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Orbital Resort to Launch by 2010
Posted by
samzenpus
on Wed Feb 16, 2005 11:09 PM
from the gravity-free-service dept.
from the gravity-free-service dept.
Neil Halelamien writes "Popular Science has a cover feature on self-made billionaire and space enthusiast Robert Bigelow (who's been mentioned before on Slashdot). The article has new info on Bigelow's plans to launch a 'CSS Skywalker' orbital resort by 2010 and sell space habitats to others, such as scientists, manufacturers, Hollywood producers, and countries. The habitats will be made of inflatable modules with multilayered kevlar-like walls. A prototype habitat will be launching on a SpaceX Falcon V next year. To help ensure cost-effective access to the station, Bigelow is also running the $50 million America's Space Prize. In the long run, he plans to use the modules as the basis for space yachts and moon cruisers."
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Can't wait (Score:5, Funny)
Space amazes me, and good luck to Robert Bigelo.
Re:Can't wait (Score:4, Funny)
One way trip to Vegas: $79
One way trip to the moon: $79
Return trip: Priceless
I don't understand why people want to go to space? (Score:4, Interesting)
It has an enormous impact on the body from the G force, gamma rays, muscle atrophy, and long term consequences. (Doesn't NASA advise astronauts to have children before going into space, due to the impact on reproductive DNA?)
And when you're up there, aren't you just going to see what going to an IMAX theatre could show you, just in rather less comfort?
I don't know, maybe I'm being unadventurous. Pioneering is cool and I wholeheartedly support the professionals going up there, but "space tourism," I'm just not sure I get it.
I'm quite happy for the Neils and Buzzes of our time to do it for me.
Re:I don't understand why people want to go to spa (Score:4, Funny)
How's this then: put up your habitat, then give it about 1/6th G equivalent spin.
Many, many people have thought it likely that reduced gravity will extend the human lifetime signifigantly, like maybe even a 50% increase.
Reduced gravity would also make some of the problems the elderly face less of a bother; getting around would be MUCH easier.
If someone puts something like this up, I can easily see the upper-class elderly (who are capable of making the trip) putting there $$$ into a trust to pay for their living in orbit.
And, when their money runs out, it would be IMPOSSIBLE to send them back to 1 G, so you can just shove 'em out the airlock.
Re:Can't wait (Score:5, Funny)
Sounds like a Grand Day Out (Score:5, Funny)
So? (Score:4, Funny)
I like this guy (Score:5, Insightful)
And since this is a private enterprise, it should come out much cheaper then anything NASA can dream of(probablly not as safe though, but NASA's stuff is very safe so its kinda hard to compete with them on that front.)
First thought: (Score:5, Insightful)
Not to say it cant be done.. but 2010 ? Gotta love the marketing departments.. oh wait, no.. they put impossible demands on us...
orbital farms (Score:5, Funny)
permaveal 3000
chicken a 'la 'blimp.
Re:orbital farms (Score:4, Funny)
Absolutely! Imagine logging on to SpaceFriedChicken.com, punching in your latitude, longitude, and credit card number, and then holding a baseball glove out the window to catch the chicken thrown down from orbit. (The heat of re-entry sears in the juicy flavor!)
Robert Bigelow (Score:5, Funny)
A Giant Leap for Bigelow (Score:5, Interesting)
Robert Bigelow gained his fortune from owning Budget Suites of America - a discount motel chain.
Only in America could someone go from renting rooms at 49 dollars a night to building a Space Resort.
Pretty Cool.
I know what's next... (Score:4, Funny)
We carry a harpoon,
For they ain't no whales
So we tell tall tales
And sing our whaling tune.
Maybe it's just me, (Score:4, Interesting)
Also... (Score:5, Insightful)
I dunno about you, but I'd really like the walls around me that contain my breathing air and keep me warm and from exploding into the void of space made of something nice and hard... like reinforced steel. Maby it's some sort of expandable material over a hard superstructure, but then there are some other issues:
The article mentions:
"lightweight but extremely strong and long-lived inflatable "soft goods" to form modules made of proprietary advanced aerospace materials"
Maby i'm just a traditionalist holding back the frontier, but man, that sounds like a bubble just waiting to be punctured by one of those little paint chips zipping around the earth at a million miles an hour (from old missions, etc). Support structure or no, if you puncture that balloon it vents, and I'm inside, and i will NOT be a happy camper.
Also, I'm wondering what kind of radiation protection these things provide. These materials sound "thin and lightweight" which is what they want for good launch weight, but thin often means poor radiation blocking ability.
My opinion ? Keep the crew in something nice and solid.. keep supplies in these inflato-things, and make sure they can be quickly locked down from the rest of the ship/station/whatever.
Re:Also... (Score:5, Informative)
Inflatable Space Resort Guest Rule #1 (Score:5, Funny)
Playing Darts is Strictly Forbidden!
He doesn't need to succeed. (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd be impressed if he was successful, but he doesn't need to succeed. He just needs to get closer than anyone else ever has. The first person who can demonstrate the possibility of commercial gains in space will be doing us all an enormous favor.
I've always felt that the non-exploitation pact--that international agreement that says it's a Bad Thing to stripmine on Mars--was a really bad idea. Taking the possibility of commercial gain out of space travel is an excellent way to ensure that all space travel is done by governments and universities. I don't trust governments to do the job efficiently, and I doubt many universities could pull it off without strings-attached grants and funding.
The best way to ensure, over the long run, maximized efficiency and high-level accountability is to leave the job to private enterprise. Companies competing for a profit will find ways to do things cheaper, faster and safer. The trade-off is that there are more likely to be some really bad ideas getting launched, and in space, no one can hear you scream... but that's another detail. Private enterprise might be more willing to take the risks that a post-Challenger United States (for example) is not.
But private enterprise won't even bother if there's not a bottom line. So I say, encourage the strip-mining of Mars (hell, better Mars than one's hometown, don't you think?). Encourage orbiting vacation spots for the wealthy. Encourage claim-staking and competition.
Once we're already up there and comfortable, then we can let the galactic treehuggers cry foul. But let's get up there first.
Private Transhab (Score:5, Insightful)
In many respects, NASA already laid a lot of the ground work for his idea.
Nuclear Rockets ! (Score:5, Interesting)
Another great use for GCNR rockets would be interplanetary trips such as a Mars mission. Their cargo capacity would allow for a tremendous amount of supplies and equipment. Transit time would be half that of a conventional ship, reducing the effects of prolonged zero-gee and cosmic radiation exposure, and a host of other problems. The ability to make a powered landing on Mars would eliminate the need for an aerobraking system, Apollo-style lander/return combination or other engineering. The crew could fly there, land, take off and return home in a single vehicle, just like in all those old black and white space movies.
Re:It makes you wonder... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:It makes you wonder... (Score:5, Informative)
MicroMeteoroid and Orbital Debris (MMOD) shield - "Composed of five layers of graphite-fiber composites separated by foam spacers, the MMOD is the outermost section of Nautilus's hull. Schneider's crew's original TransHab design had more stopping power than did aluminum three inches thick. Ground-testing of Bigelow's MMOD has shown that it can stop impacts by 5/8-inch-diameter aluminum pellets fired at it at 6.4 kilometers a second, several times as fast as a rifle bullet. No rigid spacecraft design can match this performance, and it's one of the reasons Nautilus has an expected life span of at least 15 years."
Re:Pretty cool... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Assume this happens (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure, but had you asked a schoolkid from 1969 to write a paper about space travel in the year 2005 and the kid managed predict it accurately he/she would have been given an F by the teacher for being completely, unreasonably, pathetically pessimistic (and possibly expelled for being a subversive communist when they write that all US orbital launch capability in 2005 was bought from Russia and Europe!)
Back then most people expected us to have a permanent moon base by now. Manned missions to Mars would have been assumed as well. Somewhere in there we seriously lost momentum.
Jedidiah.