PM   Printer-friendly
from the To-the-Moon,-Alice^W-BigelowTo-the-Moon! dept.

Bigelow Aerospace has created a spinoff company that will manage its orbital space stations, and has announced plans for an inflatable module that would be even larger than the B330:

Bigelow Aerospace — the Las Vegas-based company manufacturing space habitats — is starting a spinoff venture aimed at managing any modules that the company deploys into space. Called Bigelow Space Operations (BSO), the new company will be responsible for selling Bigelow's habitats to customers, such as NASA, foreign countries, and other private companies. But first, BSO will try to figure out what kind of business exists exactly in lower Earth orbit, the area of space where the ISS currently resides.

Bigelow makes habitats designed to expand. The densely packed modules launch on a rocket and then inflate once in space, providing more overall volume for astronauts to roam around. The company already has one of its prototype habitats in orbit right now: the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, which has been attached to the International Space Station since 2016. The BEAM has proven that Bigelow's expandable habitat technology not only works, but also holds up well against the space environment.

Now, Bigelow is focusing on its next space station design: the B330. The habitat is so named since it will have 330 cubic meters (or nearly 12,000 cubic feet) of interior volume when expanded in space. That's about one-third the volume provided by the ISS. Bigelow hopes to launch two B330s as early as 2021, on top of the United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rockets, and the company even has plans to put a B330 around the Moon. After that, Bigelow has bigger plans to create a single station with 2.4 times the entire pressurized volume of the ISS, the company announced today. Such a huge station will need to be constructed in an entirely new manufacturing facility that Bigelow plans to build — though the company hasn't decided on a location yet.

Bigelow's BEAM is currently attached to the ISS and has a volume of about 16 cubic meters, which has been described as that of "a large closet with padded white walls". The B330 will have 330 cubic meters of pressurized volume. The newly proposed module is called the BA 2100, or "Olympus", with 2,250 cubic meters of volume, compared to the ISS's total 931 cubic meters. The mass of the BA 2100 could range from 65 to 100 metric tons, likely requiring a super-heavy launcher such as the SLS Block 1B/2 or SpaceX's BFR.

Also at Space News, Motherboard, and Space.com.

Related: How to Get Back to the Moon in 4 Years, Permanently
Bigelow Expandable Activity Module to Continue Stay at the International Space Station
Bigelow and ULA to Put Inflatable Module in Orbit Around the Moon by 2022


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by takyon on Wednesday February 21 2018, @04:13PM (13 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday February 21 2018, @04:13PM (#641209) Journal

    The ISS has this module [wikipedia.org], which has been "compared to the cockpit window of the Millennium Falcon."

    BEAM, B330, etc. are modular and will be attached to other modules. Getting a huge amount of space station volume with a low mass and number of launches is very valuable. Maybe you don't need a window in the part you're going to be sleeping in if that's just going to douse you with more radiation.

    You could have the equivalent of the Ender's Game Battle Room using a BA 2100. Compared to the relatively cramped corridors of the ISS.

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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday February 21 2018, @04:37PM (2 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday February 21 2018, @04:37PM (#641218) Journal

    Maybe you don't need a window in the part you're going to be sleeping in if that's just going to douse you with more radiation.

    People are going to PAY to get up there, then we're going to cheat them of their fair share of radiation? So, what are we going to do, if they insist on their ration of radiation? Just charge them extra?

  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday February 21 2018, @05:39PM (8 children)

    by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday February 21 2018, @05:39PM (#641272)

    > Compared to the relatively cramped corridors of the ISS.

    In zero-G, cramped corridors are a very useful feature.

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday February 21 2018, @06:06PM (7 children)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday February 21 2018, @06:06PM (#641284) Journal

      You just need the NASA equivalent of the Ruyi Jingu Bang [wikipedia.org] or the Grab It [freakinreviews.com] in order to pull or push people who are stuck floating in the center of the module.

      Hazing on the Bigelow Space Station: push/pull someone into the middle of the module until they are barely moving in any direction. Then see what they have to do to get to one of the walls.

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      • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 21 2018, @07:10PM (6 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 21 2018, @07:10PM (#641327)

        peeing would work. although I guess throwing up would be more spectacular; and probably much more likely, not that I think about it.

        • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday February 21 2018, @07:58PM (5 children)

          by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday February 21 2018, @07:58PM (#641364)

          Always keep white pepper in your pocket for emergencies.

          • (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday February 21 2018, @10:23PM (4 children)

            by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday February 21 2018, @10:23PM (#641440) Journal

            Great, a cloud of pepper and snot suspended around the room in microgravity.

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            • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday February 21 2018, @10:47PM (3 children)

              by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday February 21 2018, @10:47PM (#641467)

              While that's unquestionably better than what the parent was proposing, I have to agree it's pretty bad.
              Astronauts in the ISS are surrounded by a cloud of their own skin flakes, hairs, and other excretions. There's a reason it smells nasty, and has fans constantly circulating air around and through filters.

              There's pretty good money to be made by the inventor of Space Roomba.

  • (Score: 2) by el_oscuro on Thursday February 22 2018, @03:18AM

    by el_oscuro (1711) on Thursday February 22 2018, @03:18AM (#641597)

    In Kerbal Space program, I have a contract to deploy a space station to Ike orbit with that exact module. I always wondered where it came from.

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