An Opening for Commercial Space Stations ISS Turns 20 Next Year

An Opening for Commercial Space Stations ISS Turns 20 Next Year

BUSINESS | POLITICS | PERSPECTIVE MARCH 27, 2017 An opening for commercial space stations ISS turns 20 next year. Is it ready for business class? INSIDE ■ Trump’s budget blueprint ■ Bigelow’s infl ationary scenario VISIT SPACENEWS.COM FOR THE LATEST IN SPACE NEWS CONTENTS 03.27.17 DEPARTMENTS 3 QUICK TAKES 8 NEWS ‘Historic’ planetary science budget boost leaves researchers uneasy about other cuts Like all things ‘90s, the National Space Council is making a comeback 23 COMMENTARY Scott Pace Capitalism in Space: wishful thinking collides with policy and economic realities FEATURES 26 COMMENTARY Sandra Magnus and 12 16 20 Jack Burns The long goodbye Space available No reservations The elusive “why” of Transitioning from the ISS to Three firms are vying to Bigelow still dreams of space exploration commercial space stations use ISS as a springboard to building space hotels. will take time. private stations. 28 COMMENTARY Robert Zubrin Making America’s space program great again 32 FOUST FORWARD Trump wants SPECIAL COVERAGE to ice the Europa lander SpaceNews.com is providing special coverage of the 33rd Space Symposium April but Congress could still 3-6 in Colorado Springs. bring the heat • New this year: SpaceNews is publishing the official Show Daily for all three exhibit days. • A nightly newsletter wrapping up each day’s events. • A special section on SpaceNews.com dedicated to news from Space Symposium. ABOVE: A “space cheeseburger” is seen floating inside the International Space Station with Expedition 50 flight engineer Peggy Whitson of NASA in the background. Astronauts routinely use tortillas instead of bread due to the latter’s tendency to crumble and float away in microgravity. ON THE COVER: Astronaut Kate Rubins inspects the inside of the Bigelow Aerospace Expandable Activity Module attached to the ISS. FOLLOW US @SpaceNews_Inc Fb.com/SpaceNewslnc youtube.com/user/SpaceNewsInc linkedin.com/company/spacenews SPACENEWS.COM | 1 INTERVIEW No reservations Two decades later, Robert Bigelow still dreams of building hotels in space. Alliance, to attach a commercial module not necessary, which makes it unique. to a space station docking port. Bigelow already has an experimental What is the schedule for module attached to the port NASA is of- building B330s? fering. In 2013, NASA awarded Bigelow We are on schedule to produce two 330s a $17.8 million contract for the Bigelow in 2020 for shipping out to the launch fa- Expandable Activities Module (BEAM), cility. We have kept one eye very carefully which NASA sent to the space station on focused on transportation because our a SpaceX Dragon capsule in April 2016 B330 would be the largest payload ever and expanded to its full size in May 2016. flown. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Heavy will prob- With that module in place, Bigelow has ably have the heavy-lift capacity, but only been able to test how well its hull, composed the Atlas 5 552 stretch fairing can handle of strong, flexible materials, would protect the length and size of our spacecraft. astronauts or tourists from radiation and A recruitment ad that ran in SpaceNews in 1999. micrometeoroids. What are your plans for the In addition to running the company, first two B330s? obert Bigelow’s ideas on commercial Robert Bigelow is acting as the B330 Our choices would be to appropriate one space habitats have evolved since program manager, which he says is an to NASA either as a free flyer or attached he established Bigelow Aerospace extension of the work he did during his to the station. There are certain pros and Ron 20 hectares in North Las Vegas, previous career developing real estate and cons. If it were attached to the station, NASA Nevada, in 1999. At the time space tourism operating hotels, including his Budget might want to maintain it for quite some looked promising, but Bigelow quickly Suites of America chain. time and NASA might choose to also use realized that commercial space habitats “In all the real estate projects I’ve built, the other one as a free flyer. Whether it is like privately owned terrestrial structures I’ve been the general contractor,” Bigelow a free flyer or attached, we would like to could serve many different customers, said. “I’m very used to dealing with engi- conduct business onboard as well. including U.S. government agencies. neers and architects. I’m not an armchair With that idea in mind, Bigelow is invit- owner-operator; not in the least.” What are the pros and cons of ing NASA to become an early customer of Bigelow spoke recently with SpaceNews. attaching to the space station? the B330, the space habitat with 330 cubic It would have fewer restrictions if it meters of internal volume the firm plans to Did you respond to the NASA’s were not attached to the ISS. There are launch in 2020. Bigelow is inviting NASA request for information a number of different areas in which to use one B330 as an Expandable Bigelow concerning a commercial you would be less handcuffed for com- Advanced Station Enhancement, or XBASE module for the International mercial use of the B330 as a free flyer that could be attached to the International Space Station? because the station carries with it cer- Space Station or flown separately. We did. We started work on this concept tain baggage, not the least of which is NASA is currently evaluating proposals with NASA several years ago. We pro- the expectation it will eventually be offered by Bigelow Aerospace and com- posed the XBASE as the perfect all-en- terminated. Our B330 is very capable of petitors, including Axiom Space and Ixion, compassing solution for NASA because being used outside of low Earth orbit. I a consortium that includes NanoRacks, our B330 spacecraft is going to be capable could attach a bus to it if it were a free Space Systems Loral and United Launch of being a stand-alone station. You would flyer or NASA could attach a bus to it obviously want taxis to handle the crew and move it out to L-1 or cislunar or- DEBRA WERNER and resupply, but other structures are bit. The spacecraft is very adaptable. 20 | SPACENEWS 03.27.17 INTERVIEW So B330 could operate Would you have corporate information. Even though our B330 debris beyond low Earth orbit? clients as well? and radiation shields are far thicker than There are at least three different scenar- We have 30 Direct Reference Missions, the BEAM, the BEAM is still providing bet- ios. If XBASE attaches to station, it could discreet kinds of functions for B330s. ter defense for radiation protection than serve that use for years and years. It could Growing food or using it for a hospital the other ISS modules, especially from a essentially go nowhere. Or, it could be are two Direct Reference Missions. There background radiation standpoint. disconnected, undocked and become are so many because this is a stand-alone a free flyer in LEO for a long time and station, not just a habitat. It can be repur- Anything else? NASA could continue to use it for testing. posed for a lot of different kinds of uses. The BEAM project helped us understand Or, once it is outfitted to NASA’s liking, We have competitors and can’t talk too how to handle NASA safety issues. Some- it could be relocated. It could attach, for much about certain things. thing much larger than BEAM is going to be example, to the Advanced Cyrogenic like BEAM on steroids for safety concerns. Evolved Stage ULA is developing and What does a B330 cost? move to L-1 or cislunar orbit or some That’s proprietary. But the affordability of Would you modify B330s for other location. our spacecraft is going to be tremendous. use beyond low Earth orbit? It’s going to be terrific for customers and We are radiation hardening everything What type of business for NASA. from a LEO perspective. So NASA would activities do you envision for have to tell us if the XBASE isn’t going to B330s? Are you funding all the work stay forever on the station. I’ve been a developer, landlord and yourself? innkeeper most all of my life. Like a Yes. We don’t need outside investors. Commercial space stations are terrestrial structure, it will have various I can handle the cost of building these on the horizon, but it’s taken a customers. Very early on, we said we will spacecraft, but we are open to joint long time. cater to foreign countries. Between 50 ventures and some kind of relationship We all thought it would happen earlier. and 60 countries have a space agency with NASA or with companies thinking I’ve had to manage my company by ad- or department. The ISS is off-limits to about expeditions to the moon. We are vancing the throttle and putting on the an awful lot of those countries. We were open to doing that so long as other folks breaks. It has been extremely frustrating disappointed when the space station was contribute their fair share. because we are tied to the transportation. extended beyond 2020 because we had You can’t have an island nobody can get two or three countries that were ready, What have you learned from to. I stopped the throttling process a year willing and able to get very serious about BEAM? or so ago. We are focused on 2020. There being our clients. The BEAM is providing useful radiation are no more pauses. SN Robert Bigelow, Bigelow Aerospace founder and president, B330 program manager PHOTOGRAPHY KIMMELL TOM 22 | SPACENEWS 03.27.17.

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