What's Happening at Bigelow?

[david1971]

Their timeline had a complete Galaxy by now.  Have there been any peeps about development?

[8900]

Galaxy will not be launched due to increasing cost of LV
instead they will make Galaxy for ground testing bed of life support system
they will directly go ahead to building Sundancer, which will be man rated, and possibly will be occuipied by crew
Bigelow also said that they would like to attach a node module, a propulsion module and later full-scale BA330 to the Sundancer module to make it a Commercial Space complex ready for various kind of uses

[david1971]

Even with the non-launch, in theory they were ground-testing Galaxy in late 2008.  Did their schedule slip? 

(For all the bashing SpaceX got for their "Hey, look, it's a rocket" stunt over the past few weeks, it is much more fun for us to see mileposts being reached, even if they are artificial ones.  Of course, you don't get to orbit by making things fun for us...)

[bad_astra]

Even with the non-launch, in theory they were ground-testing Galaxy in late 2008.  Did their schedule slip? 
 

Why would they ground test something they won't be launching?

[nacnud]

To see if they built it right.

[mlorrey]

Their timeline had a complete Galaxy by now.  Have there been any peeps about development?

Yeah they announced after the second Genesis module went up that they were not needing to launch the next larger size. I expect they are waiting for F9 to prove feasible to put the manned model up.

[SpacemanSpiff]

They are still trying to hire enough people to actually come close to producing a Sundancer by 2012 or so...It is 2 yrs now that they have not been able to hire a Senior Life Support System Manager (and that is just the tip of the iceberg on hiring woes)...a pretty essential position for an on-orbit space habitat.

Houston Office Update: finally was completely closed about a month ago. There are currently no operations or employees at the Houston location.

A large company has recently inhabited the old SpaceHab/Astrium location next door. Never saw that many cars in that parking lot before; no sign out front yet as to what company it is that has moved in.

[mlorrey]

They are still trying to hire enough people to actually come close to producing a Sundancer by 2012 or so...It is 2 yrs now that they have not been able to hire a Senior Life Support System Manager (and that is just the tip of the iceberg on hiring woes)...a pretty essential position for an on-orbit space habitat.

Houston Office Update: finally was completely closed about a month ago. There are currently no operations or employees at the Houston location.

A large company has recently inhabited the old SpaceHab/Astrium location next door. Never saw that many cars in that parking lot before; no sign out front yet as to what company it is that has moved in.

Are you saying Bigelow has closed or moved?

[ChefPat]

They are still trying to hire enough people to actually come close to producing a Sundancer by 2012 or so...It is 2 yrs now that they have not been able to hire a Senior Life Support System Manager (and that is just the tip of the iceberg on hiring woes)...a pretty essential position for an on-orbit space habitat.

Houston Office Update: finally was completely closed about a month ago. There are currently no operations or employees at the Houston location.

A large company has recently inhabited the old SpaceHab/Astrium location next door. Never saw that many cars in that parking lot before; no sign out front yet as to what company it is that has moved in.

Just how bad of news is this?

[js117]

They still answer there phone in Las Vegas,NV

[Ronsmytheiii]

Are you saying Bigelow has closed or moved?

Probably consolidating to Las Vegas would be my guess.

[kraisee]

If they really haven't got a chance to launch a Galaxy, I wonder if they couldn't have a chat with Space-X and try to persuade them to lift one as a payload for one of the Falcon-9 or Falcon-9 Heavy test flights.   It's high risk, but if they really can't get a ride any other way, it may be the only remaining option.

Ross.

[ChefPat]

If they really haven't got a chance to launch a Galaxy, I wonder if they couldn't have a chat with Space-X and try to persuade them to lift one as a payload for one of the Falcon-9 or Falcon-9 Heavy test flights.   It's high risk, but if they really can't get a ride any other way, it may be the only remaining option.

Ross.

As I understood it, they aren't even going to build a Galaxy test model.

[daver]

Its been just over a year, 2/5/2008 that Bigelow announced they were working with Lockheed.  I have not heard anything since that press release. http://bigelowaerospace.com/news/?Terms_For_Launch_Services
I'm betting that NASA wasn't very happy with Lockheed.   It would be
embarrassing for Bigelow to have a space station with people in it using American rockets while NASA was buying Russian.

[mmeijeri]

Its been just over a year, 2/5/2008 that Bigelow announced they were working with Lockheed.  I have not heard anything since that press release. http://bigelowaerospace.com/news/?Terms_For_Launch_Services
I'm betting that NASA wasn't very happy with Lockheed.   It would be
embarrassing for Bigelow to have a space station with people in it using American rockets while NASA was buying Russian.

The news archive at http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/news/ has a more recent entry of May 28 2008.

[8900]

pure guess: Probably Bigelow is now facing funding problem as it relies the Bigelow hotel chain to obtain cash flow, as the economic situation is worsening, the cash avaliable to Bigelow will reduce

[Ben the Space Brit]

Agreed.  They need a sugar-daddy or at least someone who can let them tap into a more profitable concern's revenue stream. 

That aside, Sundancer, if operational, could easily be a godsend for Space-X and whoever ends up operating DreamChaser.  After all, having a destination to go to (apart from the ISS) would really open up space tourism as a plaything for the super-rich.

Okay, it is hardly high-concept space travel, but the rubber-necker's dollars will fund more serious pursuits.

[david1971]

Granted everyone's wallet is thinner these days, but isn't Bigelow's net worth roughly an order of magnitude greater than Musk's?  How many people could Robert Bigelow point to and say "I don't have enough $$$, be my sugar daddy"?  Of course there's the Feds, but I don't see them dumping money here.

[William Barton]

Granted everyone's wallet is thinner these days, but isn't Bigelow's net worth roughly an order of magnitude greater than Musk's?  How many people could Robert Bigelow point to and say "I don't have enough $$$, be my sugar daddy"?  Of course there's the Feds, but I don't see them dumping money here.

It might simply be the difference between "net worth" and liquid assets. Bigelow's money could be in the form of hotel buildings, whereas Musk's was in the form of bank accounts. Now, of course, Musk's money may largely be in the form of SpaceX (buildings, machinery, rockets...).

[ChefPat]

Granted everyone's wallet is thinner these days, but isn't Bigelow's net worth roughly an order of magnitude greater than Musk's?  How many people could Robert Bigelow point to and say "I don't have enough $$$, be my sugar daddy"?  Of course there's the Feds, but I don't see them dumping money here.

It might simply be the difference between "net worth" and liquid assets. Bigelow's money could be in the form of hotel buildings, whereas Musk's was in the form of bank accounts. Now, of course, Musk's money may largely be in the form of SpaceX (buildings, machinery, rockets...).

Bigelow also owns a substantial number of apartment buildings around the US as well as a construction company that has offices in several states. IIRC his stated worth is $1.5 billion, but that would be very difficult to turn into cash.