Bigelow/LM-ULA update

[docm]

NASASpaceflight article<br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>ULA has recommended to Bigelow that it place their space station in a 264nmi circular repeating ground track orbit at 41 degrees inclination that would provide daily launch opportunities.<br /><br />The repeating ground track would bring the station over the same locations on the Earth every day, and would provide crew landing opportunities four times per day at the Utah Test Range or Edwards AFB with minimal cross-range requirement.<br /> /><br /> /><br /> /><br /> /><br /><font color="yellow">The announcement in September that Bigelow and Lockheed (now ULA) were jointly studying the use of the Atlas V represented a fundamental shift for Bigelow Aerospace. The company seemed content to allow the commercial passenger market to develop independently, and has even allocated a future launch from SpaceX on the delayed Falcon 9.<br /><br /><b>The active partnership with ULA indicates that Bigelow desires an accelerated schedule and is no longer as willing to passively wait for a suitable launch vehicle to become available.</b></font>(SpaceX's Dragon)<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />My question is; would Bigelow build their own vehicle or is this the first indication that a LM "CEV Lite" is in the works? I'm betting on the latter. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[Boris_Badenov]

This sounds like both bad news & good. Bigelow will have access to the services of a company that has established a very good record of being able to deliver what it promises. But, they might not be the most economical route to take. <br /> SpaceX, on the other hand has yet to prove themselves successful even once. But, <b> when </b> they do, their business model promises to be both dependable & economical. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#993300"><span class="body"><font size="2" color="#3366ff"><div align="center">. </div><div align="center">Never roll in the mud with a pig. You'll both get dirty & the pig likes it.</div></font></span></font> </div>

 

[nyarlathotep]

Yeah, Musk promises a lot of things. We'll see.