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

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.

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)

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)

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)

(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.

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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(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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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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(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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