Bigelow Aerospace - Genesis II, Sundancer, Transhab, Ba 330, Orion Lite, Galaxy, Robert Bigelow (Paperback)

Chapters: Genesis Ii, Sundancer, Transhab, Ba 330, Orion Lite, Galaxy, Robert Bigelow. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 53. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Bigelow Aerospace is a North Las Vegas, Nevada space technology startup company that is pioneering work on expandable space station modules. Bigelow Aerospace was founded by Robert Bigelow in 1998 and is funded in large part by the fortune Bigelow gained through his ownership of the hotel chain Budget Suites of America. By 2010, Bigelow had invested US$180 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 originally licensed the multi-layer, expandable space module technology from NASA after NASA cancelled the ISS TransHab project due to budget constraints in the late 1990s. 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. 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 22 February 2010. NASA is "considering connecting a Bigelow expandable craft to the ISS to verify their safety by testing life support, radiation shielding, thermal control and communications capabilities." Since early on, Bigelow has been intent on "pursuing mark...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=754129