FYI,

"Spacecraft Successfully Inflates in Orbit"
Associated Press
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060713/ap_on_sc/private_space_station

: An experimental spacecraft bankrolled by real estate magnate
: Robert Bigelow successfully inflated in orbit Wednesday, testing a
: technology that could be used to fulfill his dream of building a
: commercial space station.

: In a brief statement posted on his Web site, Bigelow said the
: Genesis I satellite "successfully expanded" several hours after
: liftoff. No other details were provided.

: Genesis I flew aboard a converted Cold War ballistic missile from
: Russia's southern Ural Mountains at 6:53 p.m. Moscow time. It was
: boosted about 320 miles above Earth minutes after launch,
: according to the Russian Strategic Missile Forces.

: The launch was a first for the startup Bigelow Aerospace, founded
: by Bigelow, who owns the Budget Suites of America hotel chain.
: Bigelow is among several entrepreneurs attempting to break into
: the fledgling manned commercial spaceflight business.

: Mission controllers established communication with Genesis I about
: seven hours after launch. Early indications showed its GPS
: tracking system was working and that it had deployed its solar
: panels.

: Bigelow hopes to use inflation technology to build an expandable
: orbital outpost made up of several Genesis-like modules strung
: together like sausage links that could serve as a space hotel,
: science lab or even a sports arena.

: "We're ecstatic. We're just elated," Bigelow said in a telephone
: interview from Las Vegas. "We have a sense of being on a great
: adventure."

: The goal of the maiden Genesis mission will focus on the inflation
: process — a key element to determining the feasibility of
: constructing an expandable space habitat. Future Bigelow missions
: will test docking among spacecraft.

: Bigelow has committed $500 million toward building a commercial
: space station by 2015. So far, $75 million has been spent on the
: project.

: Unlike the rigid aluminum international space station, Genesis I
: consists of a flexible outer shell and is layered with tough
: material such as Kevlar, which is found in bulletproof police
: vests, to withstand flying space debris.

: The 2,800-pound Genesis I measured 14 feet long and 4 feet wide at
: launch and was to inflate to twice that width in orbit. It carried
: photos of Bigelow employees and insects that scientists hope to
: study to determine how well they survive the flight.

: Equipped with a dozen cameras to be aimed at the Earth, the
: spacecraft will circle the planet for at least five years while
: scientists study its durability.

: Bigelow Aerospace plans to launch several prototypes this decade.
: Future missions will test docking among spacecraft, but the maiden
: Genesis flight will primarily focus on the inflation process.

: This fall, the company hopes to launch Genesis II. Over the next
: several years, the company plans to test larger prototype
: spacecraft, including a full-scale mock-up slated to launch in
: 2012.

----------

"Bigelow Orbital Module Launched into Space"
SPACE.com
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060712/sc_space/exclusivebigeloworbit
almodulelaunchedintospace

: Thanks to a boost today from a Russian and Ukrainian rocket-for-
: hire company, a U.S. private space firm has sent a novel
: expandable module toward Earth orbit - and a step forward in
: providing commercial space habitats.

: Bigelow Aerospace of North Las Vegas, Nevada is flying prototype
: hardware that the firm anticipates will advance habitable
: structures in space to carry out research and manufacturing, among
: other tasks.

: "That's one small step for Bigelow...one giant leap for
: entrepreneurial space," reported Mike Gold, corporate counsel for
: Bigelow Aerospace in Washington, D.C. - on hand for the Dnepr
: liftoff. "We've had a successful launch. Of course this is just
: the first step in what's going to be a long mission. We're eager
: to get more information in regards to the progress of the
: mission," he said.

: Bankrolling the expandable space module concept - now roughly a
: $75 million investment -- is businessman, Robert Bigelow, owner of
: the Budget Suites of America Hotel Chain among other enterprises,
: and head of Bigelow Aerospace.

: There is the potential, Gold pointed out, for Genesis-1 to remain
: in orbit for years with the company's space engineers hoping to
: learn how the module's systems withstand the harsh space
: environment - including exposure to natural and human-made space
: debris, as well as radiation. Extensive testing of the expandable
: module that's fashioned out of advanced soft-goods material has
: been done both in the United States and in the Ukraine, he said.

: "We believe that the expandable Bigelow Aerospace system will not
: only offer protection equal to traditional habitat designs, but
: will actually exceed those," Gold said.

: "Our motto at Bigelow Aerospace is 'fly early and often'.
: Regardless of the results of Genesis-1, we will launch a follow-up
: mission rapidly," Gold said. "As a matter of fact, work on
: Genesis-2 was already underway last year, and is proceeding in
: earnest as we speak."

: No mission is ever perfect, Gold added, and Genesis-2 -- similar
: in construction and purpose to its predecessor -- will help the
: firm fill any gaps left by Genesis-1 in terms of vehicle
: performance and capability.

: "Ultimately, we expect to have anywhere from six to ten sub-scale
: demonstrator flights, which will help establish both the
: technology and the business-case necessary for the deployment of a
: full-scale, private sector expandable habitat," Gold explained.

: In regard to timing, Bigelow Aerospace could probably launch a
: mission roughly twice a year, Gold advised. "Of course, the launch
: date of Genesis-2 will be influenced by the performance of
: Genesis-1, but, I would expect to see our second mission at some
: point in late 2006 or early 2007."

: Gold said that a successor to the Genesis-class hardware is tagged
: Galaxy. A full-scale expandable module is called the BA-330, a
: designation noting the 330 cubic meters of usable volume that each
: individual habitat would provide.

: The step-by-step increase in size, Gold said, not only will
: establish the technology but also help build the business case for
: the Earth orbiting modules. "You don't want to shift from first to
: fourth gear," he said, the idea being to build familiarity and
: confidence in experimentation, applications, and space commerce.

: "From a technical perspective, we will be establishing the
: conceptual foundation that all future expandable systems will be
: built upon," Gold said. "You see a lot of Power Point slides and
: pretty pictures of inflatable habitats in the literature, but, the
: fact of the matter is...an expandable system has never been tested
: in an actual orbital environment. No real data currently exists,
: and hopefully, the Genesis-1 mission can help change this
: situation dramatically," he added.

: In a statement from Robert Bigelow on the firm's website: "A free
: system called capitalism works very well on Earth, and there is
: nothing about microgravity that changes this. 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."

: "Frankly, one of the most difficult aspects of conducting a
: mission like this is surviving all of the red-tape involved in
: export control," Gold explained. "Launching the spacecraft in many
: ways is the easy part, since, by the time you reach that moment,
: all of the regulatory concerns have been successfully addressed."

----------

"Russians Launch Inflatable Spacecraft
- Genesis 1 could pave the way for space hotels by 2015"
MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13828908/from/ET

: A Russian military base has launched the first prototype for what
: could eventually become a private-sector space station built up
: from inflatable modules, the company funding the project said
: Wednesday.

: The Genesis 1 inflatable spacecraft, developed by Las Vegas-based
: Bigelow Aerospace, could take a significant step toward an era of
: privately funded hotels, labs and even sports complexes in space.

: The launch represents the culmination of years of work by Bigelow
: and his team, using a concept that was first suggested by NASA for
: the international space station or Mars-bound spacecraft. NASA
: scrapped the idea in 2001, but Bigelow licensed the concept for
: commercial use.

: The basic concept calls for launching soft-sided spacecraft that
: could be inflated once they're in orbit. The walls are made from
: multiple layers of graphite-fiber composite materials, tough
: enough to stand up to micrometeoroids and orbital debris. Such
: modules would be cheaper to send into space, and allow for larger
: pressurized volumes once they were inflated.

: Bigelow's time line calls for testing larger and larger
: prototypes, with roughly two launches per year, leading up to the
: launch of full-scale Nautilus-class modules each enclosing about
: 11,650 cubic feet (330 cubic meters), or roughly the volume of a
: three-bedroom home.

: In comparison, the international space station has cost on the
: order of $100 billion so far, and encloses about 15,000 cubic feet
: (425 cubic meters) of habitable space.

: Under the current plan, the first full-scale Nautilus module would
: be launched in 2012, and a commercial complex could be available
: for use by 2015.

: Bigelow has already floated ideas for using the test modules as
: commercial opportunities: The Genesis 2 launch, which could take
: place in the September-October time frame, could fly photos and
: mementos into space for less than $300 each. As part of the deal,
: pictures of the items floating in zero-G — as well as views from
: outside — would be beamed back down to Earth. Bigelow Aerospace's
: Web site suggests that a space-based bingo game has been under
: consideration, as well as space art and orbital billboard messages.

: Eventually, space tourism ventures could offer budget
: accommodations in a Nautilus hotel complex, for far less than the
: current $20 million going rate for trips to the international
: space station. One company, Toronto-based IPX Entertainment, has
: said the inflatable module could be used as a venue for zero-G
: athletics.

: NBC News space analyst James Oberg said the key shortcoming for
: Bigelow's plan has always been the question of how to provide
: affordable access to any private facility built in orbit.

: "But two recent trends — the NASA support for commercial space
: transportation to support the future of the existing space
: station, and the French-Russian construction of a Soyuz spacecraft
: launch capability from the equatorial space base at Kourou in
: French Guiana — promise a potential solution to this shortcoming
: in the next six to eight years," Oberg said in an e-mail.

: In the short term, Bigelow is going with low-cost Russian
: launches - and in the longer term, he's planning to use SpaceX's
: Falcon 9 rocket. A 2008 flight is already listed on SpaceX's
: launch manifest. Bigelow is also trying to kick-start the orbital
: options by sponsoring a $50 million America's Space Prize for
: private-sector orbital spaceships.

: Business consultant Jeffrey Manber, former president of the
: Mircorp space venture, said a successful Genesis 1 launch would be
: a "wonderful step forward" in space commercialization. But he
: still had doubts about Bigelow's ability to secure affordable,
: reliable transportation to orbital space modules.

: Under Manber, Mircorp made a deal with the Russians in 2001 for
: the creation of a standalone space station called Mini Station 1.
: The venture never got off the ground — due to the technical
: challenges as well as lack of funds and active opposition from
: NASA. Manber said that NASA now seems much more supportive of
: private space ventures, but that Bigelow still faced the "huge
: challenge" of getting humans safely into orbit.

: "In principle, Bigelow has made enormous strides and needs to be
: complimented. I love people like him," Manber told MSNBC.com.
: "We're all trying to do it, yet the technological hurdles remain
: the chief problem. ... How do you get your customers, your hotel
: visitors, into space on a reliable basis?"

Mark Reiff