China See’s 20/20 With Upcoming Space Station
After being denied access to the ISS (or International Space Station) orbiting the heavens above, China is not scheduling to build their own space station about a decade from now.
China is ready to carry out a multiphase construction program that leads to a large space station around 2020. As a prelude to building that facility, China is set to loft the Tiangong-1 module this year as a platform to help master key rendezvous and docking technologies.
During the projected one- to two-year lifetime of Tiangong-1 — which means “Heavenly Palace” in Chinese — an unpiloted Chinese Shenzhou-8 spacecraft will first attempt to dock with the platform, to be followed later by two piloted Shezhou missions to further hone rendezvous and docking skills. (Space.com)
When completed the space station will allow 3 taikonauts (or Chinese astronauts) to survive up to 40 days in orbit (although the “first piece” will give taikonauts 20 days of life).
China has not indicated whether they will open up the space station to the Chinese private sector, although the People’s Republic has hinted about using it as a means to “strengthen exchanges” with other space faring nations.
While the Chinese space station is not as impressive as the Genesis space stations from Bigelow Aerospace, it’s construction will provide China with some of the critical details needed in order to survive upon the Moon.
Image Credit: CCTV
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Russia To Challenge Bigelow For Space Station Supremacy
Bigelow Aerospace has more or less been the main contender on the commercial space station front. While other challengers like Galactic Suite have emerged, most have yet to build anything beyond fancy diagrams and CGI videos.
However that may change with the entrance of a new comer to the commercial space station industry, one who hails from “mother Russia.”
Two Russian companies have also recently announced their intentions to build, launch and operate a private space habitat named the Commercial Space Station, or CSS. [...]
“The most exciting possibilities include flights from the station to the moon or Mars,” Sergey Kostenko, chief executive officer of Moscow-based Orbital Technologies, told SPACE.com.
Orbital Technologies said the station will have a crew of up to seven and will be serviced by Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft and potentially other commercially available vehicles. The station would consist of one module about 10 feet (3 meters) in diameter powered by solar arrays, with a usable volume of about 700 cubic feet (20 cubic meters), Kostenko said. The plan is to launch it in 2015 or 2016. (Space.com)
Orbital Technologies is already receiving backing from the Russian Federal Space Agency, and unlike Bigelow Aerospace the former intends to heavily cater towards the tourism market instead of seeking out nations or companies as primary clients.
According to Space.com the Commercial Space Station (note: yes, I know the name is rather generic) will hold up to seven inhabitants, and the company is boasting that they already have clients lined up to board their celestial station beyond the sky.
Read MoreBigelow Aerospace To Make The ISS Irrelevant
It looks like China won’t be the only entity making the $100 billion International Space Station worthless over the next decade.
After successfully launching 2 inflatable space stations, Bigelow Aerospace is now adding international governments to its client list, which might seal the fate of the ISS.
Space entrepreneur Robert Bigelow, chief of Bigelow Aerospace, has been busy marketing his private space modules, an outreach effort leading to six deals being signed with clients this year.
The deals, in the form of memorandums of understanding, involve Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden, Australia and the United Kingdom. [...]
“That is what this new leasing guide is going to expose,” Bigelow said. “It’s encouraging to see the enthusiasm. They all have different reasons, different ways in which they see using our facilities — what I call ‘dynamic assets’ in the new leasing guide — to benefit them. It can change the face of a nation.” (Space.com)
Despite being built by Russia and NASA, the ISS overall has been a failure as very few nations can access its facilities and (more importantly) there isn’t much science that can be performed outside of a few notable experiments.
Renting an entire station from Bigelow will not only give countries guaranteed access to a heavenly way station, but also allow them to perform experiments that can benefit each countries respective interests (as opposed sharing everything with the rest of humanity).
Bigelow may also extend its services lunar side, which could help nations with smaller budgets to establish outposts upon the lunar surface without having to create their own facilities from scratch.
Either way the ISS is looking more and more irrelevant, and once Bigelow space stations start becoming a common sight throughout the heavens, it won’t be surprising to see the ISS abandoned to a fiery death through the atmosphere below.
(Image Credit: Bigelow Aerospace)
Read MoreChinese Space Station: One Step Down, A Few More To Go
After announcing plans of creating their own space station, the Asian giant has completed its the first step (of many) in creating their own habitat beyond the sky.
China has completed assembling its Tiangong-1 space module, the Chinese Defense Ministry said on Tuesday. [...]
Tiangong, or the Heavenly Palace, will later be transformed into a manned space lab after experimental dockings with three Shenzhou spacecraft due to be launched into space within two years after the module is put into space, the Chinese Space Daily said earlier. (RIA Novosti)
Although the overall craft isn’t as glorious as Bigelow Aerospaces stations or the International Space Station (which China is currently banned from), it is impressive that China is planning on launching this by 2011.
While China’s solo approach may not have been their preferred path, it’s ending up being a blessing in disguise as it could help the nation conquer the final frontier sooner (despite the global recession).
(via Space Fellowship, Image Credit: Xinhua)
Read MoreMystery Chinese Space Stations?
As any regular space geek would inform you, America’s favorite frenemy China is envisioning space stations orbiting our home world in the future.
The question everyone is asking however is when are they going to launch it–and will it be friendly?
(Space Daily) We could be less than a year away from the launch of Tiangong-1, China’s first space laboratory. We’ve been expecting this launch for years, but relatively little is still known about this mission. [...]
What do we know for sure? Tiangong seems to consist of a short, cylindrical pressurized module, with not much more internal volume for the crew than a Shenzhou spacecraft. To the rear of this is a service module, containing two solar panel wings, a propulsion system and other gear. The service module has a slightly smaller diameter than the pressurized module.
Although we can guestimate the overall specs of China’s upcoming space station, we probably still do not know whether the new Chinese space station will be friendly or unfriendly (i.e. militaristic or challenging in nature).
China has made incredible strides in space in their attempt to catch up the NASA (as well as the Russians).
But until America can determine China’s overall purpose for embracing the stars, we may see a more confrontational approach later on–which could potentially translate into a second global space race. 
(Image Credit: NASA)
Read MoreThe Future Of Space Lies East: Chinese Space Stations Vs America's Timid Nature
(Image: a model of the Chinese space station at the Chinese Pavilion, Hannover Expo. Credit: © Mark Wade of Astronautix.com)
With the release of the Augustine Report not too long ago, there has been a flurry of outcry regarding the future of humanity, most notably from the Mars Society.
While some may lament the fall of the western space age (thanks in part to the Great Depression 2.0), others may have to look east for a new hope (pun intended).
(Space Daily) China will begin the construction of its own orbital space station in 2020, the Sina news service said on Monday, citing a top official with the country’s manned spaceflight program.
Gu Yidong said that China would sent two or three space labs into orbit in 2010-2015, while the basic module of the space station is to be orbited by 2020.
The fact that China is building a space station is hardly surprising, seeing as they are not exactly allowed on the International Space Station (due to political/security reasons).
However China’s heavenly ascent is in direct contrast to what is happening in the west, as NASA is (once again) being neutered by its bureaucratic overlords.
(Physorg.com) Five years ago, then-President George W. Bush proposed returning astronauts to the moon by 2020. To pay for it, he planned on retiring the shuttle next year and shutting down the international space station in 2015. [...]
The panel also said the space shuttle should continue flying until early 2011 to finish all its space station work and that it can’t realistically retire by Oct. 1, 2010 as the Bush administration planned.
The panel called “unwise” the Bush plan to shut down the space station in 2015 and steer it into the ocean, after 25 years of construction and only five years of fully operational life. The space station’s life should be extended, the panel said.
Note: Emphasis mine
Instead of the US canceling the International Space Station (especially with cheaper and safer models coming from the private sector), our glorious government is content to spend more money ensuring that we encircle the globe for the next few decades.
While NASA does have ambitious goals of eventually establishing a moon base, it can not do that without sacrificing the “fat,” and seems more concerned with offending international partners than advancing into the heavens beyond.
NASA’s hope may lie in partnering with the private sector, but unless they receive greater backing from their political superiors, the future citizens of the solar system may be reading space history in Chinese rather than English.
Read MoreWill A Chinese Space Station Threaten The ISS?
There is nothing currently more prestigious than for a space power to be welcomed aboard the International Space Station (or ISS).
Despite the fact that China has already conducted a space walk, the US is still refusing to allow China a presence on board (which may have something to do with their anti-satellite test earlier).
Since its very unlikely that the US will change their position (even with the new administration), China is now planning on eventually constructing their own fortress among the stars.
(People’s Daily Online) According to Zhang, China’s manned space flight program features a three-stage development strategy. The first step is to complete spacecraft tests for Shenzhou I to Shenzhou VI, make breakthroughs in manned spaced technology and carry out some space experiments.The second step is to establish China’s own space laboratory and the third step is to build China’s own space station, developing large-scale space applications and realizing long-term space residence for taikonauts.
Unlike NASA, China’s space program is allowed to heavily collaborate with its military branch, which means that any space station built could contain more than just scientific instruments.
China could also use the station to host other nations unable to access to the ISS due to being perceived as hostile by the United States and/or Russia.
Unless Bigelow Aerospace decides to rent out their future space stations to the Chinese (with US permission of course), we may end up seeing two rival space stations orbiting our planet, which may not bode well in the long term for China or America.
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Welcome To Venus (Your Interplanetary Way Station)
(Inspired by Nancy Atkinson of Universe Today)
Venus, a world shrouded in dense clouds of sulfuric acid holds little promise of ever hosting future settlers.
Once thought to harbor a dense jungle underneath its “steamy atmosphere,” Venus is now known to be an inhospitable world due to its crushing atmosphere and deadly climate.
Even though living upon the planet may be impossible (if not impractical), Venus may have a significant purpose for future space travelers beyond using the barren world as a convenient garbage dump.
Orbiting the sun at approximately 108 million kilometers, a space station orbiting Venus would have the opportunity to help resupply traveling shuttles, rocket ships, etc., braving the vaccum of space.
This would help not only cut down the cost of traveling to Mercury, but time as well (since spacecraft could always use the planet as a sling shot towards Mercury or Earth).
Since these future space stations would probably serve as interplanetary rest stops, they would probably have to be built with artificial gravity in mind, lest colonists suffer the side effects of micro gravity.
While Venus will unlikely boast a large population when compared to Mars, Ganymede and Callisto, its economy may rival that of its more “fertile” siblings orbiting the Sun.
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Artificial Gravity Via Bigelow Space Stations?
No matter where you go, you can not escape it. Understood by infants, “math-matized” by Newton, you can not forsake the effects of gravity, no matter what your “lying eyes” may be telling you.
You may never be able to escape the effects of gravity (in its entirety), but you can reduce it, freeing yourself from the stress of lifting objects of greater density than yourself.
One of the best places to do this is by launching yourself beyond the sky in order to get a glimpse of the heavens above. But staying there for long periods could have harmful effects upon your health, hurting not only your heart, bones, and immune system, but also aiding the deadly bacteria trying to kill you.
Currently scientists are trying to find ways to combat this issue, using everything from drugs to brain surgery. Although these options may eventually liberate us from the side effects of microgravity, it may be “less messy” to find a technological solution (as it may have less side effects).
While futuristic technologies such as plasma rockets and space elevator stations may hold much promise for our young race (gravity wise), we may be better off constructing orbital space stations–with a Bigelow twist.
Bigelow Aerospace, a space corporation focusing on creating inflatable space stations may be the key towards solving our gravitational woes.
Having already successfully launched two inflatable space stations (with a third one planned for human habitation), Bigelow plans on launching these inflatable modules, and connecting them together to form a space station that may rival the ISS.
But what if Bigelow Aerospace could alter the design of their inflatable modules to make several of them connect in a circle? They could then slowly rotate the entire structure (note: which may be an engineer’s nightmare) in order to simulate artificial gravity via centrifugal force.
While some may prefer to have an orbital space station enclosed with a “hardier” shell, doing so may not be as feasible due to the rising cost of rocket launches (hat tip: ParabolicArc.com).
Bigelow’s modules on the other hand, may not only be cheaper to launch into space, but may be safer as well, as its thick outer skin may be able to take “a greater punch” than its metallic rivals.
These inflatable modules may also more expendable than their more rigid cousins, as it would be much easier to replace a module or two (like a Pontoon bridge), than an entire section of a more traditional space station.
Whether or not Bigelow eventually decides to move in this direction, only time will reveal. But if so, Bigelow could ultimately allow us to safely venture out into the blackness of space, without the fear of losing our health in the process.
Editors Note (3/31): Ken Talton of the Brickmuppet Blog points out that the engineering/math to rotate Bigelow’s inflatable space stations in order to simulate gravity has already been figured out, and can be seen over here (pdf).
Update (3/31): The space stations are not exactly like Bigelow, but they do provide some “hard science” towards the idea.
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Bigelow Aerospace: 50 Launches In Five Years?
(Hat Tip: Space Pragmatism)
(Image: Bigelow’s first Space Station, Genesis 1, currently in orbit)
If there was any space firm out there turning galactic dreams into reality, it would have to be Bigelow Aerospace. Known mostly for their inflatable space stations, this company is quickly becoming “the Google” of the space industry.
After previously teaming up with Lockheed Martin, the future space station corporation is scheduling 50 rocket launches in less than half a decade, a feat most nations could only dream of accomplishing.
(Flight Global) Commercial orbital complex developer Bigelow Aerospace is in the final stages of negotiating a deal with Lockheed Martin to provide a manned capsule and up to 50 Atlas V launches for crew and cargo by 2015. [...]
In late 2006 Bigelow announced it was in talks with Lockheed and the two are now in firm discussions for a contract for the 2010 and 2011 launches followed by six launches in 2012, 12 in both 2013 and 2014 and then 18 in 2015, in line with Bigelow’s business plan.
“The capsule has to be determined at this time. Lockheed has a concept for a capsule. Our application is specifically for experienced astronauts and we will have our own training regime,” says Bigelow.
If successful humanity may see multiple space stations funded not by government taxes, but by private corporations using common sense and a solid business plan.
Currently Bigelow is attempting to launch a human habitable space station, which may ultimately spell out an uncertain future for the International Space Station.
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Lagrange Way Stations: The Key Towards Interplanetary Trade?
Several thousand years ago, an empire called Rome used its extensive road system to keep communication and trade flowing throughout its empire.
Today, like Rome, the nations on Earth depend upon sea routes, railways and airplanes to safely transport goods and people across our planet.
But unlike the fixed destination points that span our busy world, space will pose a unique problem for future colonies. Since each planet orbits our Sol star at different speeds, sending frequent goods towards outposts off world may prove to be a bit of a challenge, especially if one factors in space pirates.
Whether composed of enormous orbital space stations or a fleet of armed star ships, future solar governments may want to construct way stations at various Lagrange points to ensure that they arrive at their destinations intact.
Sometimes referred to by scientists as the “three body problem,” would provide stable orbits for whatever star ship was able fly within its space (at least L4 and L5).
Positioned at an equal distance from both the home world/moon as well as the Sun, a Lagrange way station would easily remain in a fixed orbital position giving more opportunity for travelers and cargo ships to transport people and goods across the vacuum of space.
Instead of having to wait every few years for the planets “to align,” (like with Earth and Mars), star ships could simply head towards a safe way station located in a Lagrange point.
While creating Lagrange way stations may be a challenge for future colonies within the inner solar system, establishing them among the gas giants orbits will probably be “much easier” thanks in part to various asteroids.
Jovian worlds such as Jupiter and Neptune already have numerous space rocks orbiting, respectively, orbiting within these Lagrange points. Colonists could easily use these asteroids as way stations, especially if some of these frozen rocks are discovered to harbor water ice.
Despite the fact that humanity will continue to depend upon worlds (such as Callisto) to help to economically bridge the gap, way stations strategically positioned around Lagrange points could help jump start interplanetary trade, if not accelerate it throughout our vast star system.
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China No Longer Interested In Building Space Stations?
Previously China announced their intentions to start building a space station in 2008.
Now it seems as if the Asian space power is not only backing away from the idea, but dropping it altogether.
(USA Today) “According to China’s mid- and long-term guidelines for science and technology and space industry development, we are going to continue the exploration of the moon, as well as a man-space flight in the future,” Li Guoping, spokesman of the China National Space Administration, said at a news conference.
“So far, according to the plans already published, there are no plans for a space station,” he said.
China probably backed down from the idea, realizing that the price tag of constructing these orbital homes would be in the billions (dollar wise).
According to the article, China instead is pursuing the opportunity of joining the International Space Station, although they are getting stiff resistance from the US.
While joining the International Space Station (or ISS) may be more prestigeous than creating one’s own, the ISS may become extinct in the future if Bigelow is able to launch its first human habitable space station.
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Bigelow Aerospace, Space Florida To Create Another "COTS?"
(Hat Tip: Hobby Space)
Bigelow Aerospace, known for launching prototype space stations into orbit is partnering with Space Florida in order to fund their own version of COTS for the sun shine state.
(SpaceRef) “Our interest in this relationship is driven by Space Florida’s exclusive qualifications,” said Robert Bigelow President of Bigelow Aerospace. “With a distinctive aerospace manufacturing and launch infrastructure, and a vibrant workforce with deep expertise in systems development, Florida is uniquely positioned to facilitate the development of commercial space transportation systems.” “Diversification of the Florida aerospace industry – a critical path for bringing in new business and job opportunities – is one of three key areas of Space Florida’s focus during the last 12 months,” Kohler added. “This agreement creates a relationship between Florida and one of the leading entrepreneurial space firms, Bigelow Aerospace, and, if successful, will allow the State to become the future hub for commercial orbital transportation development projects, ultimately attracting a wide variety of small and large business entrants in various locations across Florida.”
Bigelow is committing up to $100 million in order to help “jump start” companies desiring to create a craft able to house humans.
Bigelow seems to be getting nervous about whether or not the private sector can deliver a crew ferrying rocket, as they have previously offered a $760 million contract towards whoever could create a spaceship by 2010.
While Florida’s space force has the skills (and speed) to actually pull this off, one wonders whether or not they will be able to beat SpaceX and Space Adventures, both who will probably contend for Bigelow’s space station business.
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SpaceX Clears Another NASA Hurdle Towards ISS
After passing NASA’s last test with flying colors, it looks as if the NewSpace giant has cleared another hurdle in its attempt to become the main supplier to the International Space Station.
(Space Fellowship) SpaceX has successfully completed the Critical Design Review (CDR) for its first Falcon 9 / Dragon mission as part of the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration program. [...]
During the event, all comments and questions raised by NASA’s experts were satisfactorily addressed by the SpaceX design team, which resulted in official NASA approval. With this, SpaceX continues its track record of meeting all COTS milestones on schedule.
“In terms of overall design maturity of the Falcon 9 project, we are well ahead of the curve for a program of this size,” said Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX. “Few CDRs feature multiple hardware items in fabrication, assembly, integration and test phases.”
Currently SpaceX is the main player when it comes to securing the COTS (or Commercial Orbital Transportation Services) from NASA.
If SpaceX is able to clear the remaining hurdles, they could potentially open up the doorway for the private sector to colonize the Moon, which would free up NASA to send men towards Mars.
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Video: NASA Shows Affection For Dragons In Space
(Image: Engineering Model of Dragon in SpaceX’s El Segundo facilities. Credit: C. Thompson / SpaceX)
(Hat Tip: Spaceports)
It looks as if SpaceX, a company whose mission is to revolutionize the rocket industry has cleared its first hurdle in becoming NASA’s “transport taxi” to the International Space Station (or ISS).
(SpaceX Press Release) SpaceX has successfully completed the first of three phases of review required by NASA’s Safety Review Panel (SRP) to send its Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). Over a series of meetings spanning four days at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, the team of SpaceX engineers developing the Dragon spacecraft presented their Phase I plans for sending the cargo version of Dragon to the $100 billion dollar orbiting space laboratory. [...]
“To date, no other group has passed the Hazard of Collision report the first time through or completed the overall review in such a short time,” said Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX. “The fact that we passed in under a week speaks well of our team’s capabilities.”
As part of NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) competition, SpaceX intends to demonstrate its launch, maneuvering and docking abilities by 2009 – a year before NASA has scheduled the conclusion of Space Shuttle operations.
With NASA seeking to retire its space shuttle by 2010, the space agency will need a way to temporarily transport goods to the ISS.
With a few members of Congress uneasy about outsourcing that job to foreigners (such as Russia or China), SpaceX could enable America to not only end its shuttle program, but allow the US to save face internationally by using an American company.
(Video: Simulation of SpaceX’s Dragon approaching and docking with ISS. Credit: Odyssey Space Research)
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Carnival Of The Space Geeks (Sweet 16)
Brian Wang of Advanced Nanotechnology hosted last weeks Carnival of Space, which this author was (unfortunately) unable to participate in.
Nevertheless, there were several interesting posts featured, with a few controversial posts entering this space geek roundup, such as:
- Louise Riofrio via A Babe in the Universe enlightens everyone Why Dark Energy Is Bad For Astronomy.
- Phil of Phil For Humanity gives his thoughts about terraforming Mars.
- Chris Reed from Bigelow Aerospace informs everyone on the companies plans to launch a human habitable space station.
- Mark Whittington of Curmudgeons Corner discusses the next 50 years of space exploration (a must read!).
But the best post thus far was by Paul Gilster of Centauri Dreams.
(Centauri Dreams) Flight International‘s story on this study reports that a nuclear interceptor could deflect a Near Earth Object (NEO) in the range of 100 to 500 meters if launched two years before impact. Larger NEOs might be deflected with a five year lead time. The idea here isn’t to blast the asteroid into rubble, much of which would doubtless fall to Earth in any case, but to deflect it by a ‘stand-off’ detonation near the object. This could be handled in various ways depending on the sequence and the number of available warheads, and running the numbers shows it might just work.
A stand off blast toward an incoming asteroid could enable the human species to survive not only on Earth, but on both the Moon and Mars as well, as raining space rocks are fairly frequent upon those worlds, respectively.
If humanity can figure out more ways to deter these planetary killers from ever threatening our future home worlds, then colonizing our solar system will become a little less dangerous (at least for future generations).
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Bigelow To Launch Human Habitable Space Station
(Image: Model of a future Bigelow space station, Credit: Bigelow Aerospace)
With the recent success of both Genesis I and II, Bigelow Aerospace is quickly moving the human species from gazing at the stars to living among the heavens.
Faced with skyrocketing launch costs (due to massive inflation), Bigelow has decided to skip its “galactic phase,” and instead launch a space station that may give way towards human habitation.
(Bigelow Aerospace) This dramatic rise in launch costs has forced us to rethink our strategy with Galaxy. Due to the fact that a high percentage of the systems Galaxy was meant to test can be effectively validated on a terrestrial basis, the technical value of launching the spacecraft — particularly after the successful launch of both Genesis I and II — is somewhat marginal. Therefore, we have decided to expedite our schedule yet again, and are now planning to move ahead directly with Bigelow Aerospace’s first human habitable spacecraft, the Sundancer.
We still intend to construct and test the Galaxy spacecraft and/or various parts of it in order to gain familiarity and experience with critical subsystems. However, by eliminating the launch of Galaxy, we believe that BA can move more expeditiously to our next step by focusing exclusively on the challenging and exciting task presented by the Sundancer program.
If Bigelow is able to launch a habitable space station, they will in effect break the bureaucratic glass ceiling by shattering the myth that only governments can create orbital outposts, let alone finance them.
Although Bigelow has not indicated whether they will consider placing a human within the space station, allowing a person to reside inside this inflatable home would signal a new era for NewSpace, if not for our species as a whole.
Related: Space Adventures Courting Bigelow Aerospace
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Galactic Suite Plans Space Hotels By 2012
Galactic Suite, a space firm located in Barcelona, Spain, is planning on creating space hotels by 2012, and populating these structures with space tourists from below.
(MSNBC) Galactic Suite’s Barcelona-based architects say guests would pay $4 million each for a three-day stay aboard the orbital equivalent of a three-bedroom boutique hotel.
Before the flight, guests would get eight weeks of intensive training at a space camp on a tropical island, company director Xavier Claramunt told Reuters. Then the tourists would ride an private shuttle into orbit. Hotel guests would see the sun rise 15 times a day and use Velcro suits to crawl around their pod rooms by sticking themselves to the walls like Spiderman. [...]
Claramunt, a former aerospace engineer, said the Galactic Suite concept began as a hobby. He told Reuters that a space enthusiast agreed to provide most of the $3 billion needed to build the hotel — but he declined to name the backer.
In order to help realize their vision, Galactic Suite has forged partnerships (or at least gained support) with several other space firms such as 4 Frontiers, Global Business Technologies and the Aerospace Research and Technology Centre.
They intend upon creating a “chain” of orbiting space hotels circling our planet, and it seems as if they have partnered with ADD+Xavier Claramunt to help construct their “molecule-look alike” space stations.
Europe’s entrance into the field is welcome, although they may have to play catch up to Bigelow Aerospace which has successfully launched two space stations in orbit.
Note: Galactic Suite has also launched several weblogs to compliment their young company, although their main one appears to be Galactic Suite News.
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Space Adventures Courting Bigelow Aerospace
(Hat Tip: Space Pragmatism)
It looks as if two of the worlds most successful space firms (at least profit wise) may be partnering with each other in the not-so-distant future.
(Space.com) Space Adventures is having “serious talks” with Bigelow Aerospace, Anderson said, about using that entrepreneurial space firm’s orbital habitats in the future. Two Genesis-class modules are now in Earth orbit with the company planning to evolve in coming years to larger expandable modules that can be occupied.
“It’s possible we could buy an extra Soyuz and fly it to a Bigelow station. We’re certainly interested in what they are doing,” Anderson said.
A partnership between Bigelow Aerospace and Space Adventures would probably be a match “made for heaven.”
With the International Space Station destined to lose favor among NASA eyes, Space Adventures will probably need a new destination to fly its tourists towards.
Both Bigelow Aerospace and Space Adventures are planning future trips towards the moon, respectively, so a partnership between these two companies may ultimately lead towards our species becoming a space faring civilization.
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Video: Bigelow Aerospace May Replace ISS
(Hat Tip: HobbySpace.com)
With the successful launch of Genesis II, Bigelow Aerospace presence in the heavens seems to be expanding (no pun intended) as they gear up to launch their next inflatable space station, Galaxy.
But while the NewSpace industry ponders the future aboard a commercial space station, NASA seems to be pondering a future without the International Space Station.
(Flight Global) NASA is discussing the commercial purchase of the European Space Agency’s Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to de-orbit the International Space Station (ISS) at the end of its life.
The original plan was to de-orbit the ISS into the Pacific using the Space Shuttle at the end of the station’s life in 2016. But the Shuttle is to be retired in 2010 and the ATV, designed to resupply the ISS and boost its altitude, is the only vehicle known to be able to de-orbit the station.
Although their may be some public outcry at sending the International Space Station (or ISS) to meet its fiery fate below, NASA probably realizes that keeping the ISS alive is futile at best.
With Bigelow Aerospace quickly establishing themselves in the heavens, support for the ISS will probably erode in Congress as our representatives will find it easier to give tax breaks to a company impacting their region of the country than a “global project” such as the ISS.
Video: Genesis I flying over Northern Russia.
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Love of Lunar
Martian Delights
Interplanetary Essays
