Bigelow/Lockheed ramping up?

[docm]

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/061122_bigelow_sundancer.html<br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>“From a technological standpoint, we are years ahead of where we thought we would be at this time…due to the success of Genesis 1,” said Bigelow Aerospace Corporate Counsel, Mike Gold. “At this point, we feel we’re ready to move ahead and tackle what will be the largest challenge to date for Bigelow Aerospace…to develop a habitat that will actually be capable of supporting a crew.”<br /> /><br />Bigelow Aerospace leader, Robert Bigelow, unveiled more details about his entrepreneurial habitat plans in September, spotlighting a new module project that is dubbed Sundancer.<br /><br />That craft would offer 180 cubic meters of habitable space, fully-equipped with life support systems, attitude control, on-orbit maneuverability, as well as reboost and de-orbit capability. This larger module—sporting a trio of windows—could support a three-person crew and be on-orbit in a late 2009-2010 time frame, Bigelow reported.<br /><br />Gold said that work is already underway in designing Sundancer. Genesis 2, in fact, will carry technology that could be implemented in the Sundancer module. Furthermore, Sundancer is itself a progressive step toward the BA-330 orbital habitat. The “330” signifies the cubic meters of that module’s internal volume.<br /><br />Lessons learned from the performance of both Genesis 2 and Sundancer is driving the design and schedule of future projects, such as the BA-330, Gold said.<br /> /><br />A medium launch vehicle would be required—say a Falcon 9 launcher from SpaceX, a Ukrainian/Russian Zenit, or an Atlas booster, Gold said. But given a Sundancer bopping around the globe, or the larger BA-330, how to get people up to Bigelow-supplied live-in modules is another matter.<br /><br />In September, Bigelow Aerospace announced a partne</p></blockquote> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[holmec]

Bigelow and Lockheed......are they talking about a derivative of the Orion capsule???<br /><br />I guess SpaceX 's schedule is going to be too late for Bigelow. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#0000ff"><em>"SCE to AUX" - John Aaron, curiosity pays off</em></font></p> </div>

 

[tohaki]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Bigelow and Lockheed......are they talking about a derivative of the Orion capsule???<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote>That is a good question. What else could it be?<br /><br />I haven't been very interested in private space initiatives so far, but these Bigelow modules are very exciting.

 

[docm]

Can't find the links right now, but I've read speculation of an "Orion/CEV Lite" in at least 2 locations. <br /><br />Makes sense to me since Bigelow is on an obvious run-up to providing a bigger space station at a fraction of the cost. Just 2 BA-330's (660 c/m) would be significantly larger than ISS's current volume (425 c/m), and 5-6 connected to their hub would be nothing short of enormous (1650 - 1980 c/m!!).<br /><br />They could rent out experimental space or even whole modules to companies or non-space nations.<br /><br />With that kind of destination (destinations?) Lockheed providing the transportation makes sense. <br /><br />McSpaceStation?<br /><br /><b>EDIT:</b> found one of the links....<br /><br />http://www.thespacereview.com/article/710/1<br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>><br />While Bigelow has spoken fondly of companies like SpaceX (with whom Bigelow does have a launch contract for an unspecified payload), he made it clear in his July interview that he was agnostic when it came to his preference for launch providers:<br /><br /> <i>We’re a customer for whomever can produce an economical, reliable, safe transportation system that’s user friendly. It’s the other half of the coin. You have to have some place to go, but what good is an exotic island if there are no boats to get you there? One hand holds the other. We hope that over the next half-dozen years that as we go forward that, if we are able to make improvements and evolve towards full scale, other people will be doing something similar in this country.</i><br /><br />And, at a July 20 press conference at the company’s manufacturing facility:<br /><br /> <i>There ought to be a success over the next several years in that category. We think we can perpetuate the success under our program over the next several years if by nothing else the sheer volume of flights, the sheer number of flights that we’r</i></p></blockquote> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[mrmorris]

Lockheed created this document on May of this year about a commercial manned capsule. There's nothing in the way of technical details in the document, but the dimensions and shape and proposed OMS all point to it not being very much like the CEV at all. I would suspect that the only commonality between the two would be in many of the spacecraft subsystems (communications, power, ECLSS, etc.) that Lockheed has to develop and test for the CEV.<br /><br />Given that it's designed to launch on an Atlas 401 -- I have to assume this is the concept that Lockheed and Bigelow are tossing around.

 

[docm]

"CEV derived" doesn't have to mean "miniature CEV". Form can follow function and this is more of a COTS ship.<br /><br />That it can supposedly carry 8 passengers puts it in direct competition with Dragon plus it has the advantage of Lockheed being able to do a bit of parallel development. By that I mean there is likely to be an indirect transfer of some Orion tech to get the CTV working at <cost. <br /><br />Nice trick Lockheed <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /> <br /><br />Whatcha bet that PDF made the rounds at Bigelow well before the "deal" was made?<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[holmec]

OK, lets load it up with the following passengers:<br />1. A Dad<br />2. A Mom<br />3. Older daughter<br />4. Younger daughter<br />5. Young boy<br />6. A Pilot<br />7. A querky robot<br />8. And a stow away Scientists<br /><br />Then lets paint Jupiter 2 on the side and launch it and see if we can find it on radar.<br /><br />IT FREAKISHLY LOOKS LIKE JUPITER 2 IN 'LOST IN SPACE' ...lol. <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#0000ff"><em>"SCE to AUX" - John Aaron, curiosity pays off</em></font></p> </div>