BA330 could be orbited by a Delta-IV Heavy or soon a Falcon Heavy. If they ever build the 2100 SLS could launch it in one shot.Crew access not too far out.
I figure SpaceX in about 5 yearsJason
I get the feeeling that as soon as someone has a commercial vehicle that can reliably get cargo and crew into orbit, Bigelow will be contracting with them. I figure SpaceX in about 5 years or The Dreamchaser crew in 7 years. I figure that Bigelow et al, would like a few manned flights under the belts of anyone he plans to contract with before he commits.Jason
Quote from: newpylong on 11/12/2013 04:26 pmBA330 could be orbited by a Delta-IV Heavy or soon a Falcon Heavy. If they ever build the 2100 SLS could launch it in one shot.Crew access not too far out.No question about that, but they have been in hibernation for a couple of years or so now and they will be until they can actually put people on their space stations. There is no point in launching a habitat that can not be inhabited. In order to do that, you require a frequent stream of people going back and forth. That requires at least one, better two commercial operators. So far none are available and wont be until at least 2015, or later.So they have to wait. The NASA thing is only going to provide some minor interim funding until then.
How the spacestations are progressing depends on how crafty Bigelow is with his NASA contracts.BEAM gives him a proven flexible habitat skin and Common Berthing Module (CBM). The communications equipment may also be usable in future Bigelow spacestations.If Bigelow gets the BEAM2 contract for a module with life support then he has parts that are very useful for future spacestations.
Jeff Foust @jeff_foust 47mBigelow: mocking up a next-gen s/c with 3,250m^3 volume, needs an 8-meter fairing; would be interested in using SLS for that.3,250m^3 volume that's over 3 times that of the iss
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like they will have any sort of habitat ready to launch. All they've done lately is build models.
Quote from: Lurker Steve on 11/12/2013 06:14 pm Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like they will have any sort of habitat ready to launch. All they've done lately is build models. Build buildings, mockups and subscale modules. Now BA will have a full scale functional module at ISS (albeit not full scale as envisioned for their large modules).For BA to actually build one of their giant platforms, they need customers. Apart from NASA, there is no customer. Therefore, the NASA contract is supremely important.
True although it sounds like he's claiming to be able to self-fund two rounds of "build it and they will come"?