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Bigelow Aerospace Unveils B330 Inflatable Module Mock-Up
Hotel mogul Robert Bigelow wants to take his idea to build inflatable space habitats and run with it — apparently, all the way to the moon and Mars.
On Thursday, the billionaire publicly unveiled Bigelow Aerospace's latest model of an expandable space station prototype, called the "Bigelow Mars Transporter Testing Unit." The mock-up has the volume of four 40-foot-long cargo containers and was built in part for NASA astronauts and engineers to try it out.
Bigelow's immediate goal is to convince NASA — which is testing prototypes made by four other companies— to fund a space-worthy unit, called the B330 (so named because it would have 330 cubic meters of volume). The work is in support of the space agency's $20-30 billion moon-landing program, called Artemis.
The 330 cubic meters of pressurized volume of the B330 compares favorably to the 351.6 m3 of Skylab (the US' first space station) and the 931.57 m3 of the ISS (International Space Station).
(Score: 2) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Monday September 16 2019, @03:14PM (1 child)
I don't disagree, I am making a comparison.
All of those things about difficulty and complexity are present in the space problem also, it's even fraught with the perils of outer space.
But if you have a billion dollars, all of that is preferable to dealing with the fact that there are just some people who are never going to be able to afford and apartment anywhere. You can either kill them, imprison them, pay for them to have a basic life, or there will be shit on the street.
They have chosen the latter, and to go build spaceships in the middle of nowhere. I refuse to see them as nobel for that.
Electric cars, tunnels, anything that helps cities is interesting and at least somewhat defensible. Or half and half. Find a way to house 10,000 people and then spend an equal amount on your space adventure.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Monday September 16 2019, @03:44PM
> All of those things about difficulty and complexity are present in the space problem also, it's even fraught with the perils of outer space.
I disagree strongly. Engineering problems are very much a closed problem - make the rocket bigger and it goes faster. Societal problems are far harder to manage, lots of strong feedback loops that are obscure and difficult to resolve.
> You can either kill them, imprison them,
not really a solution
> pay for them to have a basic life,
No! My whole point is this doesn't work. You can't pay someone to be happy and engage with society. The problems are far deeper than you realise I think.