Boeing CST-100: Future Commercial Spacecraft Interior revealed

Boeing has unveiled a new commercial interior of its Crew Space Transportation (CST-100) next-generation manned space capsule, showing how people other than NASA astronauts may one day travel to space.

Boeing's new commercial interior of its Crew Space Transportation (CST-100) next-generation manned space capsule, showing how people other than NASA astronauts may one day travel to space.

Credit: Boeing

Boeing and partner Bigelow Aerospace highlighted the future commercial interior of the capsule it is developing for NASA, while Bigelow showcased a full-scale model of its BA 330 commercial space habitat.

Chris Ferguson

"We are moving into a truly commercial space market and we have to consider our potential customers, beyond NASA, and what they need in a future commercial spacecraft interior," said Chris Ferguson, former Space Shuttle Atlantis commander and current Boeing director of Crew and Mission Operations for the Commercial Crew Program.

Engineers from across Boeing leveraged the company's decades of experience in commercial and government aerospace to design the capsule's interior.

Full-scale model of the BA 330 inflatable space habitat, as seen at Bigelow Aerospace’s Las Vegas facilities, Wednesday, April 30, 2014.

Credit: Space.com/Robert Z. Pearlman

"Boeing's teams have been designing award-winning and innovative interiors for our airplanes since the dawn of commercial aviation," said Rachelle Ornan, regional director of Sales and Marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

"Designing the next-generation interior for commercial space is a natural progression."

"A familiar daytime blue sky scene helps passengers maintain their connection with Earth."

CST-100, developed as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability initiative, is designed to transport up to seven crew members or a mix of crew and cargo to low-Earth-orbit destinations such as the International Space Station and a planned Bigelow station.

Bigelow Aerospace interested in building International Moon base

Vision of an international research base on the Moon. Credit: ESA

Two months ago NASA commissioned Bigelow Aerospace to conduct a survey of the corporate sector to learn about private enterprise plans for space exploration.

While the report has not yet been completed, Bigelow president Robert Bigelow and NASA's head of space operations William Gerstenmaier held a teleconference with reporter's to discuss findings thus far.

Bigelow told those on the line that he and his company have surveyed approximately 20 of the biggest names in aerospace, including some foreign entities.

He says the major area of interest for aerospace companies right now is in establishing a permanent presence on the moon.

William Gerstenmaier 

Gerstenmaier responded by suggesting NASA would welcome such a development as it would work well with the agency's future plans.

NASA plans to lasso an asteroid sometime early on in the next decade and drag it into orbit around the moon.

Robert Bigelow

Following that, the plan is to send manned missions to the captured asteroid—initially to learn more about its makeup—then later to work with private businesses in developing mining operations.

That would be a lot easier of course if private companies had already built a lunar base from which to operate.

Bigelow reported that private businesses have expressed interest in space exploration for a variety of reasons, ranging from pharmaceutical development via an Earth orbiting facility to lunar based projects based mostly on mining operations.

The moon is considered important both for its material composition and as a jumping off point for other ventures.

NASA, for example, has indicated in the past that it envisions sending spacecraft on deep space missions using the moon as a construction base and departure point. Its low gravity makes getting into a space a lot easier.

The initial draft of the report created by Bigelow is to be delivered to NASA in the next few weeks. A second report, due in the fall is to more specifically detail private sector plans for space exploration.

Gerstenmaier pointed out on the call that his agency is taking a different approach than usual with its request to Bigelow.

Normal protocol calls for the agency to develop its internal strategy then reach out to the private sector for help in achieving its goals.

This time around, NASA is looking to see what the private sector is up to, and then will make decisions about its own plans based on what is found.

NASA to Send Bigelow Inflatable Pod to International Space Station

NASA to Send a Bigelow Aerospace Inflatable Pod to the ISS. 

Photo courtesy NASA.

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said it wants to send an inflatable space pod to be attached to the International Space Station (ISS) by 2015, which could lead to a completely new and cheaper way to conduct future space missions.

NASA announced on Wednesday that it had signed a $17.8 million contract with Nevada-based Bigelow Aerospace to build the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), in the hopes of developing deep space habitats for future missions.

"As we venture deeper into space on the path to Mars, habitats that allow for long-duration stays in space will be a critical capability," William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for human exploration and operations at NASA, said in a press release on the NASA website.

Bigelow Aerospace specializes in creating expandable habitats like the BEAM, which will initially be launched to the ISS in a compact form and then inflated at the space station into a 13-by-10 foot (3.9 meter-by-3-meter) cylinder.

The module's walls will be made of fabric making it easier to launch and then inflate in space.

"NASA's partnership with Bigelow opens a new chapter in our continuing work to bring the innovation of industry to space, heralding cutting-edge technology that can allow humans to thrive in space safely and affordably," said Lori Garver, NASA Deputy Administrator.

The BEAM will be launched to the ISS through another commercial spacecraft called the SpaceX Dragon and then astronauts will use a robotic arm to install the module, NASA stated on its website.

During a two-year test period after the inflatable module is attached to the ISS, crew members and engineers will gather data on the inflatable pod, such as its structural integrity and leak rate.

Instruments located within the module will also "provide important insights on its response to the space environment," such as "radiation and temperature changes compared with traditional aluminum modules," NASA stated on its website.

After the test period, the BEAM will be detached from the ISS and will burn and disintegrate upon entry back into Earth's atmosphere.

Bigelow Inflatable Space Station: Downsizes Dramatically

Hang Time: in Earth orbit courtesy of Bigelow Aerospace expandable modules.

The company unveiled a business plan to populate space with habitable complexes for international space agencies and multinational corporations.

CREDIT: Bigelow Aerospace

Bigelow Aerospace, which is developing inflatable space habitats for commercial use, confirmed they had laid off some 40 of its 90 employees Sept. 29.


"We are proceeding with a core group of fifty plus engineers, managers and support staff," Mike Gold, Bigelow Aerospace's director of Washington operations and business growth.

"This core group allows us to retain key human capital and capabilities, with which we are continuing to aggressively pursue the development and eventual deployment of the BA 330 system."

The BA 330 is a six-person inflatable space station Bigelow Aerospace of North Las Vegas, Nev., is developing to serve commercial and government human spaceflight markets.

The BA 330 is one of the proposed commercial platforms Boeing Co. intends to serve with the CST-100 space capsule it is developing with financial assistance from NASA's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program.

Bigelow Inflatable Space Station

Boeing capsule pulls up to Bigelow Orbital Space Complex. Credit: Bigelow Aerospace 

Space entrepreneur Robert Bigelow, chief of Bigelow Aerospace, has been busy marketing his private space modules, an outreach effort leading to six deals being signed with clients this year.

The deals, in the form of memorandums of understanding, involve Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden, Australia and the United Kingdom.

"These are countries that do not want to be hostage to just what the International Space Station may or may not deliver," Bigelow reports.

Bigelow founded Bigelow Aerospace in 1999, headquartered in Las Vegas, drawing upon his construction, real estate, and hotel savvy to forge the use of expandable space structures. To date, he has spent more than $200 million to hammer out his business plan for space.

NASA and the Inflatable Space Station

NASA is planning to investigate making inflatable space-station modules to make roomier, lighter, cheaper-to-launch spacecraft, it reveals in its budget proposal released on 22 February. We look into the technologies involved.

What are the attractions of inflatable spacecraft?

The weight of material that must be boosted to orbit is the major contributor to a space mission's cost, due to the expense of sending anything into Earth orbit. Folded fabric packages that inflate, concertina style, to full size once in orbit offer more spacecraft volume for a given launch mass than a traditional metal-based unit.

Where did the idea come from?

NASA engineers came up with the idea in the early 1960s, and tire manufacturer Goodyear was even commissioned to build prototypes, which initially looked much like giant rubber inner tubes (see image, right).

The idea was developed up until the 1990s, when development of an inflatable living quarters unit for the nascent International Space Station (ISS), called TransHab, was scrapped due to budget constraints. The relevant NASA patents were then licensed to a commercial start up, Bigelow Aerospace of Las Vegas, Nevada. See a video interview with a Bigelow engineer above.

How has Bigelow developed the idea?

The firm's team of 100 space-flight and aerospace engineers has developed a whole family of what it calls "expandable" spacecraft and has even tested some uncrewed versions in orbit.

The small 3-metre-long, 2-metre-diameter Genesis I and Genesis II test craft were launched in 2006 and 2007 on decommissioned former Russian SS18 nuclear missiles. Both expanded in orbit successfully and maintained pressure well enough to make a full size module habitable.

A 180-cubic-metre version called Sundancer is now being assembled, with a 330-cubic-metre version in planning.

How are the modules inflated?

Bigelow modules are made from flexible, airtight fabric. Once in orbit tanks of nitrogen and oxygen release a breathable mix inside, expanding the structure by 40 per cent as the gas inside pushes the skin outwards into the vacuum of space. The structure's diameter expands but its length does not change. Air pressure of just 1 atmosphere is needed to expand a module. This is all that astronauts moving in will need to breathe.

Bigelow Aerospace Building the first Private Space Station

Bigelow Aerospace is pioneering use of expandable space modules. Grouping of modules into Earth orbiting facilities are to be offered for rent or lease to countries and corporate interests. Credit: Bigelow Aerospace

With two prototype modules for a commercial space station already circling the Earth, Bigelow Aerospace is gearing up for a full-scale assault on space.

For the upstart firm, it's about volume — and not entirely in the sense of quantity or number of items sold. The company's expandable module designs are designed to offer low-cost commercial volume in space — for rent or lease — not only to private sector interests, but also to national space agencies.

Entrepreneur Robert Bigelow founded Bigelow Aerospace in 1999. Over the years, the space businessman has invested some $180 million in his vision, drawing from a bank account built on construction and real estate deals, along with money gleaned from his hotel chain, Budget Suites of America.

Entrepreneurial zeal

As "Mr. B" explains, space is no longer viewed as largely the exclusive domain of large governments and satellite telecommunications companies. Emerging as a key ingredient of the future is the rise of the private sector, hungry to spur a new business case for space. An element of that entrepreneurial zeal is the establishment of commercial space habitats and complexes.