Robert Bigelow has a lot of money. In fact, he’s a billionaire (among other things, he owns the Budget Suites of America hotel chain). Not surprisingly, he’s a big proponent of capitalism. And he also firmly believes that since capitalism works so well on Earth, it should work just as well in outer space
How firmly does he believe that? Firmly enough to commit $500 million of his own money to a new company, Bigelow Aerospace, whose stated goal is to put the first commercial space complex—a private space station, in other words—into orbit by 2015.
So far he’s invested $75 million, and what he has to show for it can be seen glinting in the night skies right now (if you know where to look): last week Bigelow’s first piece of prototype hardware rocketed into orbit aboard a Russian Dnepr booster, courtesy of ISC Kosmotras, a joint Russian/Ukrainian launch company. (As a Cold War/Space Race kid, I find the fact that this sky-high example of capitalistic can-do was launched by a converted Soviet ICBM from an active Russian strategic missile facility more than a little mind-boggling.)
The prototype hardware is a one-third-scale version of a module intended to form the basis for the future space station. What’s unique about Genesis-1, as it’s called, is that it’s inflatable: it packs down into a nice small payload for launch, then literally balloons in outer space. At about 4.25 metres long and 1.2 metres in diameter, it looks like a truncated blimp with solar panels fore and aft. It’s made of Vectran, the same synthetic fabric used in the airbags for the last three NASA Mars landers. Almost twice as strong as Kevlar, Vectran also performs better in the cold.
So far, everything is going very well with Genesis-1. Bigelow wants to find out how long the module’s components will last, and also get a hint of how serviceable it will be as a habitat: the module includes a modicum of life support and contains some bugs and Mexican jumping beans. The next flight will have ant farms and scorpions.
The mention of a “next flight” is proof that Genesis-1 isn’t an end in and of itself. Bigelow hopes to launch twice a year, eventually moving up from one-third-scale modules to a half-scale module (called Galaxy) and finally, by 2012, to a full-scale, 330-cubic-metre inflatable module, putting the company on track to launch a full-scale orbiting station by 2015.
Eventually, Bigelow hopes his spacecraft will be launched by another private company, SpaceX, founded b Elon Musk. SpaceX is developing a new booster, the Falcon 9, for which Bigelow expects to be a “multiple-flight customer.”
Bigelow is experimenting financially as well as scientifically. He expects trying out a number of schemes to both raise funds and awareness, beginning with a program called “Fly Your Stuff.” Right now, photos and mementos from Bigelow employees should be floating around the inside of Genesis 1. You can send up your own photos and mementos on a future flight for less than $300 U.S. an item—then, if all goes well, visit the Bigelow website to watch items swirling weightlessly around the inside of the module.
Bigelow hopes such promotional schemes wil ignite a grass-roots interest in space, and inspire other people to come up with new ways to use space. Although he owns hotels on Earth, he doesn’t plan to run hotels in space—but he hopes other people will, using Bigelow’s modules. Or they might use them for laboratories, space yachts, orbital college campuses, movie sets, or something else not yet thought of. Nor will users necessarily have to buy the expensive modules: Bigelow plans to offer various models of leasing.
“We need to encourage creativity, imagination, and innovation in order to bring the benefits of space development to fruition, not just for the privileged few, but for all of humanity,” Bigelow writes on the company website. “Our goal is to get humanity into space so we can experiment, toy with ideas, try new and different things, and eventually make that miraculous mistake leading to a discovery that will change life forever.”
Stirring words for an old science fiction reader and writer like myself. Maybe I’ll start saving now for a week in orbit to celebrate becoming a senior citizen in 2024.
It sounds like Robert Bigelow is doing everything he can to make it possible.
