Massive space station development stuns the scientific world

Huge space station development stuns the scientific world

Bigelow Aerospace has just announced the creation of a new subsidiary that represents a bold new push for space stations.

Bigelow Aerospace has announced the creation of Bigelow Space Operations, indicating the company is looking to build commercial living spaces in space. They are the creator of Bigelow Expandable Activity Modules, or BEAM, which has already been connected to the International Space Station, and this reorganization shows they have huge plans beyond that.

The company will soon launch some additional space stations that it has called B3330s. These stations have 12,000 cubic feet of space when totally expanded, or about a third of the space offered by the International Space Station. The company hopes to launch them on two spacecraft by around 2021.

And Bigelow Aerospace is not going to stop there, with plans to build a single space station that will have 2.4 times the volume of the ISS, despite being launched on a single rocket. The company believes that B330s can offer a place for scientific research in space that is a fraction of the cost of the ISS.

The following is a statement from Bigelow on the move.

Bigelow Aerospace is excited to introduce Bigelow Space Operations (BSO), a new commercial space company that is the sales, operational and customer service company that manages and operates space stations developed by Bigelow Aerospace.

With the two launches of B330-1 and B330-2 expected in 2021, the time is now in 2018 to begin BSO activity. These single structures that house humans on a permanent basis will be the largest, most complex structures ever known as stations for human use in space.

The customers that B330 will seek to accommodate will be very diverse.

Bigelow Space Operations has a mission to market and operate these and other space stations including future generations developed by Bigelow Aerospace that are so capable, so diverse and so large that they can accommodate virtually unlimited use almost anywhere.

Over time, Bigelow Aerospace will manufacture a single station, launched on a single rocket that will contain over 2.4 times the pressurized volume of the entire International Space Station, and we intend for BSO to market and operate these also. A new manufacturing facility for these giant stations would have to be built in Florida, Alabama or other suitable location.

But first, there is something very important that BSO must do this year. The time is now to quantify in detail the global, national and corporate commercial space market for orbiting stations. This subject has had ambiguity for many years. BSO will be spending millions of dollars this year to establish concrete answers.

BSO is hiring now to fill many diverse positions. Many of you need to be willing to travel.

The following is an excerpt from Wikipedia on the B330.

The B330 (previously known as the Nautilus space complex module and BA 330) is an inflatable space habitat being privately developed by Bigelow Aerospace. The design was evolved from NASA’s TransHab habitat concept. B330 will have 330 cubic meters (12,000 cu ft) of internal volume, hence its numeric designation.

The craft will support zero-gravity research including scientific missions and manufacturing processes. Beyond its industrial and scientific purposes, however, it has potential as a destination for space tourism and a craft for missions destined for the Moon and Mars.

Compared to their volume-mass ratio, expandable modules offer more living space than traditional rigid modules. For example, the pressurised volume of a 20-ton B330 module is 330 m3, compared to 106 m3 of the 15 ton ISS Destiny module. Thus B330 offers 210% more habitable space, with an increase in mass of only 33%.

Bigelow also claims that the module provides radiation protection equivalent to, and ballistic protection superior to, the International Space Station.[5]

The exterior of the craft is intended to be 13.7 metres (45 ft) long by 6.7 metres (22 ft) in diameter[6] and the module will weigh between 20,000 kilograms (45,000 lb) and 23,000 kilograms (50,000 lb).[7]

The habitat is designed to have two solar arrays and two thermal radiator arrays for heat dissipation, as well as life support systems to sustain a crew of up to six astronauts. It will also have “a zero-g toilet with solid and liquid waste collection, semi-private berths for each crew member, exercise equipment, a food storage and preparation station, lighting, and a personal hygiene station.”[8]

The wall thickness will be approximately 0.46 metres (18 in) when the module is fully expanded. The walls are made up of 24 to 36 layers for ballistic protection, thermal protection, radiation protection[9] and will be as hard as concrete once the craft is fully expanded.[10] The exterior will also feature four large windows coated with a UV protection film.

Dual-redundant control thruster systems are to be used, one using mono-propellant hydrazine and the other using gaseous hydrogen and gaseous oxygen. The latter system is refillable from the on-board environmental control system.[8] Module-specific avionics will be provided for navigation, re-boost, docking and other on-orbit maneuvering.

Bigelow Aerospace is developing the B330 module to be compatible to mate with other spacecraft such as Russian Soyuz spacecraft, SpaceX’s Dragon V2, Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, and NASA’s Orion spacecraft. The module’s large size is particularly beneficial for lunar astronauts or the crews of other long-duration space missions,[11] which until now have been restricted to fairly cramped quarters for the several-day flight.

Let's block ads! (Why?)