The B330 (previously known as the Nautilus space complex module and BA 330) was an

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 ...

being privately developed by

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. ...

from 2010 until 2020. The design was evolved from

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

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 H ...

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 Space tourism is human space travel for recreational purposes. There are several different types of space tourism, including orbital, suborbital and lunar space tourism. During the period from 2001 to 2009, seven space tourists made eight s ...

and a craft for missions destined for the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

and

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

. 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, with an increase in mass of only 53%. Bigelow also claims that the module provides

radiation protection Radiation protection, also known as radiological protection, is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "The protection of people from harmful effects of exposure to ionizing radiation, and the means for achieving this". Expos ...

equivalent to, and ballistic protection superior to, the

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 ( ...

. The exterior of the craft is intended to be long by in diameter and the module will weigh at least . The habitat is designed to have two

solar arrays A photovoltaic system, also PV system or solar power system, is an electric power system designed to supply usable solar power by means of photovoltaics. It consists of an arrangement of several components, including solar panels to absorb and c ...

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." The wall thickness will be approximately when the module is fully expanded. The walls are made up of 24 to 36 layers for ballistic protection, thermal protection, radiation protection and will be as hard as concrete once the craft is fully expanded. 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. Module-specific

avionics Avionics (a blend of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, and the hundreds of systems that are fit ...

will be provided for

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land 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 Dragon 2 is a class of partially reusable spacecraft developed and manufactured by American aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, primarily for flights to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX has also launched private missions such as Ins ...

, Boeing's

CST-100 Starliner The Boeing CST-100 Starliner
is a class of two partially

, and NASA's

Orion spacecraft Orion (officially Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle or Orion MPCV) is a partially reusable crewed spacecraft used in NASA's Artemis program. The spacecraft consists of a Crew Module (CM) space capsule designed by Lockheed Martin and the Euro ...

. The module's large size is particularly beneficial for lunar astronauts or the crews of other long-duration space missions, which until now have been restricted to fairly cramped quarters for the several-day flight.

Technology

While details on the purchased

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and Reproducibility, reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in me ...

have not been published,

states the following about the structure of the module that Bigelow adopted as a starting point: Bigelow has described their technology to news mediaPutting Up the Ritz: Can pneumatic buildings breathe life into space tourism?
, James Oberg, ''

IEEE Spectrum ''IEEE Spectrum'' is a magazine edited by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The first issue of ''IEEE Spectrum'' was published in January 1964 as a successor to ''Electrical Engineering''. The magazine contains peer-reviewe ...

'', Feb 2007. and have indicated that their proprietary technology inflatable shell, now in validation test in low-Earth orbit in two subscale spacecraft, incorporates a layer of

Vectran Vectran is a manufactured fiber, spun from a liquid-crystal polymer (LCP) created by Celanese Corporation and now manufactured by Kuraray. Chemically it is an aromatic polyester produced by the polycondensation of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid and 6-hyd ...

, along with the

Kevlar Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s a ...

, etc. of the NASA technology.Inflatable space module puffs up
Jonathan Fildes, BBC News, 14 July 2006

History

Its design is based on the cancelled NASA

program. Bigelow gained access to TransHab engineers and workers, some of whom later went on to advise Bigelow's project. The module follows the launch of two demonstration modules successfully tested in Earth orbit, ''

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 tec ...

'' in 2006 and '' Genesis II'' in 2007. , Bigelow Aerospace had plans to develop the '' CSS Skywalker'', a space station based upon using B330 modules to act as an orbital

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

. Plans in 2010 continued to call for construction of a space station, but without the ''CSS Skywalker'' moniker, with "more usable volume than the existing

". Those plans included a complex of two smaller '' Sundancer'' modules, a combined node and propulsion module and one full-size B330 in order to provide a total volume that was only somewhat less than that of the

, though built from fewer and larger individual modules. In early 2010, Bigelow selected Orbitec as the supplier for environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS). , an initial launch of the B330 was slated to be no earlier than 2015, following a notional launch of the smaller ''Sundancer'' habitat in 2014. In July 2010, Bigelow announced that a B330 would be the sixth spacecraft component making up the notional

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 ...

. The ''Sundancer'' development was later halted, with a decision to move directly from the ''Genesis''-series prototypes to the B330. , Bigelow Aerospace indicated that the company has the financial capacity to produce at least two B330 habitats, along with a couple of transit tugs and a docking node if Bigelow is able to secure commercial customers to pay for approximately half of the launch costs for these systems. In February 2014, some pricing and other lease details were made public. The B330 lease rate will be for one-third of the station——for a 60-day lease and a round-trip taxi-seat to the B330 in

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

(LEO) on a

SpaceX Dragon 2 Dragon 2 is a class of partially reusable spacecraft developed and manufactured by American aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, primarily for flights to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX has also launched private missions such as Ins ...

was projected to be per seat. At the time, Bigelow indicated that the habitat could be launch-ready by 2017. Also in 2014, Bigelow announced notional designs for two enhanced B330s, but has explicitly stated that it would need to secure an anchor customer to go forward with building and launching any systems beyond low Earth orbit (BLEO). *B330-DS for deep space missions to Earth/Moon Lagrange points or for lunar orbital destinations. *B330-MDS for use on the surface of the Moon or other inner Solar System bodies. In April 2016, Bigelow signed an agreement with

United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance (ULA), legally United Launch Alliance, LLC, is an American spacecraft launch service provider that manufactures and operates a number of rocket vehicles that are capable of launching spacecraft into orbits around Earth, ...

(ULA) to launch the first B330 module in 2020 using an

Atlas V Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas launch vehicle family. It was originally designed by Lockheed Martin, now being operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture between Lockheed Mart ...

rocket. In October 2017, Bigelow and ULA announced they are working together to launch a B330 expandable module on ULA's

Vulcan Vulcan may refer to: Mythology * Vulcan (mythology), the god of fire, volcanoes, metalworking, and the forge in Roman mythology Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * Vulcan (''Star Trek''), name of a fictional race and their home p ...

launch vehicle. After outfitting in Earth orbit, the B330 will be boosted to low lunar orbit by two further Vulcan ACES launches by the end of 2022 to serve as a lunar depot. The first B330 launch was originally planned to be launched aboard an

rocket, but ULA stated in October 2017 that its in-development Vulcan rocket was the only launch vehicle available with the performance and fairing capacity to carry the module. The timeline may be 'aspirational' as ULA have indicated that the Vulcan will transition to using ACES upper stage around 2024. Bigelow ceased all work on the B330 in March 2020 as it laid off its entire 88-person workforce.

XBASE

In August 2016 Bigelow negotiated an agreement with NASA to develop a full-sized ground prototype Deep Space Habitation based on the B330 under the second phase of Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships. The module is called the Expandable Bigelow Advanced Station Enhancement (XBASE), as Bigelow hopes to test the module by attaching it to the International Space Station.

Notes

References

External links

B330
at Bigelow Aerospace
NASA page dedicated to the older Transhab concept

Bigelow presentation at the NASA workshop on the Global Exploration Roadmap
10 April 2014, video, 41:58–57:05, B330 footage at 53:30.
Touring the Bigelow Aerospace BA-330 Space Habitat Mock Up
''Airline Reporter'', 16 June 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ba 0330 Bigelow Aerospace Cancelled space stations