Space station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The modular International Space Station, the largest human-made body in Earth orbit

 

A space station, also known as an orbital station or an orbital space station, is a spacecraft capable of supporting crewmembers, which is designed to remain in space (most commonly as an artificial satellite in low Earth orbit) for an extended period of time and for other spacecraft to dock. A space station is distinguished from other spacecraft used for human spaceflight by lack of major propulsion or landing systems. Instead, other vehicles transport people and cargo to and from the station. As of 2018, one fully functioning space station is in Earth orbit: the International Space Station (operational and permanently inhabited). Various other components of future space stations, such as Japan's space elevator and U.S. inflatable modules, are also being tested in orbit. Previous stations include the Almaz and Salyut series, Skylab, Mir, and Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2 . China, Russia, the U.S., as well as a few private companies are all planning other stations for the coming decades. 

Today's space stations are research platforms, used to study the effects of long-term space flight on the human body as well as to provide platforms for greater number and length of scientific studies than available on other space vehicles. Each crew member stays aboard the station for weeks or months, but rarely more than a year. Since the ill-fated flight of Soyuz 11 to Salyut 1, all human spaceflight duration records have been set aboard space stations. The duration record for a single spaceflight is 437.7 days, set by Valeriy Polyakov aboard Mir from 1994 to 1995. As of 2016, four cosmonauts have completed single missions of over a year, all aboard Mir. Space stations have also been used for both military and civilian purposes. The last military-use space station was Salyut 5, which was used by the Almaz program of the Soviet Union in 1976 and 1977.

History

Early concepts

Rotating space station envisioned by Herman Potočnik in The Problem of Space Travel (1929)

 

Space stations have been envisaged since at least as early as 1869 when Edward Everett Hale wrote "The Brick Moon". The first to give serious consideration to space stations were Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in the early 20th century and Hermann Oberth about two decades later. In 1929 Herman Potočnik's The Problem of Space Travel was published, the first to envision a "rotating wheel" space station to create artificial gravity.

During the Second World War, German scientists researched the theoretical concept of an orbital weapon based on a space station. Pursuing Oberth's idea of a space-based weapon, the so-called "sun gun" was a concept of a space station orbiting Earth at a height of 8,200 kilometres (5,100 mi), with a weapon that was to utilize the sun's energy.

In 1951, in Collier's Weekly, Wernher von Braun published his design for a rotating wheel space station, which referenced Potočnik's idea – however these concepts would never leave the concept stage during the 20th century.

During the same time as von Braun pursued Potočnik's ideas, the Soviet design bureaus – chiefly Vladimir Chelomey's OKB-52 – were pursuing Tsiolkovsky's ideas for space stations. The work by OKB-52 would lead to the Almaz programme and (together with OKB-1) to the first space station: Salyut 1. The developed hardware laid the ground for the Salyut and Mir space stations, and is even today a considerable part of the ISS space station.

Salyut, Almaz, and Skylab (1971–1986)

The U.S. Skylab station of the 1970s

 

The first space station was Salyut 1, which was launched by the Soviet Union on April 19, 1971. Like all the early space stations, it was "monolithic", intended to be constructed and launched in one piece, and then inhabited by a crew later. As such, monolithic stations generally contained all their supplies and experimental equipment when launched, and were considered "expended", and then abandoned, when these were used up.

The earlier Soviet stations were all designated "Salyut", but among these there were two distinct types: civilian and military. The military stations, Salyut 2, Salyut 3, and Salyut 5, were also known as Almaz stations.

The civilian stations Salyut 6 and Salyut 7 were built with two docking ports, which allowed a second crew to visit, bringing a new spacecraft with them; the Soyuz ferry could spend 90 days in space, after which point it needed to be replaced by a fresh Soyuz spacecraft. This allowed for a crew to man the station continually. Skylab was also equipped with two docking ports, like second-generation stations, but the extra port was never utilized. The presence of a second port on the new stations allowed Progress supply vehicles to be docked to the station, meaning that fresh supplies could be brought to aid long-duration missions. This concept was expanded on Salyut 7, which "hard docked" with a TKS tug shortly before it was abandoned; this served as a proof-of-concept for the use of modular space stations. The later Salyuts may reasonably be seen as a transition between the two groups.

Mir (1986–2001)

Earth and the Mir station

 

Unlike previous stations, the Soviet space station Mir had a modular design; a core unit was launched, and additional modules, generally with a specific role, were later added to that. This method allows for greater flexibility in operation, as well as removing the need for a single immensely powerful launch vehicle. Modular stations are also designed from the outset to have their supplies provided by logistical support, which allows for a longer lifetime at the cost of requiring regular support launches.

Future modules are still based on initial design and capabilities.

ISS (1998–present)

ISS under construction

 

The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, was launched in 1998. The ISS is divided into two main sections, the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS) and the US Orbital Segment (USOS).

USOS modules were brought to the station by the Space Shuttle and manually attached to the ISS by crews during EVAs. Connections are made manually for electrical power, data, propulsion and cooling fluids. This results in a single piece which is not designed for disassembly.

The Russian Orbital Segment's modules are able to launch, fly and dock themselves without human intervention using Proton rockets. Connections are automatically made for power, data and propulsion fluids and gases. The Russian approach would hypothetically allow the assembly of space stations orbiting other worlds in preparation for human missions.

Russian modular or "second-generation" space stations differ from "monolithic" single-piece stations by allowing reconfiguration of the station to suit changing needs. According to a 2009 report, RKK Energia considered removing some modules of the ROS when the end of mission is reached for the ISS to reuse them as parts of a new station, known as the Orbital Piloted Assembly and Experiment Complex. However, in September 2017 the head of Roscosmos said that the technical feasibility of separating the station to form OPSEK had been studied, and there were now no plans to separate the Russian segment from the ISS.

Tiangong program (2011–present)

China's first space laboratory, Tiangong-1 was launched in September 2011. The uncrewed Shenzhou 8 then successfully performed an automatic rendezvous and docking in November 2011. The crewed Shenzhou 9 then docked with Tiangong-1 in June 2012, the crewed Shenzhou 10 in 2013. A second space laboratory Tiangong-2 was launched in September 2016, while a plan for Tiangong-3 was merged with Tiangong-2.

In May 2017, China informed the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs that Tiangong-1's altitude was decaying and that it would soon reenter the atmosphere and break up. The reentry was projected to occur in late March or early April 2018. According to the China Manned Space Engineering Office, Tiangong-1 reentered over the South Pacific Ocean, northwest of Tahiti, on 2 April 2018 at 00:15 UTC.

Habitability

Astronauts peer out of Destiny Laboratory, 2001

 

Solar arrays of space station modules backlit by the Sun

The space station environment presents a variety of challenges to human habitability, including short-term problems such as the limited supplies of air, water and food and the need to manage waste heat, and long-term ones such as weightlessness and relatively high levels of ionizing radiation. These conditions can create long-term health problems for space-station inhabitants, including muscle atrophy, bone deterioration, balance disorders, eyesight disorders, and elevated risk of cancer.

Future space habitats may attempt to address these issues, and could be designed for occupation beyond the weeks or months that current missions typically last. Possible solutions include the creation of artificial gravity by a rotating structure, the inclusion of radiation shielding, and the development of on-site agricultural ecosystems. Some designs might even accommodate large numbers of people, becoming essentially "cities in space" where people would reside semi-permanently. For now, no space station suitable for long-term human residence has ever been built, since the current launch costs for even a small station are not economically or politically viable.

Architecture

A space station is a complex system with many interrelated subsystems, including structure, electrical power, thermal control, attitude determination and control, orbital navigation and propulsion, automation and robotics, computing and communications, environmental and life support, crew facilities, and crew and cargo transportation.

Environmental microbiology

Despite an expanding array of molecular approaches for detecting microorganisms, rapid and robust means of assessing the differential viability of the microbial cells, as a function of phylogenetic lineage, remain elusive. Molds that develop aboard space stations can produce acids that degrade metal, glass and rubber.

List of space stations

The Soviet space stations came in two types, the civilian Durable Orbital Station (DOS), and the military Almaz stations.
 

Dates refer to periods when stations were inhabited by crews.

• Salyut space stations (USSR): 1971–1986
  • Salyut 1: 1971, 1 crew and 1 failed docking
  • DOS-2: 1972, launch failure
  • Salyut 2/Almaz: 1973, failed shortly after launch
  • Kosmos 557: 1973, re-entered eleven days after launch
  • Salyut 3/Almaz: 1974, 1 crew and 1 failed docking
  • Salyut 4: 1975, 2 crews and 1 planned crew, failed to achieve orbit
  • Salyut 5/Almaz: 1976–1977, 2 crews and 1 failed docking
  • Salyut 6: 1977–1981, 16 crews (5 long duration, 11 short duration) and 1 failed docking
  • Salyut 7: 1982–1986, 10 crews (6 long duration, 4 short duration) and 1 failed docking
• Skylab (US): 1973–1979, 3 crews
• Mir /(USSR/Russia): 1986–2000, 28 long duration crews
• International Space Station (ISS) (Russia, United States, European Space Agency, Japan and Canada): 2000–ongoing, 58 Expedition crews (as of March 2019)
• Tiangong program (China): 2011–ongoing
  • Tiangong-1: 2011–2018, 2 crews
  • Tiangong-2: 2016–2019, 1 crew, 1 unmanned resupply vessel

Canceled projects

1967 conceptual drawing of Gemini B reentry module separating from the Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL) (USAF)

• The United States Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) project was to employ elements of existing Gemini craft. This was unusual in being an explicitly military project, as opposed to the Soviet Almaz program, which was heavily intertwined with, and concealed by, the contemporaneous Salyut program. It was canceled in 1969, about a year before the first planned test flight.
• A second Skylab unit (Skylab B) was manufactured, as a backup article; due to the high costs of providing launch vehicles, and a desire by NASA to cease Saturn and Apollo operations in time to prepare for the Space Shuttle coming into service, it was never flown. The hull can now be seen in the National Air and Space Museum, in Washington DC.
• A number of additional Salyuts were produced, as backups or as flight articles that were later canceled.
• The U.S. Space Station Freedom program, despite being under development for ten years, was never launched, instead evolving into the International Space Station.
• The Soviet/Russian Mir-2 station, which was never constructed, had some of its elements incorporated into the International Space Station.
• The Industrial Space Facility was a station proposed in the 1980s that was to be privately funded. The project was canceled when the company created to build it, Space Industries Incorporated, was unable to secure funding from the United States government.
• The European Columbus project planned to create a small space station serviced by the Hermes shuttle. It evolved into the ISS Columbus module.
• Excalibur Almaz, a company based in the Isle of Man, was developing a reusable space vehicle and a space station based on old Soviet "Almaz" technology for flight in the early 2010s. In March 2016, plans were announced to have the equipment converted into an educational exhibit, owing to lack of funds.

Planned projects

Interior view of an O'Neill cylinder

• China plans to establish its first permanent space station, provisionally called the Chinese large modular space station, to receive crews by 2022, with construction currently scheduled to begin in 2019.
• In April 2008, the Roscosmos State Corporation proposed the construction of the Orbital Piloted Assembly and Experiment Complex (OPSEK), a space station that would serve as an orbital assembly yard for spacecraft too heavy to launch from Earth directly. It would not begin construction or be finished until after the decommissioning of the International Space Station. This plan was described to ISS partners by Anatoly Perminov on 17 June 2009.
• American firm Bigelow Aerospace is developing the Bigelow Commercial Space Station, a private orbital complex. Bigelow proposes to construct the space station using the B330 expandable spacecraft module, as well other modules. On 8 April 2016, a smaller scale Bigelow Expandable Activity Module was launched to the International Space Station to test expandable habitat technology in situ.
• Russian corporation Orbital Technologies is developing the Orbital Technologies Commercial Space Station, a private space station that would serve as a hotel for space tourists.

Proposed Exploration Gateway Platform at EML-1

• In December 2011 Boeing proposed an Exploration Gateway Platform to be constructed at the ISS and relocated via space tug to an Earth-Moon Lagrange point (EML-1 or 2). The purpose of the platform would be to serve as a propellant depot and to support lunar landing missions with a reusable lunar lander after the first two SLS flights.
• India plans to upgrade its ISRO Orbital Vehicle to perform rendezvous and docking after the planned Indian human spaceflight programme by 2021.
• Starting in 2015 NASA is developing Deep Space Habitats (DSH) under the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) for Beyond Earth Orbit (BEO) spacestations and transfer vehicles.
• NanoRacks, after finalizing its contract with NASA, and after winning NextSTEPs Phase II award, is now developing its concept Independence-1 (previously known as Ixion), which would turn spent rocket tanks into a habitable living area to be tested out in space. In 2018, NanoRacks announced that Ixion is now Independence-1, the first 'outpost' in NanoRacks' Space Outpost Program.
• Lunar Orbital Station
• Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway

Bigelow Aerospace

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Type	Private
Industry	Aerospace
Founded	1999
Founder	Robert Bigelow (Founder and President)
Headquarters	North Las Vegas, Nevada , United States
Key people	Robert Bigelow, Blair Bigelow
Products	Orbital facilities, commercial space stations
Number of employees	150 (Dec 2018)
Website	bigelowaerospace.com

Bigelow Aerospace is an American space technology startup company based in North Las Vegas, Nevada, that manufactures and develops expandable space station modules. Bigelow Aerospace was founded by Robert Bigelow in 1998 and 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 has stated on multiple occasions that he is prepared to fund Bigelow Aerospace with about US$500 million through 2015 in order to achieve launch of full-scale hardware.

Bigelow Aerospace has stated they intend to create a modular set of space habitats for creating or expanding space stations.

History

NASA's design for the now-canceled TransHab module

 

Bigelow originally licensed the multi-layer, expandable space module technology from NASA in 2000 after Congress canceled the International Space Station (ISS) TransHab project following delays and budget constraints in the late 1990s.

Bigelow has three Space Act agreements whereby Bigelow Aerospace is the sole commercializer of several of NASA's key expandable module technologies.

Bigelow continued to develop the technology for a decade, redesigning the module fabric layers—including adding proprietary extensions of Vectran shield fabric, "a double-strength variant of Kevlar"—and developing a family of uncrewed and crewed expandable spacecraft in a variety of sizes. Bigelow invested US$75 million in proprietary extensions to the NASA technology by mid-2006, and $180 million into the technology by 2010.

By 2010, Robert Bigelow had invested US$180 million in the company, which by 2013 had grown to US$250 million of his personal fortune. Bigelow stated on multiple occasions that he was prepared to fund Bigelow Aerospace with up to about US$500 million through 2015 in order to achieve launch of full-scale hardware.

In early 2010, NASA came full circle to once again investigate "making inflatable space-station modules to make roomier, lighter, cheaper-to-launch spacecraft" by announcing plans in its budget proposal released February 22, 2010. NASA considered connecting a Bigelow expandable craft to the ISS for safety, life support, radiation shielding, thermal control and communications verification testing for the next three years," and in December 2012, signed a $17.8 million contract with Bigelow to develop the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), then projected to fly in 2015. The module was berthed to the International Space Station on April 16, 2016, and was inflated on May 28, 2016. As of April, 2019 it remains at the station. 

Since early on, Bigelow has been intent on "pursuing markets for a variety of users including biotech and pharmaceutical companies and university research, entertainment applications and government military and civil users." The business model includes "'leasing out' small space stations or habitats made of one or more B330 inflatable modules to different research communities or corporations.". Despite these broad plans for space commercialization, the space tourism destination and space hotel monikers were frequently used by many media outlets following the 2006/2007 launches of Genesis I and Genesis II. Robert Bigelow has been explicit that he is aiming to do business in space in a new way, with "low cost and rapid turnaround, contrary to traditional NASA ISS and Space Shuttle operations and bureaucracy."

In October 2010, Bigelow announced that it had agreements with six sovereign nations to utilize on-orbit facilities of the commercial space station: United Kingdom, Netherlands, Australia, Singapore, Japan and Sweden. In February 2011, Dubai of the United Arab Emirates became the seventh nation to have signed on. In 2011, Bigelow employed an in-house team of model makers, coming from the film and architecture industries, to make detailed models of their space habitats and space stations. Scale models were sent to "potential customers, including governments and corporations, as a reminder of the possibilities."

Reportedly due to delays in launch capability to transport humans to low Earth orbit, Bigelow dramatically reduced staff in late September 2011, because crew transportation would become available "years after the first B330 could be ready", laying off 40 of their 90 employees.

In late March 2012 Bigelow began increasing staff levels once again. By April 2013, Bigelow was saying that they would have B330 modules ready to go to space by the time that commercial passenger spacecraft were available to ferry their customers to the dual-BA330 Alpha space station—expected in 2017—and that Bigelow was ready to enter into contracts with customers.

Further staff reductions occurred at the start of 2016, estimated by industry sources to be between 30 and 50 people of 150 employed at the time of the layoffs. This came after the company advertised more than 100 jobs in 2015 at both its North Las Vegas headquarters and its newly established propulsion department in Huntsville, Alabama. As part of its reduction in workforce, the company closed the Huntsville facility.

In February 2018, the company announced the formation of a new subsidiary, Bigelow Space Operations, to handle operational aspects of marketing and operating space stations in low Earth orbit.

Module design and business plans

A full-scale mockup of Bigelow Aerospace's Space Station Alpha inside their facility in Nevada.

Expandable module design overview

NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver views the inside of a full-scale mockup of Bigelow Aerospace's Space Station Alpha.

 

Bigelow Aerospace anticipates that its inflatable modules will be more durable than rigid modules. This is partially due to the company's use of several layers of vectran, a material twice as strong as kevlar, and also because, in theory, flexible walls should be able to sustain micrometeoroid impacts better than rigid walls. In ground-based testing, micrometeoroids capable of puncturing standard ISS module materials penetrated only about halfway through the Bigelow skin. Operations director Mike Gold commented that Bigelow modules also wouldn't suffer from the same local shattering problems likely with metallic modules. 

This could provide as much as 24 hours to remedy punctures in comparison to the more serious results of standard ISS skin micrometeoroid damage.

Expected uses for Bigelow Aerospace's expandable modules include microgravity research and development and space manufacturing. Other potential uses include variable-gravity research—for gravity gradients above microgravity including moon (0.16 g) and Mars (0.38 g) gravity research; space tourism—such as modules for orbital hotels; and space transportation—such as components in spaceships for Moon or Mars manned missions.

Business plans

As of October 2015 the Bigelow Aerospace website shows several pricing schemes including $51.25 million for 60 days on a B330 space station. That price covers everything including transport, training, and consumables. For $25 million Bigelow Aerospace customers can lease a third of a B330 habitat, roughly 110 cubic meters, for a period of 60 days.

In 2010, Bigelow proposed conceptual designs for expandable habitats that would be substantially larger than the B330, previously its largest at 330 cubic meters (11,700 cu ft) habitat volume. Contingent on NASA going forward with a super heavy lifter, the proposed concept would include "expandable habitats offering 2,100 cubic meters [74,000 cu ft] of volume — nearly twice the capacity available on the International Space Station", and another providing 3,240 cubic meters (114,400 cu ft).

In 2010, Bigelow Aerospace began building a large production facility in North Las Vegas, Nevada to produce the space modules. The 181,000 square feet (16,800 m²) facility will include three production lines for three distinct spacecraft, doubling the amount of floor space at Bigelow, and transitioning the focus from research and development, with an existing workforce of 115, to production. Bigelow expected to hire approximately 1,200 new employees to staff the plant, with production commencing in early 2012.

In 2013, during execution of the contract to build the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module for the International Space Station, Robert Bigelow indicated that his company manufactures about 50 percent of product content in-house, while subcontracting out the remainder.

In March 2013, Bigelow signed an agreement with NASA to act as "the central link between NASA and dozens of private companies that want to play a role in the creation of a new economy – a space economy, including proposals far more complex than mere space tourism: research, manufacturing, medicine and agriculture. The agreement calls for Bigelow to liaise between NASA and the private sector to see how [the U.S.] government and industry could help each other."

The first deliverable on that contract, a "report which identifies companies that want to be a part of this effort, as well as potential customers", was delivered by Bigelow to NASA in May 2013.

Module construction and deployment timeline

On July 12, 2006, and June 28, 2007, Bigelow launched the Genesis I and II modules, respectively. In mid-2008, Bigelow Aerospace completed the Galaxy module but did not launch it due to rising launch costs and the ability to substantially validate the new Galaxy technologies terrestrially, particularly after the successful two Genesis launches in 2006 and 2007. It was tested on the ground at its North Las Vegas facility instead. 

As of 2014 Bigelow had reserved a 2015 launch on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, but did not announce the payload. The Falcon 9 would have been capable of launching a Sundancer module, but not a B330 module. Bigelow also talked with Lockheed Martin regarding potential launches on the Atlas V-401 rocket. No launch took place in 2015, although in April 2016 Bigelow Aerospace remained on SpaceX's list of future launch customers.

On April 8, 2016 the SpaceX CRS-8 mission launched BEAM to the ISS; on April 11, 2016, Bigelow and United Launch Alliance announced that an Atlas V-552 rocket had been booked for a flight in 2020 to deliver a B330 habitat to low-Earth orbit.

Note: Dates of upcoming launches are proposed and are subject to change. Cancelled projects are in italics. 

Module Type	Module Names	Volume	Flight Date	Launch Vehicle	Status
Genesis Pathfinder	Genesis I	11.5 m3 (410 cu ft)	July 12, 2006, 14:53 UTC	Dnepr	Launch successful, on orbit
Genesis Pathfinder	Genesis II	11.5 m3 (410 cu ft)	June 28, 2007, 15:02 UTC	Dnepr	Launch successful, on orbit
Galaxy	Galaxy	16.7 m3 (590 cu ft)	Cancelled	N/A	Launch cancelled, tests on ground
Sundancer	Unknown	180 m3 (6,400 cu ft)	Cancelled	Unknown	Launch cancelled, replaced by B330
BEAM	Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM)	16 m3 (565 cu ft)	April 8, 2016, 20:43 UTC	SpaceX Dragon	Built under a $17.8 million NASA contract.
B330	Nautilus	330 m3 (11,700 cu ft)	2020	Unknown	In design; mockup built by 2015; public goal was to have two completed and ready to launch by the end of 2017
BA 2100	Olympus	2,100 m3 (74,200 cu ft)	Unknown	Unknown	Proposed, Mockup built by 2015 though too large for any rocket currently flying

Expandable habitat modules

Genesis I

Genesis I, the first Bigelow Aerospace module to be placed into orbit

 

On July 12, 2006, Genesis I launched on a Dnepr booster from Dombarovskiy Cosmodrome in Orenburg Oblast, Russia. The launch was conducted by Bigelow and ISC Kosmotras. Despite ground-side difficulties during launch, the spacecraft performed as expected upon reaching orbit, inflating, deploying solar arrays and starting internal systems. The mission is planned to last for five years and include extensive observation of the craft's performance including testing packing/deployment procedures and resistance to radiation and space debris, among other space hazards and conditions. Mike Gold, corporate counsel for Bigelow Aerospace, stated in relation to this mission and the next, "Our motto at Bigelow Aerospace is 'fly early and often'. Regardless of the results of Genesis 1, we will launch a follow-up mission rapidly." As of July 2015, the vehicle remains in orbit.

Genesis II

On June 28, 2007, Genesis II launched on another Dnepr (a converted SS-18 ICBM) from Dombarovskiy Cosmodrome in Orenburg Oblast, Russia. Launched at 8:02 a.m. PDT Genesis II was inserted into orbit at 8:16 a.m. PDT at an inclination of 64 degrees.

Although Genesis I and Genesis II are identical in size and similar in appearance there are several notable differences. Firstly, Genesis I contains 13 video cameras whereas Genesis II contains 22. Secondly, Genesis II includes a suite of additional sensors and avionics that are not present in Genesis I. 

The orbital life is estimated to be 12 years, with a gradually decaying orbit resulting in re-entry into Earth's atmosphere and burn-up expected. As of July 2015, the vehicle remains in orbit.

Fly your stuff program

Bigelow Aerospace ran a Fly Your Stuff program for the Genesis II launch. The cost to launch pictures or small items was around US$300. Bigelow photographed each item with internal cameras as the items floated inside the craft, displaying them on the company website. 

The first image of the interior of Genesis II appeared on the company's website on June 29, 2007. Some of the pictures and other items placed aboard Genesis II as part of the Fly Your Stuff program are clearly visible. Another interior image, apparently taken with more of the spacecraft's internal lights activated, was posted on July 2, 2007. Articles from the Fly Your Stuff program are also visible in this image. 

Test items, supplied by Bigelow Aerospace employees, were sent into orbit on Genesis I. No new images of items floating inside Genesis I have been released since shortly after the launch and initial activation of the spacecraft due to problems with a computer which controls several of the internal cameras.

Sundancer

The third planned Bigelow launch, Sundancer, was to be equipped with full life support systems, attitude control, orbital maneuvering systems, and would have been capable of reboost and deorbit burns. Like the Genesis pathfinders, Sundancer the outer surface would have been compacted around its central core, with air expanding it to its full size after entering orbit. After expansion, the module would have measured 8.7 metres (29 ft) in length and 6.3 metres (21 ft) in diameter, with 180 cubic metres (6,400 cu ft) of interior volume. Unlike previous Bigelow craft, it was planned to have three observation windows. As of September 2009, SpaceX had been contracted to provide a Falcon 9 vehicle for launch of a Bigelow payload in 2011.

In July 2011, Bigelow announced that they will cease development on the Sundancer and instead focus their efforts on the B330.

Bigelow Expandable Activity Module for the ISS

Full-scale mock-up of an expanded BEAM (January 16, 2013)

 

In December 2012, Bigelow began development work on the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) under a $17.8 million NASA contract. After a number of delays, BEAM was transported to ISS arriving on April 10, 2016, inside the unpressurized cargo trunk of a SpaceX Dragon during the SpaceX CRS-8 cargo mission. The mission tested the BEAM module's structural integrity, leak rate, radiation dosage and temperature changes over a two-year-long mission. At the end of BEAM's mission, the module was planned to be removed from the ISS and burn up during reentry. In October 2017, it was announced that the module would stay attached to the ISS for at least three more years, with options for two further one-year extensions.

B330

The B330 is a full-scale production module weighing approximately 50,000 pounds (23,000 kg), with dimensions of approximately 45 feet (14 m) in length and 22 ft (6.7 m) in diameter when expanded. Previous names for the B330 were the BA 330 and the Nautilus. 

Bigelow has partnered with United Launch Alliance with the goal of launching a B330 module to orbit in 2020, potentially as an addition to the International Space Station. The two companies have also proposed launching a B330 to low lunar orbit in 2022 to serve as a lunar depot. The first B330 launch was originally planned to be launched aboard an Atlas V 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.

BA 2100 concept module

The BA 2100, or Olympus module, is a concept module that would require a heavy-lift launcher and would place in orbit the complete infrastructure of a 2,100-cubic-meter (74,000 cu ft) habitat, over six times as large as the B330. As of October 2010, initial estimates put the vehicle mass between 70-90 tonnes, with a diameter of approximately 41 feet (12 m). The concept model shows docking ports at both ends.

Delays in launch capability

As a result of delays in launch capability to transport humans to the Bigelow habitats, Bigelow "laid off some 40 of its 90 employees" in late September 2011. Bigelow had expected human launch capability by 2014 or 2015 but "the prospect of domestic crew transportation of any kind is apparently going to occur years after the first B330 could be ready. ... For both business and technical reasons, we cannot deploy a B330 without a means of transporting crew to and from our station, and the adjustment to our employment levels was necessary to reflect this reality."

Bigelow Commercial Space Station

The Bigelow Next-Generation Commercial Space Station is a private orbital space complex currently under development by Bigelow. The space station will include both Sundancer and B330 expandable spacecraft modules and a central docking node, propulsion, solar arrays, and attached crew capsules. Initial launch of space station components was planned for 2014, with portions of the station available for leased use as early as 2015. Bigelow has publicly shown space station design configurations with up to nine B330 modules containing 100,000 cu ft (2,800 m³) of habitable space. Bigelow began to publicly refer to the initial configuration — two Sundancer modules and one B330 module — of the first Bigelow station as "Space Complex Alpha" in October 2010.

A second orbital station, Space Complex Bravo, was scheduled to begin launches in 2016.

Launches will not commence until there are commercial crew transportation systems operational, which will be 2017 or later.

Bigelow announced in October 2010 that it has agreements with six sovereign nations to utilize on-orbit facilities of the commercial space station: United Kingdom, Netherlands, Australia, Singapore, Japan and Sweden. By February 2011, this number had risen to seven.

An earlier space station, CSS Skywalker (Commercial Space Station Skywalker), was Bigelow's 2005 concept for the first space hotel. The Skywalker was to be composed of multiple Nautilus habitat modules, which would be expanded and connected upon reaching orbit. An MDPM (Multi-Directional Propulsion Module) would allow the Skywalker to be moved into interplanetary or lunar trajectories.

In November 2010, Bigelow indicated that the company would like to construct ten or more space stations and that there is a substantial commercial market to support such growth.

Crew and passenger transport

Bigelow's business model requires a means of transporting humans to and from low Earth orbit. In 2004 Bigelow established and funded a US$50 million prize, America's Space Prize, to stimulate development of manned vehicles. The prize expired without a winner in early 2010. 

In August 2009, Bigelow Aerospace announced the development of the Orion Lite spacecraft, intended to be a lower cost, and less capable version of the Orion spacecraft under development by NASA. The intention would be for Orion Lite to provide access to low earth orbit using either the Atlas 5 or Falcon 9 launch systems, and carrying a crew of up to 7.

At the time Bigelow Aerospace's corporate counsel Mike Gold said: "...we would be foolish to depend completely on one capsule provider or any single launch system", ... "Therefore, it is vital from both a practical and business perspective to ensure that SpaceX and Dragon aren't the only options available to us, hence the need for another capsule."

As of 2010, Bigelow was pursuing both launch options of Boeing CST-100 / ULA Atlas V and SpaceX Dragon / Falcon 9 as capsules and launchers. "Bigelow offers Boeing, SpaceX, and other vehicle developers ... the promise of a sustained, large market for space transportation services." With the initial Space Complex Alpha space station, Bigelow "would need six flights a year; with the launch of a second, larger station, that number would grow to 24, or two a month."

Bigelow entered NASA's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program with the CST-100 capsule in collaboration with Boeing. Bigelow worked with Boeing to refine requirements for the CST-100, including joint tests in August 2012. Separately, In May 2012, Bigelow and SpaceX teamed up towards joint marketing to international customers of crew transport to the Bigelow B330 space facility.

Aspirations beyond Earth-orbit

In February 2010, following the announcement of NASA's post-Augustine Commission plans to reorient human-to-orbit plans more in the direction of commercial launch providers, Robert Bigelow said "We as a company have lunar ambitions. ... and we also have Mars ambitions as well." In April 2010, Bigelow suggested positioning a space station at Lagrangian point L₁. He also said his proposed private Moon Base would consist of three B330s.

In March 2013, Bigelow signed a contract with NASA to "look at ways for private ventures to contribute to human exploration missions, perhaps including construction of a moon base" and to act as a clearinghouse with other commercial companies to extend commercial activity at conceptual lunar expeditionary bases in ways that are not a mainline part of NASA's current focus for human spaceflight, which is asteroid exploration missions. The Bigelow report released later in 2013 identified "an uncertain regulatory environment as a major obstacle to commercial activities" on the moon.

In December 2014, the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) completed a review of the proposed Bigelow lunar habitat, and indicated that "it was willing to use its authority to ensure Bigelow could carry out its [lunar] activities ... without interference from other [US] companies licensed by the FAA" [and that the FAA would] use its launch licensing authority, as best it can, to protect private sector assets on the Moon and to provide a safe environment for companies to conduct peaceful commercial activities without fear of harmful interference from other AST licensees."

Honors

Bigelow Aerospace has received several honors for its spaceflight efforts. On October 3, 2006, Bigelow Aerospace received the Innovator Award from the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation. The award recognizes "initiatives or new inventions that have had recent impact on or hold particular promise for satellite communications and society, and stand as distinguished examples of innovative thinking." Robert Bigelow was presented the award at the Arthur C. Clarke Awards in Washington D.C. alongside Walter Cronkite, who was honored on the same night with the Arthur C. Clarke Lifetime Achievement Award.

On January 26, 2007, the Space Foundation announced that Bigelow Aerospace would be the recipient of its 2007 Space Achievement Award. Bigelow Aerospace joins a list of previous winners that include the Titan Launch Vehicle team; The Inertial Upper Stage team, the SpaceShipOne team; the Arianespace-CNES Ariane 4 launch team; the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) teams; the NASA/Industry Galileo space probe team; the Hubble Space Telescope team; Sea Launch; and the NASA/Boeing International Space Station team. The award was presented to Robert Bigelow on April 9, 2007 at the 23rd National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.