An ambitious Las Vegas company will have a lot riding on the SpaceX rocket awaiting a launch Friday in Cape Canaveral.
Bigelow Aerospace, under a $17.8 million contract with NASA, is sending an inflatable habitat module aboard the SpaceX craft bound for the International Space Station, where it will be tested over two years. Dubbed the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, the module is made partly from a synthetic, heat-resistant fiber used in spacesuits.
What makes BEAM unique is that it can be sent in a compact package and then inflated after it arrives in space. This could potentially provide a more flexible environment for astronauts that could pave the way for extended space exploration.
Because BEAM provides protection from radiation and debris, NASA sees uses for it in traveling to the moon, Mars or asteroids. In the long term, NASA sees inflatable habitats as a possible low-cost way to send supplies to prepare Mars for human missions.
“The journey to Mars is complex and filled with challenges that NASA and its partners are continuously working to solve,” the space agency explained on an FAQ for BEAM. “Expandable modules, which are lower-mass and lower-volume systems than metal habitats, can increase the efficiency of cargo shipments, possibly reducing the number of launches needed and overall mission costs.”
Friday’s mission is the first step toward that goal. The probability of the launch, scheduled for 1:43 p.m. Pacific, was at 85 percent on Thursday.
After BEAM is attached to the space station, the tubular module will inflate to its full size, nearly doubling in length from its compressed state. Through the inflation process, BEAM will expand from about 6 feet long and 7.5 feet in diameter to a pressurized size of about 12 feet long and 10.5 feet in diameter.
Then, the 3,000-pound BEAM will sit there.
During the two-year testing, the module will remain unoccupied with the exception of quarterly visits from astronauts, who will assess its physical condition. The mission’s primary goal is to test and demonstrate the efficacy of inflatable habitat technology. BEAM will be monitored for temperature, radiation and pressure.
NASA has long been intrigued by the concept of inflatables, but development was costly and Congress axed funding for them in 2000.
Enter Robert Bigelow, a Las Vegas tycoon who made his fortune on the Budget Suites chain and moved to license the technology from NASA.
The real estate developer, who founded the extended-stay hotels, was looking to develop a space tourism industry. When he licensed the technology in the early 2000s, his company Bigelow Aerospace, founded in 1999, was already busy talking up $750,000 tourist trips to space.
By 2006, Bigelow Aerospace had launched a prototype of an inflatable habitat aboard a converted Russian intercontinental ballistic missile. According to the company’s website, the spacecraft is still in orbit and provides the company with data about the technology. That paved the way for the BEAM project.
In 2013, NASA announced its contract with Bigelow Aerospace to test the BEAM on Friday's SpaceX launch.
“NASA's partnership with Bigelow opens a new chapter in our continuing work to bring the innovation of industry to space, heralding cutting-edge technology that can allow humans to thrive in space safely and affordably,” the space agency’s deputy administrator, Lori Garver, said after the contract was awarded.
For Bigelow Aerospace, BEAM is a small part of a larger goal. The company is developing a large-scale space habitat that will span about 57 feet, with room for six astronauts, and last 20 years. It has a second contract with NASA to develop the larger project. If successful, that module could serve as a private space station.
The company, which is based in a 350,000-square-foot facility in North Las Vegas, has had a partnership with Boeing.
Friday’s launch was originally scheduled in September but was pushed back because of an explosion of a SpaceX rocket in June.
Bigelow and other top officials from the company plan to watch the launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Takeoff will be streamed on the NASA website.