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Inflatable Private Space Station Launched
Anonymous_Space_Ranger writes "CNN is reporting that the first steps to have a private space station are underway in Russia. While today's launch is unmanned, it is designed to orbit the planet for 5 years while the durability of the design is tested and future flights are planned around it." From the article: "[Robert] Bigelow envisions building a private orbiting space complex by 2015 that would be made up of several expandable Genesis-like modules linked together and could be used as a hotel, or perhaps a science lab or college. He has committed $500 million toward the project."
I wonder how well a beer bong works in zero gravity...
Information wants a fueled airplane waiting at the hangar and no one gets hurt.
I hope they don't let go of the string and let it float away!
Slashdot.. where people join together in deliberate ignorance.
"While today's launch is unmanned, it is designed to orbit the planet for 5 years while the durability of the design is tested and future flights are planned around it."
t s/discoveryiss_single.jpg
Unfortunatly, the mission ended almost as fast as it started when they couldn't figure out how to get the air pump to work while in orbit.
In almost related news, here is a cool pic taken today of the ISS transiting the sun during today's EVA:
http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/satcom_transi
It could be worse, it could be Monday.
With ovre 4 million pounds of space junk flying around at speeds up to 17,500... I for one would NOT want to be in an inflatable structure. Wow!
http://religiousfreaks.com/Ahhhh, thank you!
just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand!
"could be used as a hotel, or perhaps a science lab or college."
Riiiight. They will send people to college... in space. Well technically LEO, but whatever. On the other hand, drinking and having sex in 0 G does sound fun.
There are 01 kinds of cars in the world. The General Lee, and everything else.
This just in! British secret agent lauches into orbit on an emergency launch of china's Shenzou space vehicle on a joint mission to combat the orbital battlestation of new supervillian!
On a slightly more serious note, am I the only one who is weary of the "private" exploration of space, where the projects are controlled by individuals/companies rather than by the people as a whole? I mean, yeah its great for scientific advancment and all.. but the potential for abuse seems pretty severe....
Look at the Zodiac boats used as landing craft by the Navy SEALS. They are inflatable, but they are anything but weak. They are designed to operate in enviroments that we can only dream of and they survive. I am interested in following how this test project survives over the next five years. I am not entirely convinved that it will work (nothing in space exploration or habitation is ever 100%) but I would not be so quick to write it off as a sure failure.
Information wants a fueled airplane waiting at the hangar and no one gets hurt.
About 2.5 hours from now, the module will phone home and we will get a better sense of how the module is doing. Here are some additional resources...
i s-1_launch.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5173388.stm
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/060712_genes
http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigelow_Aerospace
There may be a lot of junk in orbit, but there's also a lot of space up there, the chances of being hit by anything significant probably aren't that high.
;D
Plus, ain't you ever thrown anything at a balloon? It'll just bounce off, man
Oh no... it's the future.
The Russians just launched my girlfriend into space!
I'll form my OWN solar system! With blackjack! And hookers!
As long as we keep stacks of ONE BILLIIIIIIIIOOOOOON DOLLARS around
I never spellcheck and I freely admit it. Save your karma for more worthwhile "lol erorrs" replies
Will the inflatable space station be equipped with an inflatable girlfriend?
...right before "Space Station" in the headline?
Yeah, me neither.
I can see the title now.. Robert Bigelow, Interplanetary Gigolo
I think the parent was joking about the air pump. (As in, "how does this darn tire pump work?!")
In addition, don't mod up any of the unfounded comments about space junk, private corporations taking over our lives, or "it will never work". Suprisingly, it's obvious that none of them have been following Bigelow's work over the past few years to make this a reality. Not only did they start with NASA technology that WORKS, but they've been firing all kinds of projectiles at this thing, trying to see how it will react in orbit.
Where'd all the space people go? Slashdot used to be full of them. Now all we here are stupid inflatable doll jokes. (Not that those weren't here before, but now that's ALL that's here.)
"It carried photos of Bigelow employees and insects that scientists hope to study to determine how well they survive the flight."
After a critical accident leading to the ship being sucked into a wormhole, gaint insect humaniods that look like Bigelow return and use his fortune to free all insect kind...
Robert Bigelow, Space Gigolo
Help a man when he is in trouble and he will remember you when he is in trouble again.
I'll bet they upgraded the inflatable autopilot from Airplane!
Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
Someone please tell me they call that guy Deuce, that would make my day !
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
...will have somehwere to go for "recreration"... *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge*
GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
Hey, Taco! Can we add a sarcasm selection for the moderators?
science is a religion
Presumably the space junk is orbiting Earth rather than ceaslessly falling into it from an unknown source of space junk. With any luck the space station will also be orbiting Earth. Any dangerous debris will have to be orbiting the Earth at the same height as the station, so it will therefore also be orbiting at about the same speed.
So while the debris may orbit at dangerous velocities, its relative speed to that of the space station will not be so high. Besides which, as others have stated, debris is tracked and can be avoided if necessary. Not to mention that generally when someone builds a space station they take into account small impacts.
The global economy is a great thing until you feel it locally.
Will put it in a different orbit from the bulk of the space junk...then there would be a great void between in and the orbiting debris that we could call the "star-chasm"?
Sincerely,
The A.S.S.
[Amazingly Stupendous Sarcasmo]
A goal is a dream with a deadline
You are correct that the magnitude of the rotation vector is the same for any two circular orbits of the same diameter, however there are two things that you have not considered:
1) Orbits are elliptical, so orbiters can collide at non-zero relative speeds.
2) The direction of the rotation vector need not be the same between any two orbits. One orbit may be pole-to-pole, while another may track the equator. Or one may be a "left-hand" orbit around the equator, while another may be a "right-hand" orbit. The second case is the worst: the space junk could hit the station at a relative speed of twice the orbital speed of the station.
All the comments on this post about designing the station to withstand the impact of any untracked space junk still applies, though.
Seems like a perfect match to supply the inflatable stations.
San Francisco Photographers
Gentlemen! What you are now travelling in, high above the comforting embrace of mother earth, is the pinnacle of inflatable technolo *pop*>FWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIZZZZZZZZ
Not everything is orbiting in the same direction.
Finally a vapor ware I could use for a space flight!
science is a religion
Maybe we'll finally see Aylee again.
"A REAL computer has ONE speed and the only powersaving it permits is when you pull the power leads out of the back!"
The problem with this statement is that it implies the usage of binary but as such is nonsensical. There is a dichotomy created in the second sentence so in the first sentence you should write that there are 2 kinds of cars in the world. Now if you wanted to notate this in binary you could write:
"There are 010b kinds of cars in the world."
The 010 representing the number two and the "b" notating the binary. If you wanted to be sneaky you could leave off the "b". As you have it written all you are saying is that there is one kind of car in the world. 01 in Binary is equal to one. It is the next increment up from zero which would be 00 or 000.
If you wanted to be even more geeky you could write:
"There are 10 kinds of cars in the world. The General Lee, and everything else."
It's going to suck to be the one who has to blow that up...
noobcake or noobmuffin? It is the same price...
I dont think trying to smoke a hookah in space would be the easiest thing to do.... however it would make "pass the joint" a little more interesting.... GO LONG!!!!
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
a small bit of junk will go straight through the wall, this creates a hole, and a presure imbalance. The next layer in will be rapidly sucked towards the hole, but because the imact is unlikely to be exactly normal (90 degrees) to the surface the hole made in the inner layer won't line up with the hole in the outer layer, so it will make a seal. You could probably use the pressure imbalance to hold them together or have some magic glue on the inner walls. They can have lots of layers too. I imagine the walls could be a cellular foam like structure, maybe 10cm thick. Inflating the walls is also done by exploiting the pressure imbalance, each cell basically acting as a valve. The walls don't have to be inflated to a higher pressure than the internal pressure, from the inside they would feel spongy and soft, they would kind of self inflate like those camping mattresses.
1. launch some stuff into orbit
2. say it will be a hotel, science lab or college or something
3. profit!
You can find more technical details about the launch on the space fellowship: http://www.spacefellowship.com/News/?p=1614
We can expect video's and pictures, of the "living" annimals etc!
...it's a balloon!
GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
This story sounds as though someone has been reeding some older SF. It will be interesting to see if the idea can be made to work, and see what comes of a potentially cheaper way to build space craft.
What about traditional spacecraft? Most manned ships are in fact metallic balloons that have enormous inside pressure (compared to the outside). The only difference is that traditional metal spaceships don't ever change their size or shape. Oh, and BTW the Volga airlock made for the first Soviet EVA was made of fabric. See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voskhod_2
Plus, ain't you ever thrown anything at a balloon? It'll just bounce off, man ;D
I did once. I missed and hit my brother in the head. He cried, I got grounded.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
I remember an "experiment" in grade school where we took and ran a knitting needle through a balloon and surprise it POPPED. But then the teacher coated the needle with oil and was able to put the needle through it without it popping. No reason you couldn't apply a similar method to the inflatable station, but put the oil (or whatever self repairing space substance) in the walls of the station.
and all those astronauts are blowhards anyway.
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
"Or were you using the sarcasm tag? I could not tell."
I could tell you couldn't tell.
Dude, the guy couldn't have made it more obvious; one point after another were so plainly wrong as to be overwhelmingly ironic.
--- "To pee or not to pee, that is the question." ---
"The inflatable time machine is ready to go!"
As another poster said, not everything rotates in the same direction. The danger of orbital debris is pretty well known and is a problem that is hard to anticipate because a lot of the things up there are small and dark.
l e_debris.html e s/D/archnas2398.html
Cellular collapsing walls are all well and good, but what happens when you hit a wrench, or some other larger piece of debris? Here's some of those fancy scientifical things we all love so much:
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/050305_shutt
http://www.scienceblog.com/community/older/archiv
I seem to recall from my childhood (3-2-1 Contact magazine? National Geographic?) a picture of an orbital vehicle windshield (viewport) with a pretty deep crater inflicted by a paint chip. Alas, google fails me for now.
In US government inflate you!
The specs indicate that the walls are 16 inches thick. The advantage is that the walls bend and you can fold it up for easy transportation into space. I guess the guys that are complaining the 16 inches is to thin are the same guys that brag to women that their 4 inches is really 8. They lack real perception.
My Sig indicates the end of the comment I posted.
I can't wait to join the 22236 mile high club!!!!!!!!!
load "$",8,1
It seems this point has to be made 3 or 4 times every time a submission about Bigelow comes up...and people still don't believe it. Zodiak boats are a perfect example of a robust inflatable structure. Another good example is a tire. Compare the impact resistance of those things to a thin sheet of aluminum!
The inflatable module is really only different in that uses air pressure to maintain its shape instead of framework (actually, there is a framed core down the middle with avionics and inflation equipment and to support mounting equipment inside the pressurized portion...also similar to Zodiaks). The skin is several layers of different insulating, containing, and protective materials. Some of these are tougher than Kevlar! The result is a module that is (hopefully) stronger by weight than equivalent rigid capsules, has more interior volume, and fits in a smaller launch fairing.
Along with the confusion about the vulnerability being similar to a balloon, people also get confused about the volume. Unlike a balloon, it doesn't grow to several dozen times its packed volume. I think it's closer to a factor of 2 or 3, depending on the model. It won't revolutionize living in space, but if it lives up to its potential, it will be another step in the right direction.
FYI, NASA originally started development work on the technology under the Spacehab project to be used for one or two modules on the ISS. Due to budget constraints and time limits, they chose the traditional modules and set the development effort aside until Bigelow bought rights to the technology. The technology might also see applications in long-term lunar or Martian bases.
KHAAANNN!!!
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It continues to astonish me that there are people out there who have $500 million (half a billion dollars!) to throw at a project as speculative as this. Certainly it's cool and I'd love to have one myself. This guy's able to throw $500 million at something just to see if there's anything there. Woof!
I wish some (one!) of these guys would get it into their heads to toss me $100,000 to see if I might work/do something they might consider cool. I'd spend the rest of my life bouncing from country to country installing Free Software on every box I run across and teaching its owner how to use it. Wouldn't that be a lovely legacy to invest in? Or not sexy enough? Drat. Consider it anyway please, you Mark Shuttleworths of the world.
"Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit
"However, according to some space experts, Bigelow's venture will only succeed if others can provide the transport to get people into space."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5173388.stm
Now THAT is an obscure internet pop culture reference. I salute you sir!
If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
This was researched and initially developed by folks at NASA, not a business person. I would not trust a random business person to do the right thing for others( i.e. GWB, McBride, or Ken Lay ; all made out like bandits but burn others in the process).
OTH, this was suppose to be part of the ISS originally, but was axed to save money. What most have missed here is that the same fabric that is used to slow down and stop radiation on the tin can ISS is the same being used on this. In addition, the same material being used to stop the meteorites is being used here. Yes, the metal will stop some, but it also leads to secondary radiation.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
All those waves could sweep aynyone off the boat, doesn't seem safe too me.
A lion could attack you on the way to the next valley, doesn't seem very safe for me.
A bear cuold eat you if you get ut of the trees, it doesn't seem very safe to me.
The wind might blow you over on land, doesn't seem very safe to me.
meh, someone has to stay behind.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Read in the news that the STS-121 NOAX tests went well, but one of the application spatulas went missing. It's probably waiting for its chance to do some real damage at umpteen thousand clicks and hour to a future mission...
I begin by saying that I hate the whiner and the grammar nazi as much as you, but..... Douglas Adams gets the nod from me for coining the phrase you are refering to. He really deserves to be quoted. so .... In context from Chapter 8.
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times over many years and under many different editorships. It contains contributio from countless numbers of travellers and researchers.
The introduction begins like this: "Space," it says, "is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mindboggingly big it is. I mean you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that' just peanuts to space. Listen ..." and so on.
OSGGFG - Open Source Gamers Guide to Free Games
Note: I worked on the ISS project from 1988 to 2005, and while I didn't work on the debris shield
directly, I knew the guys who did.
At the typical speed objects colliding in low Earth orbit hit each other, which is around 7 km/sec,
the kinetic energy of impact (~25 MJ/kg) exceeds the energy required to melt structures (600 kJ/kg
for Aluminum, what the ISS modules are made of) by a wide margin. So when things collide, they
generally melt or vaporize each other. The ISS has debris shields that consist of aluminum sheets
mounted several inches away from the pressure shell. When a small (~1 cm or less) object impacts
the debris sheild, the object melts or vaporizes itself and a small portion of the debris sheild.
This stuff now splatters over a fairly wide area (~1 ft across). It's still moving fast, but the
~1 cm thick pressure wall of the module can take the impact if it is spread over a large area.
I would assume that the Bigelow engineers are smart enough to have designed a similar strategy
in their module by having multiple layers in the design. The first layer vaporizes the incoming
object, and the second, 3rd, etc. layers soak up the impact over a larger area. The key is to
have enough separation between the layers to allow the splatter to spread over a larger area,
which is easier to do with an inflatable module than a rigid one like the ISS has.
If your orbital debris is larger than ~3 cm, it won't necessarily melt when hitting the ISS debris
sheild. In that case it can continue on to punch a hole in the pressure wall, and then get stopped
somewhere in the equipment inside the module. Essentially all of the surface inside the module
is covered with equipment racks. The result, depending on size of the debris, would be like
firing a shotgun or hand grenade inside the equipment rack - not fun.
The ISS strategy is to track objects in this size range via ground radar, and if they look like
they might get in the way, dodge them by moving the Station. If you have a day's warning, and
you have to move ~1 mile to dodge, you only have to change speed by 0.04 mph.
DRN
Bigelow has been a space buff since he was a kid, but figured out at an early age that probably couldn't hack it as an engineer or astronaut. So he decided to take a different approach - make money first, then figure out where it could do the most good.
So he went into the hotel business. And got to be really good at it. Ever heard of Budget Suites? He started from the ground up and made a litteral fortune by building and running a successful hotel chain using the talent he was gifted with - management skills. Something NASA seems to have chronic problems with.
Fast forward to the late 1990s. NASA engineers started to develop inflatable space structures, but ended having to put asside the technology because it was TOO promising; it caught the attention of the entrenched aerospace contractors who promply had their congressmen ban the technology because it threatened their contracts to develop the crew habitation module. So NASA was stuck with a promissing technology that would have provided MORE crew space for LESS cost than the original plan, but couldn't use it for political reasons.
Enter Mr. Bigelow. By this time, he had become quite wealthy and was looking for a good prospect to invest in to fullfil his lifelong ambition in the space area. When he found out about the inflateable technology NASA had, but couldn't use, he quickly took advantage of one of the space acts that allowed NASA to license space technology for private development. The engineers at NASA were overjoyed that someone would use the technology instead of watching it just be thrown down the tube.
The amazing thing was, is that Bigelow's family never even knew he had a passion for space until he took action on the inflateable technology! Not even his wife!
Two companies I keep close tabs on: SpaceX (founded by PayPal founder Elon Musk) and Bigelow Aerospace. Both of these men are outsiders who got into the space industry for a reason: to get mankind into space. They are both willing and able to spend a huge chunk of their own money to get manned spaceflight kicked into high gear in a way that give the average Joe a possiblity at real spaceflight some day. Both men have seen the failures of government and early tries at space by for-profit companies. Both were enormously successful businessmen with proven track records at starting new, large scale endevers. Both decided that the best way was to pay it out of their own pocket and fund it for several years after their business plans say they should make money.
No, I wouldn't characterize this as just throwing a fortune at something just for the heck of it.
science is a religion
Why do we have the space shuttle? To go the the International Space Station.
Why do we have the International Space Station? To give the shuttle something to do.
Why hasn't NASA done much else for the last 10 years? It's spent most of its money on the space shuttle and the ISS.
One of the rucurring problems for companies trying to break into the space business is lack of long-term business. Bigelow noticed this and took the "if you build it, they will come" strategy since the alternative was the "I'm here, now what?" strategy. There are multiple companies that are putting forth credible efforts to created manned launch vehicles, setting asside the fact that there are already three governments who are space capable.
Everyone knew that there was only one pseudo-permanent destination available for extended space visits currently in existance. Do you think the NASA, (or the Europeans, Chinese, Japanese, Indians, Brazilianze, or any other country with a space program for that matter) would seriously not consider purchasing time in a state of the art facility at a tenth the price of the current ISS?
Captain Obvious, indeed.
science is a religion
It's fine if you want to put it in your "homepage" slot, but keep it out of the comment body.
Moderators, I know a lot of you like this guy, but if you don't help take a stand against this kind of thing, we're going to see more and more of it. Please do your part.
In Soviet Russia, space launches Russians into your girlfriend.
Da.
Cool! Amazing Toys.
So that's where the problem lies? NASA doesn't read this?
I won't join Slashcott. OTOH, If Beta goes live, I just won't be back until it's fixed. Sorry Dice.
But
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
check out http://www.aero.org/capabilities/cords/debris-risk s.html
I'm intrigued, please explain.
--- "To pee or not to pee, that is the question." ---