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BA 2100
The BA 2100, or ''Olympus'', is a conceptual inflatable space habitat by Bigelow Aerospace. The larger BA 2100 would extend the volume and capabilities of the B330 module, which is under development as part of the Bigelow Commercial Space Station. As with the B330 module, the number in the name refers to the number of cubic meters of space offered by the module when fully expanded in space (equivalent to 74,000 cubic feet). The mass of the BA 2100 could be as low as , but would more likely be "in the range of 100 metric tons". It is substantially larger than the B330, with the docking ends of the module alone estimated at approximately in diameter. The concept model showed the docking ports at both ends. The BA 2100 would require the use of a super heavy-lift launch vehicle and would require an fairing for launch. Pressurized volume of single BA 2100 module is , compared to volume of the whole International Space Station . See also * TransHab * Genesis I * Genesis II ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inflatable Space Habitat
Inflatable habitats or expandable habitats are pressurized tent-like structures capable of supporting life in outer space whose internal volume increases after launch. They have frequently been proposed for use in space applications to provide a greater volume of living space for a given mass. The first formal design and manufacture of an inflatable space habitat was in 1961 with a space station design produced by Goodyear (although this design was never flown). A proposal released in 1989 by Johnson Space Center's Man Systems Division outlined a diameter spherical habitat lunar outpost which was partially buried in the lunar surface. An inflatable module called TransHab (a portmanteau of ''Trans Habitation'') was proposed for the International Space Station, and later the private company Bigelow Aerospace revived the design for use in a number of potential civil and commercial applications. Construction The construction of an inflatable space habitat is determined by its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bigelow Aerospace
Bigelow Aerospace is an American aeronautics and outer space technology company which manufactures and develops expandable space station modules. Bigelow Aerospace was founded by Robert Bigelow in 1998, and is based in North Las Vegas, Nevada. It is funded in large part by the profit Bigelow gained through his ownership of the hotel chain, Budget Suites of America. By 2013, Bigelow had invested US$250 million in the company. Bigelow stated on a number of occasions that he was prepared to fund Bigelow Aerospace with about US$500 million through 2015 in order to achieve launch of full-scale hardware. Bigelow Aerospace announced in 2010 that they intended to create a modular set of space habitats for creating or expanding space stations but despite many concepts and models, never completed a working space station beyond two small prototypes that flew in 2006 and 2007. In March 2020, the company laid off all 88 of its employees due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and planned to rehire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
B330
The B330 (previously known as the Nautilus space complex module and BA 330) was an inflatable space habitat being privately developed by Bigelow Aerospace from 2010 until 2020. The design was evolved from NASA's TransHab habitat concept. B330 will have of internal volume, hence its numeric designation. The craft is intended to 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. Several test articles were built and tested in various conditions in ground test facilities, but no flight versions were built. Features Compared to their volume-mass ratio, expandable modules offer more living space than traditional rigid modules. For example, the pressurised volume of a B330 module is , compared to of the 15-tonne ISS Destiny module. Thus B330 offers 210% more habitable space, wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bigelow Commercial Space Station
The Bigelow Next-Generation Commercial Space Station was a private orbital space station under conceptual development by Bigelow Aerospace in the 2000s and 2010s. Previous concepts of the space station had included multiple modules such as two B330 expandable spacecraft modules as well as a central docking node, propulsion, solar arrays, and attached crew capsules. However it was also suggested that each B330 can operate as an independent space station. Attaching a B330 to the International Space Station or flying a B330 alone have been suggested by Robert Bigelow. On 8 April 2016, NASA launched a Bigelow inflatable module and attached it to the ISS, where it has been tested for over four years. History Early work at Bigelow Aerospace on expandable space habitats, with plans to eventually assemble them into on-orbit space stations, began in the early years after the company was formed in 1999. By 2004, plans made public included assembly of multiple modules "into a manned ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Delta IV
Delta IV is a group of five expendable launch systems in the Delta (rocket family), Delta rocket family introduced in the early 2000s. Originally designed by Boeing's Defense, Space and Security division for the National Security Space Launch, Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program, the Delta IV became a United Launch Alliance (ULA) product in 2006. The Delta IV is primarily a launch vehicle for United States Air Force (USAF) military payloads, but has also been used to launch a number of United States government non-military payloads and a single commercial satellite. The Delta IV originally had two main versions which allowed the family to cover a range of payload sizes and masses: the retired Medium (which had four configurations) and Delta IV Heavy, Heavy. As of 2019, only the Heavy remains active, with payloads that would previously fly on Medium moving to either the existing Atlas V or the forthcoming Vulcan (rocket), Vulcan. Retirement of the Delta IV is antici ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Super Heavy-lift Launch Vehicle
A super heavy-lift launch vehicle can lift to low Earth orbit more than by United States (NASA) classification or by Russian classification. It is the most capable launch vehicle classification by mass to orbit, exceeding that of the heavy-lift launch vehicle classification. Crewed lunar and interplanetary missions are often developed around these launch vehicles' payload capacity. Many early super heavy-lift launch vehicle concepts were made in the 1960s, such as the Sea Dragon. During the Space Race, the Saturn V and N1 were built by the United States and Soviet Union. After the Saturn V's successful Apollo program and the N1's failures, the Soviets' Energia launched twice in the 1980s, once with the Buran spaceplane. The next two decades saw multiple concepts drawn out once again, most notably Shuttle-derived vehicles and Rus-M, but none would be built. In the 2010s, super heavy-lift launch vehicles received interest once again, leading to the launch of the Falcon Heav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada). The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements. The station serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which scientific research is conducted in astrobiology, astronomy, meteorology, physics, and other fields. The ISS is suited for testing the spacecraft systems and equipment required for possible future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars. The ISS programme evolved from the Space Station ''Freedom'', a 1984 American proposal to construct a permanently crewed Earth-orbiting station, and the contemporaneous Soviet/Russian '' Mir-2'' proposal from 1976 with similar aims. The ISS is the ninth space station to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TransHab
TransHab was a concept pursued by NASA in the 1990s to develop the technology for expandable habitats inflated by air in space. Specifically, TransHab was intended as a replacement for the already existing rigid International Space Station crew Habitation Module. When deflated, inflatable modules provide an 'easier to launch' compact form. When fully inflated, TransHab would expand to in diameter (compare to the diameter of the Columbus ISS Module). History The name of the project is a contraction of ''Transit Habitat'' reflecting the original intention to design an interplanetary vehicle to transfer humans to Mars. Considerable controversy arose during the TransHab development effort due to delays and increased costs of the ISS program. In 1999, the National Space Society issued a policy statement recommending that NASA continue R&D of inflatable technologies while ceasing development of a TransHab ISS module. Finally in 2000, despite objections from the White House, House ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genesis I
''Genesis I'' is an experimental space habitat designed and built by the private American firm Bigelow Aerospace and launched in 2006. It was the first module to be sent into orbit by the company, and tested various systems, materials and techniques related to determining the viability of long-term inflatable space structures through 2008. Such structures, including this module and others built by Bigelow Aerospace, were similar to the 1990s NASA expandable TransHab design, which aimed to provide increased interior volume at a reduced launch diameter and potentially reduced mass compared to traditional rigid structures. The on-board systems transmitted data for 2.5 years. The spacecraft remains in orbit, allowing researchers to continue to monitor the long-term viability of its expandable space structure. Spacecraft history ''Genesis I'' was launched on 12 July 2006 at 14:53:36 UTC aboard an ISC Kosmotras Dnepr launch vehicle, launched from Dombarovsky missile base near ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genesis II (space Habitat)
''Genesis II'' is the second experimental space habitat designed and built by the private American firm Bigelow Aerospace, launched in 2007. As the second module sent into orbit by the company, this spacecraft builds on the data and experience gleaned from its previously orbited sister-ship ''Genesis I''. Like its sister-ship and other modules being designed by Bigelow Aerospace, this spacecraft is based on the NASA TransHab design, which provides increased interior volume and reduced launch diameter along with potentially reduced mass compared to traditional rigid structures. ''Genesis II'' was "retired" when its avionics systems stopped working after two and a half years, thus becoming a derelict spacecraft. , the spacecraft remains in orbit. Spacecraft history Similar to the process endured by Bigelow for ''Genesis I'', transporting ''Genesis II'' to Russia for launch was the end result of nearly a year of regulatory processes due to restrictions imposed by Internation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bigelow Expandable Activity Module
The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is an experimental expandable space station module developed by Bigelow Aerospace, under contract to NASA, for testing as a temporary module on the International Space Station (ISS) from 2016 to at most 2028, when the contract can not be extended any further. It arrived at the ISS on 10 April 2016, was berthed to the station on 16 April 2016, and was expanded and pressurized on 28 May 2016. Although originally planned to be a two year test, it has exceeded expectations and is used as additional cargo storage. The module is under ownership of NASA after Bigelow Aerospace suspended operations in 2021. History NASA originally considered the idea of inflatable habitats in the 1960s, and developed the TransHab inflatable module concept in the late 1990s. The TransHab project was canceled by Congress in 2000, and Bigelow Aerospace purchased the rights to the patents developed by NASA to pursue private space station designs. In 2006 and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galaxy (spacecraft)
''Galaxy'' (previously ''Guardian'') was a canceled prototype space habitat designed by the American firm Bigelow Aerospace, and was intended to be the third spacecraft launched by the company in their efforts to create a commercial space station. Like other modules made by Bigelow Aerospace, ''Galaxy'' was based on the inflatable TransHab design by NASA, and was to be used for advanced systems testing before the company launched human-rated vehicles. Spacecraft history ''Galaxy'' started life as twin spacecraft named ''Guardian'' which would have acted as 45% scale intermediates between the one-third size ''Genesis I'' & '' Genesis II'' pathfinders and the full size ''BA 330'' man-rated module. Sometime after 2004, the two ''Guardian'' flights were split into the ''Galaxy'' module and larger '' Sundancer'' module, each testing progressively advanced systems. This ''Galaxy'' had twice the interior volume of the ''Genesis'' craft: . In 2007, the parameters for ''Galaxy'' were ag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
