Inside the spaceship factory

Bill Sprague — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 05:16:28 GMT

Alan: Excellent coverage, as usual.

Inside the spaceship factory

Jack Kennedy — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 09:47:47 GMT

Amen to the excelent coverage. Look forward to reading more from the SFF conference.

Inside the spaceship factory

Eric Collins — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 10:50:30 GMT

Do they plan on doing any on-orbit rendezvous and/or docking of the prototype modules?

Inside the spaceship factory

Alexis Olshansky, Peaks Island, ME — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 10:56:20 GMT

These news are more than just great. It is exciting!
I hope to live to see some of these commerical develoments.

Inside the spaceship factory

Bill Pate — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 12:54:27 GMT

Hooray! It's not news that innovation is the key to success in private enterprise. Hence the need for these guys. As with SpaceshipOne, when you don't have government billions, you must find alternatives (to billion dollar spacecraft). Thanks for sharing this with those of us on the sidelines.

Inside the spaceship factory

Jim Oberg — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 13:09:57 GMT

Wow, I feel like I was there WITH you! Uh...
Wait a minute -- I was -- and it was a great event, the whole team, gracious and hospitable, opened up enthusiastically and went the extra million miles to help us understand their experiences and backgrounds and hopes -- and now it's our turn, to help pass on those insights.

Inside the spaceship factory

Jon Palacios — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 13:24:43 GMT

What about a new Shuttle? The other ones are over 20 years old.

Inside the spaceship factory

Ray Barber, Albany, New York — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 13:48:12 GMT

It is exciting to hear that Bigelow has thought of using his inflatable modules in creating a subterranean Moon based structure. I hope the testing he plans for such a structure goes well.

Is Bigelow Aerospace planning on attaching one of its inflatable modules to the ISS at some point in the future? This article clearly states that it is possible.

Inside the spaceship factory

Dennis Costea Jr., Virginia Beach, Virginia — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 14:07:22 GMT

It is the NEW Wright Brothers' bicycle shop! Only much larger, air conditioned and obviously well protected.

I wonder if a hundred small modules linked together could be as accomodating as one large module? Or if the larger Bigelow module could be wrapped with smaller modules, the same way accessories are clipped onto a utility belt. In this way the smaller modules would provide the additional benefit of further insulating the large module against impact damage by space-borne debris.

Inside the spaceship factory

E.E. Rupe, Soulsbyville, California — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 14:52:13 GMT

Rupe: The future of space is important to our collective human civilization, in my opinion. Practical space development will come from business just read Heinlein.

Inside the spaceship factory

Frank Yeung, Toronto, Canada — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 17:19:38 GMT

Bigelow is the next Howard Hughes and Sir Richard Branson, taking his own $$$ and leading the charge into the next frontier. While there are hundreads of people lending a helping $ hand to humanitarian causes (which is all and good), this is a guy who has a vision for something bigger.

Other useful applications:
- an escape pod for the Internation Space Station
- for NASA's plan to go to Mars, have the Mars-o-nauts inflate one for the trip there & back .. and pack one for the surface mission.
- send one packed with the best things man-kind has to offer on a one way trip out of our solar system.

Inside the spaceship factory

Pamela Roehm — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 19:08:22 GMT

What a boring blog I will leave: I just want to say thank you to all who have had a hand in all and everything space related. I don't have much time left here on Earth, so before I can see space for myself soon enough, I cry with joy when I read/view stories such as the one listed above. Good luck and God Bless you all. Pamela.

Inside the spaceship factory

Corporal Glover, Bigelow Security, Las Vegas — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 19:59:03 GMT

Alen: Thanks for the beautiful article on our facility. It was a great pleasure having you there. Hope to see you again soon.

ohhh one more thing....thank you for deleting the photo

Inside the spaceship factory

Clay Perreault, Vancouver Canada — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 02:46:13 GMT

Any idea how resilient these inflateables will be in terms of high speed particles? Small asteriods, space junk, or even a common bolt travelling at 50,000 mph seem to me to be quite a hazard for inflateables. Any comments here?

Thanks

Clay

Inside the spaceship factory

Al Binewski, Corvallis, OR — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 03:48:27 GMT

This is the type of work that can save us as a species from any number of disasters we are currently struggling with.. People need to think about volunteering thier time and expertise to efforts of this nature (google up the other private space contractors).. Please see my blog (I have a few on that site, but this is one of the most important ones)..

Inside the spaceship factory

Chris — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 07:11:27 GMT

Clay Perreault,
Not sure any space station (or even a tank for that matter) can hold up to a mere bolt traveling at those speeds. Composite materials are a pretty interesting study in and of themselves. They can be tougher than aluminum or steel and yet can have some flexibility. Space debris in general will have to be addressed eventually with some kind of garbage-gathering satellite!

Inside the spaceship factory

Larry Hughes, West Melbourne, FL — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 15:06:10 GMT

We at the Florida Space Research Institute are very proud of our former-intern Alli for her contribution to Bigelow's success. Congratulations to all of you on your success!

Larry Hughes

Inside the spaceship factory

Nancy, Philadelphia, PA — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 16:17:10 GMT

WOW

I am the same age as Sally Ride and postponed a career in phyics. I could be an early customer or work on helping you get there.

All those difficult college classes may yet pay-off.

Nancy

Inside the spaceship factory

James Buchanan, Laurel, MD — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 20:13:21 GMT

To the comment on impacts of objects at 50,000 mph, ANYTHING being hit by a bolt moving that fast is gonna feel it, even the ISS or the Shuttle would be compromised by such an impact. Given the physics at work, it wouldn't matter whether you were behind carbon-carbon panels, steel plating, or an inflatable, an impact by reasonably hard object at that velocity is going to cause a REAL bad day.

Its like comparing a crash in a blimp versus a crash in an airplane. Either way, sucks to be you.

Inside the spaceship factory

Frank Glover, Rochester, NY — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 03:53:41 GMT

Indeed. This is the logic behind what the military describes as Kinetic Energy Weapons (of which bullets are the oldest sort), involving non-explosive projectiles at several tens of thousands of feet per second.

However, knowing that some sort of impact is probable given enough time, I can easily understand how Bigelow will want to know precisely *how* their inflatables respond to such impacts and punctures, wether holes will resist tearing and enlarging as much as they expect, and determining if hypothetical occupants would have time to evacuate to another module.

We've already seen the need for such concerns, since the Progress collision with Mir required a similar evacuation and isolation of one of its modules.

Inside the spaceship factory

Gavin Greenwalt, Seattle, Wash — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 09:27:29 GMT

There is a difference, however, between a balloon getting punctured and a Thermos.

So the real question the OP wants answered is: what will keep the structural integrity intact in the event of a puncture. To that I would speculate, isolated, redundant bladders. In fact if you did have a two layer hull with inflatable bladders in between, I might even imagine the punctured bladder being able to plug up the hole on its own.

It would be interested to see just how they built one of these.

Inside the spaceship factory

vincenzo jimmy patti — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 11:08:19 GMT

I am an amateur astronomy buff with lots of ideas on what can improve and protect inflatables. one cheapway (only in theory) would be to use natural elements for protection..example...heated water mixed with an antifreeze agent to cover the primary outer skin of the ship will first absourb impacts and save the inner skin of the module. second,the outer skin should be made using multiple layers of very flexible materials like kevlar in order to stop particles travelling at high speeds and the water inbetween will serve as multiple shock resistance like when firing a gun in water. in theory the kevlar should reduce or even stop the particles and the water mixed with antifreeze so as not to solidify should protect the inner craft by slowing the momentum of the particles. in multiple layers this application will and should if tested properly avoid any particle upon impact to be either stopped or be absorbed within the multiple layers of kevlar filled with water.other materials like spider silk woven in different patterns in multiple layers using water as a natural absorber should in theory work......

Inside the spaceship factory

Sun, 23 Jul 2006 14:10:55 GMT

We pollute every single place we tread so why should space be different.

One reason to explore space is to find other planets to ruin.

If there were a galactic green peace they would be orbiting the planet in protest....

Don't mistake my views as anti space exploration...but, one would think that the best minds would find a way to clean as they go....

Inside the spaceship factory

Andrew Rutherford, Livonia, Indiana — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 15:37:05 GMT

Inflatables may possibly become an answer to the problem of impacts between space vehicles and high-speed debris while in orbit. Granted, there are multiple variables involved in calculating the outcome of the impact (mass, speed, density, structure,...), and most likely no one answer will work for all impact scenarios. But think about it, if an object collides with a rigid surface, the energy tranference from the collision will result in some type of deformation of both objects (aka. most likely a hole in the vehicle). But what if that same object collides with a resilient and somewhat elastic surface, a portion of the kinetic energy from the collision will be dissipated across the surface of the fabric (aka. heat & elongation of the fibers) during the deceleration of the debris object. If the debris can be decelerated before the material gives way, we have no hole. Same concept as kevlar fabric in a bullet proof vest. I'm not saying they have the perfect concept, but I do believe they are on the right track of finding an answer to the problem orbital collisions with "bolts", trash, and other cosmic "debris". Comments?

Inside the spaceship factory

Charlie Brown, Jasper, Texas — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 15:52:25 GMT

I have read all the comments, the great ones and the ones that remind me that there are really some fools out there.

WHAT I wanted to say is thank God that there are true men of vision out there like Robert Bigelow. He has taken part of is fortune and is putting it toward a vision that could help us all. He has apparantly surronded himself with very brillant people that are helping him to realize success in his venture. Now let us hope that the government does not try to smother this venture.

Inside the spaceship factory

Ed Strassberger, Billerica, MA — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 16:04:18 GMT

The water tank was only partially filled because it did not have any test item submerged in it. A full tank would only overflow when a large object was submerged for testing.

Inside the spaceship factory

Dave Miller Jacksonville. Fl — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 18:07:16 GMT

Excellent article. I was entralled at the story and it conjoured up all sorts of ideas in my head any way.
Kudos to Mr. B and kis crew. I look forward to seeing where this takes us from here.

Inside the spaceship factory

Larry, Newport Beach, CA — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 21:30:44 GMT

How do they propose to SpaceTourists to their station? Is there some sort of Bigelow shuttle in the works or are they partnered with another company?

Inside the spaceship factory

William Zych — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 02:23:45 GMT

Well I am just a student of aerospace but from what I read its and excellent idea! BUT also from what I read I think it has a very basic design flaw that could make it very unsafe for habitation! While they seem to have their program together and running smoothly they would have to do a different test before I would bet my life inside of one. If the proper minor design change is made and the test is good then it would be a definate breakthru in space exploration, but for now I they might have invented the a very useful space container for storing and moving supplies and such. He needs to step back and think of a "What If" before thinking it can be occupied as designed.

Inside the spaceship factory

R Denis, Butte Mt — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 03:10:27 GMT

Onward ... upward ... outward.
My granddad saw travel go from the horse to a man on the moon ... and I'm real sad that by the year 2000 space travel was not farther along than it is.
So ... GO FOR IT!

Inside the spaceship factory

E.P. Grondine, Fredericksburg, VA — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 13:05:07 GMT

Hi Allen - Great report.

I wonder how long the long chain molecules in Genesis's fabric will stand up to the radiation of the space environment. For lunar use there is a good way around this, so Mr. Bigelow's investment may not be entirely lost.

Inside the spaceship factory

John Doe, Seattle, Wash. — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 16:15:33 GMT

That is all very good and very real, but whatever happened to the idea of using the shuttle fuel tank as a platform. At the time it was considered it was considered practical to get them the rest of the way into orbit. They are huge and fairly structurally strong. What happened to that idea?

Inside the spaceship factory

Ray, Toronto, Canada — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 14:00:05 GMT

Remember, everything is relative. So in space, your capsule will be going pretty fast soon, probably negating the speed of half of the particles bent on hitting your spaceship. And the vastness of space will probably lower the odds of getting hit by a random bolt to an extremely unlikely number.

Inside the spaceship factory

Jesse, Londrina, Parana. — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 20:34:01 GMT

Just an idea. There is a sort of material, which is light and has both mechanical and thermical resistance, compared to its weight. Light gels, like aerogel or seagel. Why not to inflate the modules of a station and begin to circulate the ingredients of the gel in order to saturate the gas inside the module. With a microwave generator, would be possible to cook the mixture and turn it into gel. There are many possibilities from this point on. First, depending of the chemical afinity of gas used to fill the blocks of the modules(afinity with the gel), and because of it being traped into the material, it would be safer, mechanicaly, and less prone to accidents. Nobody would like to be inside a ship or station that can go flat after meeting a micrometeorite. Second, depending of the mix of gases would be possible, by applying an electromagnetic field of proper frequency, to ionize the gas and make it an effective barrier against some electromagnetic radiations found in open interplanetary, or interstellar space. (If somebody gets interested, please, I'd like to have my name mentioned in a patents application, if there is none for this yet, and get a provision of one percent on the applications). Want more ideas?

Inside the spaceship factory

Andrew, Eugene, OR — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 14:39:42 GMT

I'd think that a decently sophisticated radar system could spot any incoming object large enough to be dangerous, station computers could calculate trajectory of the object and identify which areas of the station were likely to be compromised, and trigger a warning system of some sort. IE, bolt is spinning towards the station, going to pass through a habitation module at an angle, penetrating three rooms. Warning buzzers alert occupants, who are (just like a plane with oxygen masks, or apartment fire drills) instructed to exit their rooms...of course, an emergency patching crew has already been dispatched from the maintenance ring... No problem. Wow...I LOVE BEING ALIVE NOW!!!

Inside the spaceship factory

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 04:51:09 GMT

Inside the spaceship factory

Mark Klimaszewski, Houston, TX. — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 18:27:11 GMT

I would like to see Bigelow Aerospace mass produce their inflatable modules and connect them to create a large rotating space station like on 2001 Space Odyssey... when will we see habitats in space with gravity produced by rotation? Also set up a system where people can leave Bigelow Aerospace their estates to further the cause.

Cheers;
Mark Klimaszewski, TX.

Inside the spaceship factory

nicholas shawyer,gold coast, queensland — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 00:22:32 GMT

are there any spaceships (or metals) that are resistent to space junk (debris). if there are please contact me soon.

Inside the spaceship factory

Jessie Drelicharz — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 16:20:49 GMT

Is there any water on spaceships? Can there be any water on spaceships?.