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Bigelow and NASA Event at NASA HQ


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Christopher O'Brien

Christopher O'Brien

Back in the Saddle Aginn
Staff member
From: Dick Farley / Washington, DC

(And because there's been some recent discussion about NASA and "intellectual property," take note in the attached PDF of the Space Act Agreement between NASA and Bigelow Aerospace how "IP" is addressed.)

At the risk of injecting a "reality check"...

Attended the NASA-Bigelow media opportunity at NASA HQ yesterday afternoon. Was fun to see Bob again (after only 19+ years), as we'd not visited since he attended Laurance Rockefeller's "UFO symposium" at the JY Ranch in September 1993, which I'd helped organize when I was with the Human Potential Foundation as Director of Project Development (early 1990s).

He fondly remembered Bruce Maccabee's festive piano playing for those of us assembled to talk about UFO disclosure strategies pursuant to the REAL (and first) Rockefeller UFO Disclosure Initiative to Clinton WH, and we both reminisced about what an interesting and convivial weekend that was, so long before all the susequent bruising and backbiting, i.e., Stephen Greer was even there, as were John Mack, Leo Sprinkle, Linda Moulton Howe, the esteemed "Maestro" Maccabee plus a few Rockefellerian friends and onlookers.

Bob looked great and was in fine spirits, as he provided an update to media gathered at NASA and phoning in questions from around the nation. I've linked in several of the resulting articles (below) FYI & convenience.

And "No!" The subject of Bob's well-documented interests as well as varied involvements in projects of the "anomalous (ET/UFO) kind" did not come up in yesterday's presser at NASA. Nor did "E.T." phone in!

The focus was on progress toward "public-private" partnership, consistent with an agreement NASA signed with Bigelow Aerospace on 27 March of this year, for which yesterday's event was an interim report.

A draft report is circulating and will be made public in a week or so, according to Bob and Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations, who joined Bob in the presentation.

Bigelow's involvement is unpaid, i.e., no money is changing hands between NASA and Bigelow Aerospace in conjunction with the activities discussed yesterday. In January, NASA did contract with Bigelow to develop expandable modules envisioned for eventual installation on the ISS, but that's a fiscally separate deal.

The work Bigelow is doing on the privatization possibilities is a non-exclusive, and NASA spokeswoman Rachel Kraft told me the space agency could enter into similar agreements to explore private ventures with other firms, if it desires. (That provision is included in the attached Space Act Agreement, i.e., PDF.)

Bigelow's ambitions include a privately built space station, and later a manned base on the Moon. Details are available in the attached (11 page) PDF attached to this email, per the Space Agreement Act, provided to me by NASA following yesterday's event. Two photos of the "stage setting" for yesterday, then the links.

And here's perhaps the best summary of the import arising from the NASA/Bigelow "conversation."
Exploring NASA’s Agreement with Bigelow | Innerspace.net

And no coverage of NASA activities is "full spectrum" without checking in with NASA Watch:
NASA Watch (always looking for "What's going on behind the curtain?" ;-)
Bigelow Aerospace

NASA, Bigelow Assess Private Space Outlook
 (There's an error in the Av.Week article, which incorrectly says Bigelow's contract for the expandable room for ISS is "$17.8 BILLION," and while no doubt Bob wishes it were, the actual figure is $17.8 MILLION. Hey, it's the government... what's the difference... a "B" or an "M," it's only (OUR) money!" Heads up, Aviation Week!

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20130524/SPACE/305240030/NASA-Bigelow-Aerospace-partner-human-space-exploration

Bigelow Aerospace to Study Moon Base in Deal With NASA - Bloomberg

Not to be confused with previous NASA contract award (Jan. 2013) to Bigelow for expandable ISS module:
NASA - NASA to Test Bigelow Expandable Module on Space Station

Bigelow Aerospace: Inflatable Modules for ISS | Space.com

APPENDIX:

NASA Latest news (today) : NASA - NASA Statement on Space Technology Meetings in Europe
 
All those people mentioned in the release should be considered for a a paracast sponsered conference


I await your confirmations.
 
Just a random thought here. Bigelow was interested in UFOs, but it seems he suddenly withdrew from the whole thing without much of an explanation. One day he's looking for "Outside the box thinkers" with scientific credentials to research UFO propulsion, the next thing we know, he's got an in with NASA to build Inflate-O-Stations. It's almost as if NASA said, stop your research into UFOs and we'll throw you a bone.

Contractor: BIGELOW AEROSPACE, LLC NORTH LAS VEGAS NV
Contract Number: NNH13CH31C
NASA Center: HQ - Headquarters Acquisition Division
Place of Performance: North Las Vegas, NV
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.
 
I'm not familiar enough with bigs' research to know if your observation is correct ufology but if it is, I can explain it in three words

em eye bees.
 
Goggs Mackay said:
Isn't if funny that if you are a mainstream scientist with a professed interest in the paranormal, you are probably shunned. When you are a billionaire, it's not a problem, hell, they send data your way!
Click to expand...
You think? .. just my 2 cents... It didn't help Laurance Rockefeller. He never accomplished jump starting a further gubmint disclosure of UFOs, etc. Sure, he bequeathed some research funds and was able to gather some folks and probably grabbed a few highly-placed ears, but ultimately, it doesn't appear he accomplished his goals in regards to disclosure of the extent of our "official" understanding of UAPs and other modern, high-strange appearing mysteries, i.e., crop-circles, abductions, cattle mutilations etc. Bigelow is an extremely shrewd operator. His association w/ the FAA and now NASA is a tribute to his savvy and I'd be surprised if he is not dovetailing his influence, data and insight into subjects that do not make the press-releases and mainstream articles.
 
ufology said:
Just a random thought here. Bigelow was interested in UFOs, but it seems he suddenly withdrew from the whole thing without much of an explanation. One day he's looking for "Outside the box thinkers" with scientific credentials to research UFO propulsion, the next thing we know, he's got an in with NASA to build Inflate-O-Stations. It's almost as if NASA said, stop your research into UFOs and we'll throw you a bone.
Click to expand...


Why would they reward him for something they didn't want him doing in the first place? More like the real powers that be simply told the talking heads at NASA that Bigelow was getting a little too big for his independent britches and if he was going to build any inflatable anything in space, it was going to be for them via NASA publicity. That, or go buy your own airspace and a country to go with it. The inflatable vacation spot thing was Bigelow's idea from the start so it makes no sense to perceive the matter as some sort of NASA bait and switch to keep his mind off UFOs. This is the problem that I have with the notion that NASA itself owns, or represents, *the* authority with respect to the USA's space based interests. It blows my mind that people would believe, or become gullible enough to believe, that the USA is too broke to go into space. What next, reports of Obama's kids on Government Cheese?
 
Jeff Davis said:
... What next, reports of Obama's kids on Government Cheese?
Click to expand...

Interesting how we went from idle speculation about NASA's connection with UFOs and Bigelow to Obama's kids on Government Cheese. Too bad that little rant hadn't gone on much longer. I can't imagine where it would have ended up, but I'm sure it would have been very entertaining.
 
Jeff Davis said:
. It blows my mind that people would believe, or become gullible enough to believe, that the USA is too broke to go into space.
Click to expand...
I'd venture a guess that the covert, militarized space program is well-funded and robust. Let's get real: Bigelow is probably a convenient PR distraction from those other activities this country is probably up to in space. Sure, he probably will go through the motions of integrating NASA into his plan, but I doubt either party is being totally upfront as to their real goals and intentions. W/ respect to the military space program, anything publicly acknowledged re: Bigelow, is probably just more window dressing.
 
Goggs Mackay said:
Isn't if funny that if you are a mainstream scientist with a professed interest in the paranormal, you are probably shunned. When you are a billionaire, it's not a problem, hell, they send data your way!
Click to expand...

Goggs, I've invited you into two conversations in the past without any response, did you receive them?
 
Hi folks, I'm new here but I enjoyed this thread a little. Thanks to Chris for posting the Bigelow news articles. I would just like to throw my 2 cents in - remember, Bigelow inherited the inflatable technologies from NASA. NASA built and flew earlier versions of these, called TransHAB. I don't think there is any conspiracy here...just NASA trying to promote commercialization of low earth orbit..as they are now charted to do. If Bigelow has really stopped work on UFOs I don't think it was because NASA shut him up, I think it is the big $$ and potential future contracts with the international space station program that is more appealing than a zero funded UFO effort. In the big scheme of thing with respect to the Commercial Crew Program, the Bigelow work is background noise compared to what SpaceX, Sierra Nevada, and Boeing are doing - and the funding supports that.
 
This thing about UFO reports to the FAA being redirected to Bigelow, you have to think that Bigelow lobbied for that. It would be really weird for it to have just been the FAA or the government deciding 'hmm, we're fed up with UFO reports, let's just fire them all Bigelow Aerospace's way to get rid of them'?
 
Goggs Mackay said:
This thing about UFO reports to the FAA being redirected to Bigelow, you have to think that Bigelow lobbied for that. It would be really weird for it to have just been the FAA or the government deciding 'hmm, we're fed up with UFO reports, let's just fire them all Bigelow Aerospace's way to get rid of them'?
Click to expand...

Aw c'mon Goggs. It's perfectly reasonable to believe it's purely coincidental that Bigelow just woke up one day and found the FAA had started sending him surprise referrals on UFO reports, and of course nobody in NASA is interested in UFOs because that would just be silly ( especially for a space agency ). It's all conspiracy talk by private UFO interest groups, who of course have never been a thorn in the side of government agencies. So when Bigelow ( who had a private well funded UFO investigative project ) suddenly drops his UFO project to take on a NASA contract worth tens of millions of dollars, although it sounds like nothing less than a buyout, we know it's all just coincidence right? The Kennedy memo to NASA on UFOs, The formerly Top Secret documents expressing concerns over private UFO interest groups, the NASA astronauts who claim to have seen UFOs, Bigelow's privately funded UFO research projects, NASA suddenly giving him a multi-million dollar contract ... of course it all adds up to nothing that is least bit suggestive of any intrigue ( notice I didn't use the big "C" word ). We can't use that word anymore, because if we do, we're automatically considered to be part of the woo woo crowd.
 
I wouldn't say that NASA suddenly gave Bigelow a contract, as if this was just out of the blue. There is a relatively long history between the two. The following was taken from the wiki page on Bigelow... provides some of the history...

"Bigelow originally licensed the multi-layer, expandable space module technology from NASA after Congress canceled the International Space Station (ISS) TransHab project following delays and budget constraints in the late 1990s.[3][7] Bigelow has three Space Act agreements whereby Bigelow Aerospace is the sole commercializer of several of NASA's key expandable module technologies.
Bigelow continued to develop the technology for a decade, redesigning the module fabric layers—including adding proprietary extensions of Vectran shield fabric, "a double-strength variant of Kevlar"—and developing a family of uncrewed and crewed expandable spacecraft in a variety of sizes.[8] Bigelow invested US$75 million in proprietary extensions to the NASA technology by mid-2006 ,[1] and $180 million into the technology by 2010.[9] By 2010, Bigelow had invested US$180 million in the company,[9] which by 2013 had grown to US$250 million of his personal fortune.[4] Bigelow has stated on multiple occasions that he is prepared to fund Bigelow Aerospace with about US$500 million through 2015 in order to achieve launch of full-scale hardware.[3][5]
In early 2010, NASA came full circle to once again investigate "making inflatable space-station modules to make roomier, lighter, cheaper-to-launch spacecraft" by announcing plans in its budget proposal released February 22, 2010. NASA considered connecting a Bigelow expandable craft to the ISS for safety, life support, radiation shielding, thermal control and communications verification testing for the next three years,"[8] and in December 2012, signed a $17.8 million contract with Bigelow to develop the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM),[10] projected to fly in 2015.[11]"

Now, how Bigelow swung the FAA deal... that is more of a mystery than getting a NASA contract (in my opinion)!
 
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