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A proposal to launch a
private space habitat as early as 2020 has
been announced by Bigelow Aerospace and the United Launch Alliance (ULA).
Called the B330, it will have 330 cubic meters (12,000 cubic feet) of internal
space. It would also be used to “support zero-gravity research including scientific missions and manufacturing processes,” the ULA said in its statement.
“Beyond its industrial and scientific purposes, however, it has potential as a destination for space tourism and a craft for missions destined for the Moon and Mars.”
Tests in 2006 and 2007 proved that the
inflatable technology was feasible. It involves launching a structure in a “folded up”
shape, packed up for launch, and then expanding it in orbit by pumping it full of
air. With this method/technology, space is
greatly reduced on a rocket launch.
CEO Robert Bigelow has always had his eyes on something much much larger, described as a “Disney space station”This partnership with the ULA could be a significant step
in that direction.
The vision and goal is to launch multiple B330s,
connecting them in orbit, creating a private space station
for both companies and tourists . "Each [B330] is able to be its own space station," Bigelow said at the press conference. "They need no other habitats, modules or anything of the sort."
2020 is the year planned to launch one B330 if
not more, on an Atlas V rocket. Since there
are plenty of people on this Earth that are
willing and anxiously waiting to go, the age of the space hotel might not be as far away as you think
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