INFLATION STATION BY KEN ULMER t might just be the future of private habitats in space. Once in orbit, it will blow up like a giant air bag. The journey to get the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, launched and safely attached to the International Space Station, or ISS, began many months ago for Boeing engineers. The inflatable habitat is NASA-developed technology that’s exclusively licensed by Nevada-based Bigelow Aerospace. Boeing is responsible for ensuring the successful integration of all new hardware and software on the space station, including components from contractors. Boeing engineers worked with NASA and Bigelow to prepare, plan and integrate the inflatable 24 | BOEING FRONTIERS module on the space station. “As NASA’s prime contractor for ISS, maintaining a safe environment for crews on-orbit is our top priority,” said John Vollmer, ISS chief engineer for Boeing. “When new hardware is developed, our Boeing team provides the expertise and skills to determine how to integrate it successfully.” The Bigelow module is scheduled to be launched later this year by a Falcon 9 booster on an unmanned SpaceX cargo resupply mission to the space station. For Bigelow, it represents a key test in its quest to provide expandable space habitats. The company believes this technology will someday be used as living quarters by explorers on the moon, and perhaps eventually on Mars, and maybe even as an orbiting hotel for tourists. The packed dimensions of the Bigelow module are 5.7 feet long and 7.75 feet in diameter (1.7 by 2.4 meters), according to NASA. Once pressurized on the space station, that will increase to 12 feet long and 10.5 feet in diameter (3.7 by 3.2 meters). It weighs about 3,000 pounds (1,360 kilograms) and has 560 cubic feet (15.9 cubic meters) of pressurized volume. The module’s skin is made up of multiple layers of soft material and it has a shield to protect from micro-meteoroids, according to NASA. And it should be quieter. The fabric skin, according to NASA, can better absorb noise than the aluminum walls of the space I
Frontiers March 2016 Issue
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