International Space Station has a lifespan of several years and will soon be decommissioned. The United States does not seem to care about it, and only plans to return to the moon and the lunar portal space station in its eyes. So in the future, will they really stop playing in low-Earth orbit space stations? In fact, you can still play, but no longer do it in the name of NASA and the country, but to vigorously develop private space stations.
Looking at the Milky Way from the International Space Station
Yes, there are hundreds of private space companies in the United States, including not only the famous Musk SpaceX, but also Bezos Blue Origin, which is vying for the limelight, as well as at least four specialized companies. The private space company of the space station is represented by Bigelow Aerospace.
Bigelow Aerospace’s private space station plan
As early as July 12, 2006, Bigelow Aerospace borrowed missiles from the Russian Strategic Missile Force to set up " The "Foundation One" private space capsule was launched on the International Space Station. It weighs 1.36 tons and comes with four solar panels , which can provide basic electricity for the equipment in the cabin.
Founding No. 1 space capsule with four solar wings
Interestingly, “Founding No. 1” is an inflatable space capsule, and the capsule shell is made of inflatable expansion materials. Before inflation, its length is about 4 meters and its diameter is about 1 meter. After inflation, it can reach 4.4 meters in length and 2.54 meters in diameter. The pressurized volume in the cabin reaches 11.5 cubic meters.
Founding No. 1, the length of the inflatable space capsule in this era has not changed much
According to data records, after the successful docking of “Founding No. 1”, it has been in orbit for 5532 days, which means it is still in the world today. On the space station, but no trace of it was found in the current pictures and videos, and the same was not found on the "Chuangshi-2" launched on June 28, 2007. At that time, Bigelow Aerospace used the same type of Russian "strategic missile" to send a second private space capsule into space at the same base.But there is not much news about it from the outside world.
Inside the Founding No. 1 Space Capsule
Founding No. 2 Imagination Picture
What you can see is the third inflatable capsule Beam of Bigelow Aerospace, which was launched in 2016. On the 10th, with the cargo "Dragon" spacecraft carrying out the CRS-8 replenishment mission of the SpaceX company into space, with the help of Canada's No. 2 robotic arm, it docked with the node module of the International Space Station "Secure". The section of the "dome cabin".
Beam inflatable capsule
Interestingly, there are two inflatable capsules in this picture
Beam inflatable cargo capsule weighing 1.4 tons, made of aluminum and foldable special fabric, Before being inflated on the ground, the length is only 2.16 meters, the diameter is 2.36 meters, and the internal space is 3.6 cubic meters. After inflation, the length becomes 4.01 meters and the diameter becomes 3.23 meters. The internal space increases to 16 cubic meters, which is the same size as a small bedroom. .
Space capsule before inflation
Space capsule after inflation
However, when Beam was inflated for the first time on the International Space Station, a little accident occurred because the fabric was too stiff. The second inflation is fully expanded. Beam was originally planned to serve for 3 years, but it has been in orbit for more than 5 years now. All data is very good. NASA has twice delayed its crash into the atmosphere and burnt down.
Inflation process of the inflatable space capsule, this seems to be different from Beam
Beam installation location
International Space Station before Beam installation
from 2006 to 2016 ,In the past 10 years, Bigelow Aerospace has developed 3 to 4 inflatable capsules, which have been docked with the International Space Station, and their performance is very good, indicating that this inflatable capsule can indeed be used to build a simple space station, or called space hotel . The owner of Bigelow Aerospace is the owner of the hotel. He founded this private space company with the hope that one day the hotel can be opened into space, and he is even very optimistic about the "space wedding room" project. A total of 700 million U.S. dollars was invested for this purpose.
The inflatable space capsule after decoration
can also be used as a warehouse
But unfortunately, on March 23, 2020, due to the impact of the epidemic and other reasons, Bigelow Aerospace The company fired all employees and announced the suspension of all businesses. This has caused the space tourism industry to suffer. All those who are preparing to enter this industry have to think calmly. The millions of dollars in space tourism tickets attract customers. Can quantity really make the company profitable? Is it too early to build space hotels and space hotels now?
Expansion process of the inflatable space capsule
Interestingly, after the closure of Bigelow Aerospace, NASA still allowed its inflatable space capsule to stay on the International Space Station and continue to work, which is enough to explain NASA’s attitude . After Bigelow’s collapse, there are still many private aerospace companies still insisting on the development of inflatable space stations, perhaps they can usher in the moment of explosion in this field.
The inflatable capsule is still on the International Space Station so far.
The inflatable capsule concept proposed by another company
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