''Galaxy'' (previously ''Guardian'') was a canceled prototype space habitat designed by the American firm

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. ...

, 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 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 ...

design by

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 ...

, and was to be used for advanced systems testing before the company launched

human-rated Human-rating certification, also known as man-rating or crew-rating, is the certification of a spacecraft or launch vehicle as capable of safely transporting humans. There is no one particular standard for human-rating a spacecraft or launch veh ...

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 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 ...

'' & '' Genesis II'' pathfinders and the full size ''

BA 330 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 ...

'' 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 again modified, with final specifications being for a spacecraft in length, in diameter and with of interior volume—45% greater than the ''Genesis'' modules. It was intended for launch in late 2008. In August 2007, however, Bigelow Aerospace announced that due to rising launch costs (stated as three times more expensive than for previous launches) and the successful ''Genesis'' missions, the ''Galaxy'' spacecraft would not be launched. Instead, many of the module's systems—possibly the entire craft—would be constructed and ground tested, allowing Bigelow employees to gain further experience and potentially advance ''Sundancer'''s schedule.

Systems

A number of advanced and experimental systems were to be flight tested aboard ''Galaxy''. Among the most notable upgrades were improved

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 ...

and

attitude control Attitude control is the process of controlling the orientation of an aerospace vehicle with respect to an inertial frame of reference or another entity such as the celestial sphere, certain fields, and nearby objects, etc. Controlling vehicle ...

systems, a more damage-resistant interior air barrier and expanded communications bandwidth capabilities. Also on the manifest were larger, more efficient, articulated solar arrays and supporting battery systems, and flight qualifications would be performed on elements of the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS). ''Galaxy'' would have included more efficient structural components, lending to easier upscaling to larger spacecraft, and was to carry a view port and access hatch, though no docking port would be included on this flight.

References

{{Space stations Bigelow Aerospace Cancelled space stations Cancelled American spacecraft

Spacecraft history

Systems

See also

References