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In this week's print issue of Space News, Mike N. Gold, who is the corporate counsel for Bigelow Aerospace (BA), has an op-ed in which he describes an effort by his company to force the State Department to change the way it implements the ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) process. Currently, essentially any technology related to space is considered a munition and must be reviewed before exported, or, as in the case of the Genesis vehicles, simply taken in hand outside the country by a US company to launch on a foreign rocket. (In a previous op-ed, Mr. Bigelow...

WASHINGTON -- Bigelow Aerospace officials said Feb. 1 they are making progress in their negotiations with United Launch Alliance for six initial launches for their planned commercial space station, starting around 2011. Subsequently the company hopes to conduct as many as a dozen launches per year as the new facility becomes fully operational. Bigelow Aerospace and Denver-based United Launch Alliance (ULA) have been working together for over a year studying what it would take to human-rate the Atlas 5 rocket. Industry sources said Bigelow Aerospace is ready to place an order that includes six launches starting in 2011 to begin...

Bigelow Aerospace intends to spur development of a commercial space vehicle to take people into Earth orbit by offering to sign a contract worth $760 million with any company that can meet their criteria, company president Robert Bigelow says. Speaking with New Scientist at the company's headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada, Bigelow said the offer is meant to head off a crisis over the lack of transportation options available to get people to the large inflatable space stations it plans to launch by early 2010. Bigelow has already successfully launched and deployed two test inflatable spacecraft. It hopes to rent...

London, Aug 15 : Bigelow Aerospace might launch its commercial space station before 2010, according to a company statement. The Las Vegas, Nevada based Bigelow Aerospace has successfully placed two inflatable spacecraft, called Genesis I and Genesis II, in Earth orbit and eventually wants to launch habitable space stations for space tourists. Initially, the company had planned to orbit a third spacecraft called Galaxy in 2008 before lofting its Sundancer space station, able to support a crew of three, into orbit in 2010. But a statement by company founder Robert Bigelow posted on the company's website on Tuesday said that...

Bigelow Aerospace's Genesis 2 inflatable space module has been turned into an orbital billboard - not the kind you can see from Earth, but the kind that can project ads or announcements onto the spacecraft's skin itself, with a picture taken for posterity. And as of now, the billboard is open for business, according to the private space effort's billionaire backer. The first picture showing the billboard in action was put up on Bigelow Aerospace's Web site on Thursday, and company founder Robert Bigelow reported that more samples were posted today. The samples range from small company logos to big...

A prototype of an inflatable space station module successfully expanded and deployed its solar panels after being launched into orbit, developer Bigelow Aerospace said. A Russian rocket lofted the Genesis II module into space on Thursday. The 15-foot-long module's flexible exterior was folded around an inner core for launch and had to expand from a diameter of about 6.2 feet to 8 feet. The solar panels also had to extend to supply power. Both actions were confirmed, said spokesman Chris Reed. Genesis II also transmitted pictures of itself in orbit. Bigelow Aerospace of Nevada is privately developing the technology with...

Private space station company Bigelow Aerospace, based in North Las Vegas, Nevada, successfully launched its Genesis 2 prototype space station from a Russian Dnepr rocket on Thursday, June 28, 2007, at 11:02 a.m. EDT (15:02 GMT). The launch occurred at Yasny Launch Base, a Russian strategic missile facility. The Dnepr booster rocket is a converted ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile), which launches artificial satellites into orbit. Russian-Ukrainian launch service provider ISC Kosmotras coordinates the launches of Dnepr rockets, the first of which occurred on April 21, 1999 when it successfully inserted an UoSAT-12 satellite into orbit. The Genesis spacecraft is an...

For the last several years, there has been a degree of mystique surrounding Bigelow Aerospace. While based in a city best known for flashy spectacle and overexuberance, the Las Vegas company kept a very low profile: people in the industry knew they were working on something related to the inflatable habitat technology the company had licensed from NASA after the TransHab effort came to an end—perhaps for space hotels, given that company founder Robert Bigelow owned the Budget Suites of America hotel chain—but beyond that there was little information about the company and its plans for that technology. And that...

Private space exploration took a potentially significant step forward this week as Nevada-based Bigelow Aerospace announced plans to send a series of inflatable space stations into orbit over the next decade. The spacecraft, initially designed by NASA for use with the International Space Station, would be available to train astronauts from nations not currently active in space, as well as companies that could manufacture unique products in weightlessness. "We think the time will come when orbiting space complexes won't be considered a novelty, but a necessity," said company President Robert Bigelow, who made a fortune as founder of Budget Suites...

While its Genesis 1 expandable module circles the Earth, Bigelow Aerospace of North Las Vegas, Nev., is preparing a follow-on inflatable spacecraft for launch and getting ready to unveil its long-term business plan for space habitats. As an entrepreneurial space development company, Bigelow Aerospace has as its primary focus the development of habitable complexes for a multitude of space users. The firm’s first foothold in Earth orbit was the Genesis 1 module, which launched July 12, 2006, atop a Dnepr booster under contract with ISC Kosmotras, a Russian and Ukrainian rocket-for-hire company. The booster — a silo-launched converted Cold War...

The successful development of Genesis I has brought forth the creation of Genesis II. Since our first launch, we have been able to learn and grow from the information we compiled from our orbiting vehicle — expanding our knowledge to improve upon our new creation. We have been able to use and improve upon many of the materials and systems found on Genesis I and incorporate them into the construction of Genesis II, resulting in a similar, yet improved vehicle. With upgrades to vehicle control and sensory equipment, we are able to improve our interaction with the public. These new...

Even as Bigelow Aerospace gears up for launching its second prototype space station into orbit, the company has set its sights on something much, much bigger: a project to assemble full-blown space villages at a work site between Earth and the moon, then drop them to the lunar surface, ready for immediate move-in. In an exclusive interview this week, Las Vegas billionaire Robert Bigelow confirmed that his company has been talking about the concept with NASA – and that the first earthly tests of the techniques involved would take place later this year. The scenario he sketched out would essentially...

Seven months into its open-ended orbital shakedown cruise, Bigelow Aerospace's inflatable test vehicle Genesis-I is performing smoothly, a company official has advised IEEE Spectrum. As previously reported in this month's issue, the mission was to test variations of spacecraft systems for future vehicles leading to the development of an inhabitable orbital outpost for a wide range of functions, potentially including tourism, in the next decade. "We have been monitoring all of the onboard systems many times a day," says Jay Ingham, deputy program manager at the Bigelow Aerospace plant, in North Las Vegas, Nev. "We have been very pleased with...

WWE.com has learned that former WWE Superstar Scott "Bam Bam" Bigelow has passed away in Florida. Kevin Doll, the Public Information Director for the Pasco County Sheriff's Office confirmed that Bigelow was found dead early this morning in his home in Hudson, Fla. "We can confirm that Scott Bigelow was found in his home this morning. At this time the cause of death is unknown," Doll told WWE.com. Doll also confirmed that the Pasco-Pinellas Counties medical examiner has taken the body and an autopsy will be performed. Bigelow, 45, worked for WWE, ECW and WCW extensively throughout his 20-year sports-entertainment...

LAS VEGAS, NV, September 21, 2006 - Lockheed Martin has entered into an agreement with Bigelow Aerospace to pursue the potential of launching passengers on human-qualified Atlas V rockets. The destination would be a Bigelow-built space complex assembled from expandable modules. Bigelow's first launch of a prototype expandable module, Genesis I, took place on July 12th atop a Dnepr rocket from Russia. Bigelow Aerospace, located in Las Vegas, NV, plans to provide a low-cost, low-Earth orbit (LEO) human-qualified space complex that is accessible to the private sector for commercial activities. The Bigelow architecture can be adapted for a variety of...

Bigelow Aerospace's Genesis II inflatable spacecraft, to be launched in January, will carry cockroaches, scorpions and ants into space and have more cameras and biological specimen boxes than its predecessor, Genesis I. Following the success of Genesis I, launched on 12 July, the Las Vegas-based company is expanding its study of animals as it wants to see multiple generations live aboard the spacecraft. Genesis II, like its predecessor, will test avionics, seal technology, oxygen tanks and inflation-modulating actuator valves. Genesis II will also use Kevlar membranes to restrain inflation, and layers of specialist material to limit interior exposure to radiation,...

The orbiting of the privately-bankrolled Genesis-1 expandable spacecraft by Bigelow Aerospace is a step forward in the company’s vision to provide a low-cost, low Earth orbit human-rated space complex that is accessible to the commercial sector. The general concept for "inflatable" space habitats was initially developed by NASA for use in a proposed mission to Mars, hence the name, "Transit Habitat" or "TransHab" as it was commonly referred to. That work was curtailed in 2000, falling victim to NASA budget cuts. Since that time, Bigelow Aerospace took the basic concept, redefined it, moved the technology generations ahead and in many...

The menagerie of entrepreneurial space, or “NewSpace”, companies, have taken vastly different approaches to public relations. At one extreme are the companies that have been very open about the status of their development efforts, sharing the latest news—good or bad—with the media and the public. Armadillo Aerospace, for example, blogs essentially all the details of their work, replete with video and photos, regardless of success or failure. SpaceX has also provided regular updates on their efforts direct from company founder Elon Musk, although those updates have been less frequent in recent months. At the other extreme are those companies who...

On a 50-acre spread in North Las Vegas, near the intersection of Warp Drive and Skywalker Way, the prototypes for future space stations are being built from strips of fortified fabric, supertough inflatable skin and lattices of metal. Today a gaggle of journalists and space entrepreneurs got a rare look inside Bigelow Aerospace's industrial-park production facility and mission control center, just a week and a day after the company's launch of its Genesis 1 orbital test module. We were treated to three and a half hours of talk and tours, led by billionaire Robert Bigelow and his top engineers.

The Genesis-1 module orbiting the Earth not only transmits its temperature, integrity, power levels and overall health—it also signals entrepreneurial zeal and private sector spunk. As a pathfinder demonstrator spacecraft, the Genesis-1 mission marks the birth of a long-term vision to build and orbit space structures for commercial and public use. Footing the bill on this business venture—now gauged at upwards of a $75 million outlay—is Robert Bigelow. He is owner of the Budget Suites of America Hotel Chain among other endeavors and is the module mogul of Bigelow Aerospace in North Las Vegas, Nevada. Last week’s launch of the...