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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>