[I've heard through the grapevine that yet another bombshell announcement is coming from Biggie's bunch—chris]
ARTICLE HERE:
Private North Las Vegas company shows off space module
By George Knapp, Chief Investigative Reporter
Bigelow Expandable Activity Module or BEAM.
NORTH LAS VEGAS -- Top NASA officials were in southern Nevada Thursday to pick up a technological marvel that could represent the future of human space exploration.
The team at Bigelow Aerospace, a private North Las Vegas company, made good on its promise to build an expandable spacecraft that could one day form the backbone of human colonies on the moon, Mars, and beyond.
It will be the first privately built module to be attached to the International Space Station.
Called the BEAM, for Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, will be launched, then attached to ISS in September. The craft is inflated with oxygen and nitrogen once it is in orbit. It is about 13 feet long and 11 feet wide. It will catch a ride on the Space X rocket.
Bigelow Aerospace is owned by Real Estate Tycoon and Hotelier Robert Bigelow. The I-Team has covered every step of Bigelow's private space program, including two previous launches of smaller versions of the inflatable habitat since the company broke ground more than a decade ago.
When Diane Bigelow appears at the aerospace plant in North Las Vegas, you know something big is in the works. She is the unofficial CEO, CFO, and muse to her husband Bob, and the overseer to his space dreams. She was at the plant Thursday morning with NASA bigwigs, international media, and others on the periphery of commercial space exploration. Bob Bigelow delivered what he'd promised to NASA just a little over two years ago.
"It will be 185,000 square feet," he said.
Even as recently as a few years ago, after Bob Bigelow had already plowed more than $200 million of his own dollars into the expansion of his massive aerospace plant, some still didn't give it much credence.
Critics considered Bigelow to be a slightly crazy rich guy whose corporate logo didn't disguise his interest in exotic topics. From now on, it will be much harder to make that criticism stick.
The BEAM may not look like much sitting in the enormous hangar, but the next time the public sees it, the collapsed spacecraft will be attached to the International Space Station, where it will be inflated to its full 16 cubic meters and then studied by ISS astronauts for a two-year trial period to see how it holds up.
Although it almost looks like a microwave popcorn apparatus when inflated, make no mistake, this baby is tough.
"This is a momentous occasion for us," Bigelow said.
His formal announcement in front of the international space community and media was a coming out party of sorts, Bigelow in effect handed over the keys to his cosmic hot rod to NASA's Bill Gerstenmaier, making good on the nearly $18 million contract signed with NASA in 2013. But as both men acknowledged, this is only the beginning. Assuming BEAM passes all of its tests once attached to the space station, it could pave the way for much bigger endeavors.
"We're really learning how to operate in space, how to move the human presence into the solar system," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA ISS program manager. "This is really the first step for doing this."
Bigelow stopped short of saying he wants to build larger versions of his expandable habitats as the cornerstone of permanent bases on the moon and Mars, but elsewhere in his plant, there are detailed models of what such a base would look like.
During the unveiling event, he thanked the engineers and technicians who pushed themselves for two years to finish BEAM on time and under budget, then suggested they could have bigger jobs ahead, as hinted by the mock up behind the podium of a spacecraft bigger than the Starship Enterprise.
"We do have ambitions outside of earth's orbit," he said. "That's no surprise. We're working on the architectures like the one behind us to prepare ourselves to participate in some type of group endeavor."
The reason expandable craft make sense is that they are so much lighter than other modules, but are still stronger and safer for the space crew. it means a private space program could get a much bigger bang per buck or per launch, putting more living space up there, space where nations like Japan, which had representatives on hand, or corporations, could carry out their own research without paying for a full space program from scratch.
"Now, we think 2017," Bigelow said. "We think the chances are very good."
REST OF ARTICLE HERE:
ARTICLE HERE:
Private North Las Vegas company shows off space module
By George Knapp, Chief Investigative Reporter
Bigelow Expandable Activity Module or BEAM.NORTH LAS VEGAS -- Top NASA officials were in southern Nevada Thursday to pick up a technological marvel that could represent the future of human space exploration.
The team at Bigelow Aerospace, a private North Las Vegas company, made good on its promise to build an expandable spacecraft that could one day form the backbone of human colonies on the moon, Mars, and beyond.
It will be the first privately built module to be attached to the International Space Station.
Called the BEAM, for Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, will be launched, then attached to ISS in September. The craft is inflated with oxygen and nitrogen once it is in orbit. It is about 13 feet long and 11 feet wide. It will catch a ride on the Space X rocket.
Bigelow Aerospace is owned by Real Estate Tycoon and Hotelier Robert Bigelow. The I-Team has covered every step of Bigelow's private space program, including two previous launches of smaller versions of the inflatable habitat since the company broke ground more than a decade ago.
When Diane Bigelow appears at the aerospace plant in North Las Vegas, you know something big is in the works. She is the unofficial CEO, CFO, and muse to her husband Bob, and the overseer to his space dreams. She was at the plant Thursday morning with NASA bigwigs, international media, and others on the periphery of commercial space exploration. Bob Bigelow delivered what he'd promised to NASA just a little over two years ago.
"It will be 185,000 square feet," he said.
Even as recently as a few years ago, after Bob Bigelow had already plowed more than $200 million of his own dollars into the expansion of his massive aerospace plant, some still didn't give it much credence.
Critics considered Bigelow to be a slightly crazy rich guy whose corporate logo didn't disguise his interest in exotic topics. From now on, it will be much harder to make that criticism stick.
The BEAM may not look like much sitting in the enormous hangar, but the next time the public sees it, the collapsed spacecraft will be attached to the International Space Station, where it will be inflated to its full 16 cubic meters and then studied by ISS astronauts for a two-year trial period to see how it holds up.
Although it almost looks like a microwave popcorn apparatus when inflated, make no mistake, this baby is tough.
"This is a momentous occasion for us," Bigelow said.
His formal announcement in front of the international space community and media was a coming out party of sorts, Bigelow in effect handed over the keys to his cosmic hot rod to NASA's Bill Gerstenmaier, making good on the nearly $18 million contract signed with NASA in 2013. But as both men acknowledged, this is only the beginning. Assuming BEAM passes all of its tests once attached to the space station, it could pave the way for much bigger endeavors.
"We're really learning how to operate in space, how to move the human presence into the solar system," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA ISS program manager. "This is really the first step for doing this."
Bigelow stopped short of saying he wants to build larger versions of his expandable habitats as the cornerstone of permanent bases on the moon and Mars, but elsewhere in his plant, there are detailed models of what such a base would look like.
During the unveiling event, he thanked the engineers and technicians who pushed themselves for two years to finish BEAM on time and under budget, then suggested they could have bigger jobs ahead, as hinted by the mock up behind the podium of a spacecraft bigger than the Starship Enterprise.
"We do have ambitions outside of earth's orbit," he said. "That's no surprise. We're working on the architectures like the one behind us to prepare ourselves to participate in some type of group endeavor."
The reason expandable craft make sense is that they are so much lighter than other modules, but are still stronger and safer for the space crew. it means a private space program could get a much bigger bang per buck or per launch, putting more living space up there, space where nations like Japan, which had representatives on hand, or corporations, could carry out their own research without paying for a full space program from scratch.
"Now, we think 2017," Bigelow said. "We think the chances are very good."
REST OF ARTICLE HERE:
