Bigelow Aerospace, A new Genesis in space |
Bigelow Aerospace, A new Genesis in space |
Jun 1 2006, 07:18 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2454 Joined: 8-July 05 From: NGC 5907 Member No.: 430 |
To quote:
On June 16, he'll use a Russian Dnepr rocket to launch a 1/3-scale Genesis model of his planned commercial orbital space station. That much has been public for a while. What I didn't learn until just now is what will be on that module. Freefloating inside will be 1,000 photocards and small personal objects contributed by Bigelow employees. If all goes well, those items will be continuously blown throughout the pressurized module in a kind of space collage. Six onboard cameras will stream video to Bigelow's new website, which will launch tomorrow or Friday. Seven external cameras will provide views of the Earth from space and the outside of the module. If that doesn't get even the most disinterested member of the public at least intrigued about the possibilities of space travel, I don't know what will. But it gets better. Subject to a successful launch of the first module, Bigelow will launch a second Genesis module in September, and that one will contain photos and other small items contributed by anyone who cares to pony up $295. Full article here: http://michaelbelfiore.com/blog/2006/05/bi...s-to-orbit.html -------------------- "After having some business dealings with men, I am occasionally chagrined,
and feel as if I had done some wrong, and it is hard to forget the ugly circumstance. I see that such intercourse long continued would make one thoroughly prosaic, hard, and coarse. But the longest intercourse with Nature, though in her rudest moods, does not thus harden and make coarse. A hard, sensible man whom we liken to a rock is indeed much harder than a rock. From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft." - Henry David Thoreau, November 15, 1853 |
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Jul 13 2006, 02:31 AM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 124 Joined: 23-April 05 Member No.: 358 |
From http://www.livescience.com/blogs/author/leonarddavid
Bigelow Module: Orbital Updates Posted on July 12, 2006 @ 18:57:51 EDT Author Leonard David Robert Bigelow, head of Bigelow Aerospace has confirmed that the Genesis-1 spacecraft has successfully expanded. “We have also confirmed that all of the solar arrays have been deployed,” he noted. At the firm’s mission control center in Las Vegas, Nevada, information has been acquired from Genesis-1. “The ISC Kosmotras Dnepr rocket has flawlessly delivered the Genesis-1 into the target orbit of 550 kilometers altitude at 64 degrees inclination,” Bigelow said. An early look at the telemetry indicated that the module’s internal battery is at a full charge of 26 volts – indicating that the solar arrays were deployed. “The internal temperature of the spacecraft is reported to be 26 degrees Celsius and we have acquired the spacecraft’s Global Positioning System (GPS) signal that will enable us to track the ship in flight,” Bigelow reported. “We have initiated communication with the ship’s onboard computers and expect to download more information over the next few hours.” Mark Pierson a key Genesis-1 architect told SPACE.com late Wednesday that “Genesis-1 is alive and well…and it’s talking…and we have a valid ground track.” “The telemetry tells us that we’re inflated and deployed,” Pierson said. The expandable module has reached 8 feet in diameter under an automated sequence. “It’s going better than we would have anticipated,” added Mike Gold, corporate counsel for Bigelow Aerospace in Washington, D.C. Both he and Pierson, and other Bigelow Aerospace personnel were on hand for the Dnepr liftoff that placed Genesis-1 into Earth orbit. |
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