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TECHNOLOGY A23
Monday 11 April 2016
Space station getting inflatable room, a cosmic 1st
MARCIA DUNN This image provided by Bigelow Aerospace on April 6, 2016 shows an illustration of the Bigelow June, with a little station air
AP Aerospace Writer Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), center right, attached to the International Space Station. at first, then special infla-
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. tion tanks.
(AP) — Forget blowup air Associated Press The collapsed BEAM mea-
mattresses. Space station sures about 7 feet long (2
astronauts are getting their In the meantime, compa- compartment, complete against space debris than meters) and 8 feet (2½ me-
first inflatable room. nies— even countries — with dining, sleeping and metal, said NASA project ters) in diameter. Inflated, it
It’s a technology demo are clamoring to put their exercising areas for station manager Rajib Dasgupta. will be about 13 feet long
meant to pave the way own experiments inside the crews. Bigelow goes as far as to (4 meters) and 10½ feet (3
for moon bases and Mars empty BEAM, Bigelow said Congress canceled Tran- say: “The aluminum cans meters) in diameter, and
expeditions, as well as or- in an interview with The As- sHab in 2000 and Bigelow are antiquated.” provide 565 cubic feet (16
biting outposts catering to sociated Press on Thursday. Aerospace bought the Beyond low-Earth orbit, ra- cubic meters) of space,
scientists and tourists in just If everything goes well, patent from NASA. The diation poses increased about the size of a small
a few more years. Bigelow that next commercial step company launched a pair health risks to crews living bedroom.
Aerospace is behind the could happen in perhaps of expandable spacecraft inside aluminum walls. So BEAM has been bundled
experiment, which will get six months, he said. a decade ago from Russia inflatable spacecraft, he up for more than a year
a ride to the International The North Las Vegas-based as an experiment. Called said, are cheaper, bigger, — it should have flown last
Space Station with another company won’t divulge the Genesis I and II, they’re still safer and, potentially, lon- fall, but was delayed by
private space company. material used for BEAM’s orbiting. ger lasting. the SpaceX rocket ground-
An unmanned SpaceX Fal- outer layers — or even how NASA, meanwhile, paid Bigelow said BEAM is noth- ing. Bigelow stressed that
con rocket is set to launch many layers — just that the Bigelow Aerospace $17.8 ing like a balloon — “it’s the main purpose is testing
late Friday afternoon, car- layers are spread out to million for the upcoming not going to go bang” — or and engineers don’t know
rying a capsule full of sup- absorb and break up any test flight, making the BEAM even a football. Think steel now how well it will work
plies with the pioneering penetrating bits of space the most affordable mod- belts in a car tire. “It’s pretty after being compressed for
pod in its trunk. It will be junk. Back when NASA was ule ever launched to the novel.” so long.
SpaceX’s first station de- working on the technolo- space station, said Michael The beauty of expandable The chamber will stay put
livery since a launch acci- gy in the 1990s, a combina- Gold, director of opera- habitats is their compact- for two years, providing
dent halted shipments last tion of Nextel, Kevlar, foam tions and business growth ness for launch. BEAM will measurements on radia-
June. and other fabric formed for Bigelow Aerospace. travel in the Dragon cap- tion, impact resistance and
Once attached to the sta- the multilayer shield. Expandable habitats like sule’s unpressurized com- temperature. Astronauts
tion, the soft-sided Bigelow NASA called its project BEAM, officials noted, need partment; the space sta- will venture inside four or
compartment will be in- TransHab, for Transit Habi- to be just as strong — or tion’s big robot arm will so times a year to inspect
flated to the size of a small tat. It never flew to space, stronger — than the stan- grab the structure and at- surfaces, collect air and
bedroom. despite elaborate blue- dard metal cylinders that tach it to a berthing port. microbial samples, and
The Bigelow Expandable prints and ground mock- make up the current space BEAM will expand four change out sensors. Other-
Activity Module, BEAM for ups. Designers envisioned station. BEAM has prov- times in volume when it is wise, the hatch will remain
short, will stay there for two an inflatable, four-level en to be equal or better inflated in late May or early sealed.
years — with astronauts After two years, BEAM will
occasionally ducking in. It be cut loose, eventually
will be the first time an as- burning up on re-entry.
tronaut steps inside an ex- Bigelow Aerospace has
pandable habitat structure plans for a much larger
in space. expandable habitat B330,
“It’s not just historic for our providing 11,654 cubic
company, which obviously feet (330 cubic meters) of
is the case, but I think it’s internal space, the size of a
historic for the architec- couple of buses. The com-
ture,” said Robert Bigelow, pany hopes to launch two
founder and president of of the B330s around 2020,
Bigelow Aerospace and providing opportunities for
owner of Budget Suites of companies, schools, coun-
America. tries outside the space
As a precursor to larger sys- mainstream, and NASA,
tems, Bigelow said BEAM too, if it likes. In an artist’s
could “change the entire rendering, the two habi-
dynamic for human habi- tats are linked in orbit. Then
tation” in space. He hopes there’s the company’s
to have a pair of private envisioned Olympus, a su-
space stations ready for persize space station-hotel
launch by 2020. combo.q
