Bigelow Aerospace News September 14, 2006

'Fly Your Stuff' featured in Popular Science Magazine
Bigelow Aerospace's 'Fly Your Stuff' Program is featured on page 48 of this month's Popular Science Magazine in a story by Michael Belfiore. The program ends November 1, 2006 or when the space is filled, whichever comes first. Genesis II is scheduled for launch in early 2007. More at http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/multiverse/news.php

Genesis II will be the ONLY opportunity to participate in the 'Fly Your Stuff' Program.
The 'Fly You Stuff' Program allows you to send a photo or item to space. Once there, it will be photographed by the cameras inside Genesis II and that image will appear on our website, along with text that you provide. More at http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/fly_stuff/
If you made a 'Fly Your Stuff' reservation and have not yet completed the transaction, please do so by today, September 15, 2006. After today, all unredeemed reservations will be released to the public.

The Bigelow Aerospace website is constantly evolving and adding new features, we encourage visiting us at http://www.bigelowaerospace.com for new features and updates.

Dateline September 15, 2006: Space News From the Internet

• A story on Anousheh Ansari's upcoming flight to the ISS and women in space. Don't forget her blog. Alan Boyle has more.
  
• ATK, Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Form Team to Compete for Ares I Upper Stage.
  
• An article on the Orion Program recently given to Lockheed Martin.
  
• An interview with Danny Davis, manager of the Ares I upper stage.
  
• Micheal Belfiore has some comments on Orion. Wait Micheal, tell us what you really think.
  
• He also has two articles in Octobler's Popular Science. One on Bigelow Aerospace and one on the Lunar Landing Challange.
  
• Infomation on the upcomming Rocket Racing League.
  
• Xena, the newest dwarf planet, has offically been named Eris. I kind of liked Xena, myself.
  
• Weird new planet found.
  
• Bigelow Aerospace has added games to their web site.
  
• HobbySpace has a new page devoted to New Space.
  

Fwd: SpaceX September 2006 Update

Posted September 8, 2006 SpaceX Wins NASA Competition to Replace Space Shuttle As you may have read by now, SpaceX was one of two winners of the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services competition.  The SpaceX portion of the award is $278 million for three flight demonstrations of Falcon 9 carrying our Dragon spaceship, which are scheduled to occur in late 2008 and 2009.  The final flight will culminate in the transfer of cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) and return of cargo safely to Earth.   The agreement also contains an option of similar value for three demonstration flights of the seven person manned version of Dragon, which in this case will end up with us taking people to the ISS and back. If the demonstrations are successful, SpaceX will be in pole position to win ISS resupply business worth about $300M to $500M per year from 2011 to 2015 and perhaps beyond. There is obviously a tremendous amount that needs to be accomplished between now and then, but, provided SpaceX executes well, this win constitutes the first part of two to three billion dollars of NASA business. To ensure a rapid transition from cargo to crew capability, the cargo Dragon and crew Dragon are almost identical, with the exception of the crew escape system, the life support system and onboard controls that allow the crew to take over control from the flight computer when needed. This simulation shows Dragon approaching and berthing with the ISS. The reason that the simulation, which was developed by Odyssey Space Research, one of our partners in the COTS competition, is not as pretty as it could be is that this is not an "artist's impression". The software uses true physics and true dimensions and has been used for actual rendezvous analysis of ISS visiting vehicles, such as the European ATV and Japanese HTV. It is interesting to see the solar arrays on the ISS move to keep facing the sun and watch the ISS light up as it moves out of the Earth's shadow.   Since we already have three Falcon 9 launches on contract, the NASA flights will probably represent the 4th, 5th and 6th flights of Falcon 9, but will definitely be the first three flights of the Dragon spaceship.  In addition to servicing NASA needs, I expect that F9/Dragon will also be of service to Bigelow Aerospace, which recently had a very successful flight of their sub-scale commercial space station.  Bigelow Aerospace and SpaceX have an ongoing dialogue to ensure that F9/Dragon meets the human transportation needs of their planned space station as efficiently as possible. Apart from a few minor bits & pieces, both Falcon 9 and Dragon are intended to be fully reusable. The F9 first stage, F9 second stage and Dragon are all designed to land via parachute in water, although we could always add airbags later for a land landing, if that turned out to be lower cost. If the recovery and reuse is successful, the F9/Dragon vehicle will be the world's first fully reusable system (the Shuttle system loses the large orange tank every flight, so is considered partially reusable). Making the economics of reusability work well, which is not a given even if all pieces are recovered, is fundamental to achieving a revolutionary reduction in spaceflight costs. If a Boeing 747 could only be used for a single flight, your ticket cost would be enormous and this is no less true for a rocket. As you might imagine, SpaceX has an increased need for talented and driven people to join the team. If you are either personally interested or know someone who is a first rate candidate, please take a look at our jobs page.               Dragon on F9 Without & With Escape Tower Dragon Side View Dragon with Cargo   Dragon with Seven Crew and Solar Panels (reminds of me of a particular mouse)   Dragon Approaching Space Station   Dragon Berthed at Space Station Falcon 1 The current schedule calls for a late November launch of Demo Flight 2 for DARPA.  However, given that we have increased the number of system aborts by a factor of 30, there is a high likelihood of false alarms in the countdown process pushing our actual launch into December.   The updated Merlin 1A engine with the robustness improvements passed its acceptance test last month, running 1.5 mission duty cycles at slightly better than expected combustion efficiency.  It is now mounted to the first stage, which is undergoing final checkout and will soon be transferred to the Kwajalein cargo ship with an expected arrival on island in October.   The last remaining major milestone is the acceptance test of the upper stage.  In this test, we will run the entire integrated second stage, including the avionics bay, for a full mission duty cycle.  Although the sub-components have already been acceptance tested, this provides a full checkout of the assembled upper stage, which will surface any infant mortality issues at the systems level. Once the upper stage completes its acceptance test next month, it will be flown to Kwajalein.  The upper stage is small enough to fit, just barely, through the cargo door of one of the regular flights to Kwaj and is quite light (about 1200 lbs), so there is not much of a cost penalty for air freight. The third and fourth Falcon 1 vehicles are already in production at our Los Angeles plant for the Defense Dept (OFT/NRL) and Malaysian missions next year. The former, which follows Demo Flights 1 and 2 for DARPA, will constitute our first operational mission, where the flight is about the satellite rather than the rocket. The fact that our first flight was only a test or beta flight, containing a student satellite in lieu of an empty bay, seems to have been overlooked by much of the media. Given that the first Lockheed Athena, Boeing Delta III, Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL, Ariane 5, etc. all failed and those companies are the mainstay of western space launch, we are not at all discouraged. The reason SpaceX started out with a strategy of building the smallest useful orbital rocket was primarily to minimize the cost of mistakes. Far better to iron out problems at F1 scale than F9 scale. Kwajalein Launch Site Upgrades The payload processing facilities on Omelek have been significantly upgraded.  The clean room for processing satellites is now much larger with better than 10K cleanliness levels and very tight humidity & temperature control.  It is worth noting that the satellite is kept at a controlled temperature and humidity at all times and is never exposed to ambient conditions.  Satellite processing works as follows:   1. Customer brings satellite to the clean room at the launch pad (facilitated by SpaceX) 2. Satellite is removed from its protective shipping container and encapsulated in the fairing 3. We attach the mobile AC system to the fairing 4. Fairing is taken out of the clean room and into the adjacent main hangar, where it is rotated horizontal and attached to the rocket   In addition, the office space on Omelek has been doubled with the addition of a dedicated set of offices for customers. Pricing I should probably say something about pricing, since some people think that it is only a matter of time before we raise prices significantly. They are missing the point. The very purpose of SpaceX is to lower the cost and increase the reliability of spaceflight by a factor of ten or more (relative to current US pricing) and everyone at our company is hell bent on making that happen. Humanity needs to become a true spacefaring civilization, where spaceflight is affordable by normal citizens and extending life to another planet is realistic, and the fundamental barriers to making that happen are cost and reliability. ----Elon---- < Archived Updates

Benjamin Franklin Citizen Scientist Award

News release

9/1/2006 For immediate release

Contact: John Powell
JP Aerospace
(916) 858-0185
www.jpaerospace.com
jpowell@jpaerospace.com

Dr. Shawn Carlson
Society for Amateur Scientists
(401) 398-7001
www.sas.org

John Powell, President of JP Aerospace, was honored with the 2006
Benjamin Franklin Citizen Scientist Award
at the fourth annual National Citizen Science Conference in
Providence, Rhode Island. He won for his years of
effort and achievements in space science, including space education
through his PongSat program, where
thousands of students have been able to fly their experiments, called
PongSats, to the edge of space at no charge.

Dr. Shawn Carlson, Founder and Executive Director of the Society for
Amateur Scientists, presented the award
during the Franklin Awards Banquet on August 26, 2006.

"JP has been leading quite a revolution in space science for over 27
years and has an extraordinary record of
success," said Carlson. "His commitment to inspiring the next
generation through his PongSat program was
cited in particular by the selection committee."

The award was created to recognize and promote excellence in citizen
science, for important contributions to
science without an earned Ph.D. Previous winners include astronomer
David Levy, paleontologist Jack Horner,
and electronics author/writer Forrest M. Mims III. A panel of some of
America's most distinguished scientific talent
chooses the winner from a list of candidates.

Powell's acceptance speech and lecture discussed his research working
at the edge of space, flying student
experiments on the company's high altitude platforms, and a call to
action in regards to the current state of science
education. The company is also known for its high altitude airship research.

JP Aerospace, "America's OTHER Space Program," is volunteer-based
research organization dedicated to
achieving cheap access to space "by just doing it." The group has
flown 87 missions to date.

The mission of the Society for Amateur Scientists is to remove the
roadblocks that prevent ordinary people, of all
ages, from participating in extraordinary science. Run by a unique
consortium of professional and amateur scientists,
the 12-year old organization is the only non-profit research and
education organization dedicated to helping people
enrich their lives by following their passion to take part in
scientific adventures of all kinds.

PongSat is a registered trademark of JP Aerospace.

Lockheed Martin Wins the Orion Contract

NASA selected Lockheed Martin to build the Orion vehicle to return to the Moon.

• Commercial Space Watch
• Reuters
• Michael Belfiore
• MSNBC
• NASA Watch
• NASA Spaceflight
• RLV & Space Transport News
• Florida Today
• AP
• Lockheed Martin Press Release
• NASA Press Release
• Space.com

Dateline August 31, 2006, Space News from the Internet

• If you want to know why I quick the Planetary Society, Dr. Friedman gives a good summary. Mark Whittington has a good reply.
• The FAA has approved Jeff Bezos' plans for a suborbital launch operation in West Texas. This would be the first private spaceport.

Dateline August 29, 2006, Space News from the Internet

• A new survey on space tourism is out.
• Tickets for the X Prize Cup are on sale. You can buy them here.
• NASA has performed a drop test on the Ares I.
• Russia is planning to build a new space station in 2015 to better see all of Russia.
• James Van Allen's last paper was on the possibility of an asteroid smacking the Earth.

Dateline August 28, 2006, Space News from the Internet

• Anousheh Ansari, has been named to the Soyuz TMA-9 primary crew in September.
• NASA is going to announce the winner of the CEV contract on Thursday, August 31st.
• Mars has the highest clouds in the solar system.
• STS-115 has been postponed due to the hurricane. It is being rolled back into a shelter.
• Pluto has demoted to a dwarf-planet. It is a dark day in the solar system. I think the IAU's definition is pretty muddy. I may write about it later.
• A review of the two COTS winners.
• Bigelow Aerospace is going to have a high flight rate once it's station is in orbit. One launch every two weeks!
• Images of SpaceX's planned COTS architecture.
• An big article on Elon Musk and SpaceX.
• A little info on SpaceShipTwo.

SpaceX Press Release on Winning COTS

SpaceX has released a press statement on being one of the COTS finalists.

As part of this Agreement, SpaceX will execute three flights of its Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon spaceship. These will be the first flights of the Dragon spaceship and the fourth, fifth and sixth flights of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle.

Rocketplane/Kistler Press Release on COTS Win

Here is the press release on Rocketplane/Kistler after the announcement today that they and SpaceX are the two finalists for the COTS program.

COTS Winners Announced

And the winners are Rocketplane Kistler and SpaceX
Kislter's website is here (not sure how new it is).

[upate: Cots Watch has a running Q&A transcript.

Here is some snipets:

How is the money allocated? And does this mean you will purchase from both or just one? No one is gauranteed a purchase out of this since the actual purchase of flights will follow a standard RFP. $207 mllion for RPK and $278 million for SpaceX.

Is there some definite notional market? Yes. On the order of half a dozen flights per year total.

If one of these companies hits the ball out of the park, what does that do to the CEV project? It seems that could put the CEV out of business? CEV is designed for the lunar mission. Just because you can go to the space station doesn't mean you can go to the moon. So the CEV's primary mission is the moon.]

Dateline August 18, 2006, Space News from the Internet

• Remember the COTS announcement should be today at 3:00pm CST (4:00pm EST). Her is an interview with Mike Griffin about it. I like this statement:

"I think the space business has not progressed as rapidly as did aviation, in part, because we did not have that industrial entrepreneurship. Space from the first was viewed as more of a government-only activity. Frankly, I deplore that view," Griffin emphasized.

• A Scaled Composite pilot was injured while training for an airshow.

Dateline August 17, 2006, Space News from the Internet

• NASA approved an August 27 launch for Atlantis.
• Videos on the development of the Ares I and V.
• SpaceDEV continues to increase their revenue.
• The RAND report questions the merger of Boeing and Delta's launch systems to form the ULA.
• Michael Goodspaceguy Nelson is running for the Washington State Senate seat. He has a blog on space colonization.
• The MOON Resort and Real Estate development project will be exhibited at the X-Prize Cup in New Mexico this year.
• Voyager is now 100 AUs out.

An Interview with Dr. William Schneider, Developer of the TransHab Architecture

Dr. William Schneider joined NASA in 1962 and went on to work as an Aerospace Engineer working on flight components for Apollo. He moved through different divisions at JSC until he was made Senior Engineer for Space Systems and Assistant Director for Engineering. In 1997 he created the basic architecture for the Transit Habitat or TransHab for short. Since his retirement he has supported Bigelow Aerospace's use of the technology to build & launch Genesis I into orbit. This interview was conducted by Space Pragmatism in August after the success of Genesis I.

SP: You came up with theTransHabB concept in 1997 while working as Senior Engineer at Johnson Space Center. Was it one of those light bulb moments, or were inflatables something you had been working on for a while. In other words, where did the idea come from? How much did Dr. Lowell's Livermore Labs inflatable paper influence your design?

Dr. Schneider: It was not one of those light bulb moments. Actually I had, for some time, felt that with the newer high strength fibers such as Kevlar etc,
one could design a lightweight structure for space habitat. It was not
until I was asked to design a lighter weight habitat for the space
crew's mission to Mars than the large aluminum structure that was
envisioned. I am not familiar with the paper by Dr. Lowell that you
reference so it did not influence the design.

SP: I have read that the original purpose of tTransHabHAB was for a Mars mission. Is that right? How did the idea of using it as a habitation module for the ISS come about?

Dr. Schneider: The original purpose of the TransHab design was for the Mars
Mission. The Habitat for the Mars Mission was required to be 600 cubic
meters. For an aluminum shell structure, the type that had been
conceived, to be that large while being launched (enduring high launch
acceleration loads plus high launch vibrations)required a thick wall,
and heavy wall stiffening, and because of the large surface area the
entire Habitat became prohibitively heavy. An inflatable, however, could
be launched in the collapsed configuration, strapped tightly around a
central core so that it could easily withstand the harsh launch
environment (in that configuration) and once in orbit, where the
acceleration and vibration loads are zero, it would be inflated to the
required volume.

I pulled together a team of engineers and we performed the detail design
including deployable Micrometeorite and Orbital debris MM/OD protection.
The TransHab was designed and successfully tested to withstand four
atmospheres. No airplane cockpit or spacecraft crew module today could
be pressurized to that high level. The deployable MM/OD protection was
demonstrated to be better than a three inch of solid Aluminum.

The large volume afforded by the Mars TransHab Module, which
could be launched in the Shuttle, soon became a strong consideration for
the Space Station Module since it was approximately four to five times
as volumous an a single Aluminum Space Station Module.

SP: Congress cancellTransHabHAB in 2000. Was that expected or was the team shocked?

Dr. Schneider: It was not expected by the team and was a true shock. At that time I had already retired from NASA and was Teaching at Texas A & M.

SP: When did you leave NASA for Texas A&M?

Dr. Schneider: Aug 2000.

SP: How did Robert Bigelow meet you? Was he looking at inflatable spacecraft before you met or did you introduce the idea to him?

Dr. Schneider: Robert Bigelow read about the TransHab in the May 1999 issue of "Air & Space" Smithsonian (I believe) and saw that it was cancelled. He
contacted NASA and eventually me and asked if I would consult with him
(and his newly formed Bigelow Aerospace co.) in the development of this
Inflatable Module.

SP: Was NASA happy to deal with Bigelow Aerospace or were there a lot of bureaucratic headaches? Were you involved in the technology transfer?

Dr. Schneider: NASA was very happy to deal with Robert Bigelow.

SP: How involved have you been with Bigelow Aerospace as they have taken tTransHabHAB idea and turned it into Genesis and soon the Nautilus?

Dr. Schneider: I have been very involved with every detail of the design and
structural analysis of the Genesis as well as the other larger sized
inflatable.

SP: Where were you during the launch of Genesis I last month? What did you think of your inflatable ideas finally finding their way into space?

Dr. Schneider: I was on vacation on a mountain top in Colorado. The Russians had
delayed the launch approximately six weeks so I went on vacation
figuring the launch would transpire two weeks after I returned. But they
launched it during my vacation.

I thought it was "Fantastic!" The Module, by design, withstood the
launch loads and vibrations (which are much higher on the Russian rocket
than on the Shuttle) got successfully into 300 mile Earth Orbit,
successfully inflated, successfully held the pressure without leaks,
successfully deployed the solar cells and many cameras, etc.
It is a "Dream Come True" for the designers and something I am most
happy for Robert Bigelow himself.

SP: Do you think Bigelow's schedule for a Genesis II and a commercial space station by 2015 is reasonable?

Dr. Schneider: Yes I do.

SP: Have you noticed a difference in the work environment at Bigelow Aerospace and NASA JSC?

Dr. Schneider: There were some differences.

Clearly, Bigelow Aerospace does not have the Washington
bureaucracy to deal with.

Robert Bigelow, himself, is a highly motivated individual with a
high level of "can do it spirit." He, as I have said before, is much
like Howard Hughes. He is into every aspect of the development. He is
very bright even in the detailed engineering (even though not his field
at all)

When I first started going to Las Vegas, since his team was new,
many were not as experienced as the strong team of engineers a NASA
(JSC) that I was used to, but shortly they became very mature and in a
short time became very technically knowledgeable and experienced. I am
truly proud to work with each of them at Bigelow Aerospace.

Dateline August 16, 2006, Space News from the Internet

• Mark Whittingham has an article on Bigelow's Space Hotel.
• We may be getting three new planets in our solar system if and IAU panel of Astronomers has their way. They want to add Ceres, Charon, and "Xena" to the list. The proposal says any body that has enough gravity to be round and is not a moon or star is a planet. According to Mike Brown, who discovered Xena, it would give us 53 planets right now. Works for me. More from MSNBC.
• Part 3 of an interview with Elon Musk.
• Planet Space is building a space port in Nova Scotia?
• Interview with Mike Griffin.

20,000 Hits

Yesterday I received my 20,000th hit. Thanks to all my readers. It seemed like only yesterday I hit 10,000.

New Photos from Genesis I

Bigelow has released two new photos. Enjoy.

Dateline August 15, 2006, Space News from the Internet

• NASA is going to announce the COTS winners/finalists Friday, August 18 at 4pm EST. More from Alan Boyle.
• NASA is releasing their lessons learned on rocket development.
• Jeff Bell wants to scrap the stick.
• Info on SpaceX's Dragon capsule.
• News on Michael Belfiore's forthcoming book.
• Some information on the Lunar Landing Challenge coming up.
• Report on Masten's Engine development.
• COTS as in-orbit refueling.
• Environmental assessment for the X-Prize Cup.

Bigelow Aerospace Accelerates Future Plans After Genesis I Success

Genesis II, Launching in Early 2007, Will Now Be Only Opportunity to ‘Fly Your Stuff’

Las Vegas, Nevada – August 11, 2006, 3 p.m. PDT Due to a number of factors related to the outstanding performance of Genesis I, the hoped-for adequate performance of Genesis II and various additional factors — including, but not limited to, domestic and international issues forecast over the next four to five years bearing upon America’s transportation and launch deficits — we have made several bold decisions. An important announcement early in 2007 subsequent to the launch of Genesis II shall expose some of our plans.

Due to this change in direction, the Genesis II will be the only opportunity to fly photos and items for the “Fly Your Stuff” program. The general public is being urged to act quickly or they will lose their chance to be a part of this exciting program. Items and photos will be accepted only prior to November 1, 2006, or until all reservations are sold out on Genesis II, whichever comes first. Please be aware that there will be no second chances to fly personal items or photos in space through the “Fly Your Stuff” program.

Additionally, we are pleased to announce the “Fly Your Stuff” Money Back Guarantee. If, after 90 days, we cannot produce a recognizable image of a customer’s specific photo or item within Genesis II, Bigelow Aerospace will refund the entire purchase price to that customer. For full details, please see www.bigelowaerospace.com/fly_stuff/moneyback.php.

Reservations are limited, and photos and items are accepted on a “first come, first served” basis.

For more information on the “Fly Your Stuff” program, go to www.bigelowaerospace.com and click on the “Fly Your Stuff” link.

- Robert T. Bigelow

Genesis I Mission Update

Las Vegas, Nevada – August 10, 2006, 3 p.m. PDT One of the last major objectives of the Genesis I mission has been achieved, as we are nearing a full stabilization of the space module.

After discovering and fixing several minor glitches, the Genesis I Attitude Control System (ACS) has been activated. It has been active for the past several days and has dramatically slowed down the rotation of the spacecraft.

The rate has gone from one revolution per six minutes, to less than one revolution per orbit (approximately 100 minutes.) We expect to achieve a gravity gradient stabilized orbit, where the major axis of the vehicle is pointing at Earth throughout its orbit, in the next several days. This will give a substantial boost to the duration and reliability of our communication links with the spacecraft, and is another major achievement for the Genesis program.

- Robert T. Bigelow