Bigelow Aerospace seeks a human-rated capsule and booster to lift the firms hopes for a commercial space station known as 'Sundancer' in the not-so-distant future, perhaps 2013-to-2015 timeline. The problem is how to get human beings into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to participate in commercial space station stays in space and building on past success rapidly.The North Las Vegas, Nevada-based commercial space firm has designed a new space capsule referred to as "Orion-lite" that would be a stripped-down version of the current NASA version designed to carry humans to the Moon - if ever. The Bigelow capsule is designed to be much lighter weight with fewer systems complexities for LEO to space station operations.
Bigelow has spent the past two years working with Denver-based United Launch Alliance to study a human-rated version of the Atlas 5-402 rocket. Bigelow's crew capsule design is modeled on the Orion vehicle that Lockheed Martin — one of United Launch Alliance's corporate parents— is developing for NASA, reports Amy Klamper at Space.com.
Washington-based Bigelow Aerospace attorney Mike Gold notes that the the Bigelow capsule would have the same outer mold line as NASA's 16-foot (5-meter) wide Orion and possibly the same internal pressure vessel, but little else in common. It would be capable of launching on the SpaceX Falcon-9 or the ULA Atlas 5-402. It is not now known whether it could also be launched atop of an Orbital Sciences Corporation Taurus-II from the more secluded Wallops Island, Va. None of the proposed commercial space launch booster configurations have flown to-date.
Gold said Bigelow's commercial variant will accommodate a minimum of seven passengers because it is intended for low Earth-orbit missions only. Bigelow is considering midair retrieval as a safer and more economical means to land the spacecraft following atmospheric re-entry. Yet it may be safer to do the mid-air capture over a body of water as a back-up in the event of a much-needed splashdown option.
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