B330

Features

Compared to their volume-mass ratio, expandable modules offer more living space than traditional rigid modules. For example, the pressurised volume of a 20-ton B330 module is 330 m³, compared to 106 m³ of the 15 ton ISS Destiny module. Thus B330 offers 210% more habitable space, with an increase in mass of only 33%.

Bigelow also claims that the module provides radiation protection equivalent to, and ballistic protection superior to, the International Space Station.

The exterior of the craft is intended to be 13.7 metres (45 ft) long by 6.7 metres (22 ft) in diameter and the module will weigh between 20,000 kilograms (45,000 lb) and 23,000 kilograms (50,000 lb).

The habitat is designed to have two solar arrays and two thermal radiator arrays for heat dissipation, as well as life support systems to sustain a crew of up to six astronauts. It will also have "a zero-g toilet with solid and liquid waste collection, semi-private berths for each crew member, exercise equipment, a food storage and preparation station, lighting, and a personal hygiene station."

The wall thickness will be approximately 0.46 metres (18 in) when the module is fully expanded. The walls are made up of 24 to 36 layers for ballistic protection, thermal protection, radiation protection and will be as hard as concrete once the craft is fully expanded. The exterior will also feature four large windows coated with a UV protection film.

Dual-redundant control thruster systems are to be used, one using mono-propellant hydrazine and the other using gaseous hydrogen and gaseous oxygen. The latter system is refillable from the on-board environmental control system. Module-specific avionics will be provided for navigation, re-boost, docking and other on-orbit maneuvering.

Bigelow Aerospace is developing the B330 module to be compatible to mate with other spacecraft such as Russian Soyuz spacecraft, SpaceX's Dragon V2, Boeing's CST-100 Starliner, and NASA's Orion spacecraft. The module's large size is particularly beneficial for lunar astronauts or the crews of other long-duration space missions, which until now have been restricted to fairly cramped quarters for the several-day flight.

Technology

While details on the purchased TransHab technology have not been published, NASA states the following about the structure of the module that Bigelow adopted as a starting point:

With almost two dozen layers, TransHab's foot-thick inflatable shell is a marvel of innovative design. The layers are fashioned to break up particles of space debris and tiny meteorites that may hit the shell with a speed seven times as fast as a bullet. The outer layers protect multiple inner bladders, made of a material that holds in the module's air. The shell also provides insulation from temperatures in space that can range from +121°C (+250°F) in sunlight to -128°C (-200°F) in the shade.

The key to the debris protection is successive layers of Nextel, a material commonly used as insulation under the hoods of many cars, spaced between several-inches-thick layers of open cell foam, similar to foam used for chair cushions on Earth. The Nextel and foam layers cause a particle to shatter as it hits, losing more and more of its energy as it penetrates deeper.

Bigelow has described their technology to news media and have indicated that their proprietary technology inflatable shell, now in validation test in low-Earth orbit in two subscale spacecraft, incorporates a layer of Vectran, along with the Kevlar, etc. of the NASA technology.

History

Its design is based on the cancelled NASA TransHab program. Bigelow gained access to Transhab engineers and workers, some of whom later went on to advise Bigelow's project.

The module follows the launch of two demonstration modules successfully tested in Earth orbit, Genesis I in 2006 and Genesis II in 2007.

As of 2005, Bigelow Aerospace had plans to develop the CSS Skywalker, a space station based upon using B330 modules to act as an orbital hotel. Plans in 2010 continued to call for construction of a space station, but without the CSS Skywalker moniker, with "more usable volume than the existing International Space Station". Those plans included a complex of two smaller Sundancer modules, a combined node and propulsion module and one full-size B330 in order to provide a total volume that was only somewhat less than that of the International Space Station, though built from fewer and larger individual modules.

In early 2010, Bigelow selected Orbitec as the supplier for environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS).

As of February 2010, an initial launch of the B330 was slated to be no earlier than 2015, following a notional launch of the smaller Sundancer habitat in 2014. In July 2010, Bigelow announced that a B330 would be the sixth spacecraft component making up the notional Bigelow Commercial Space Station. The Sundancer development was later halted, with a decision to move directly from the Gen esis-series prototype expandable habitats to the B330.

As of November 2013, Bigelow Aerospace indicated that the company has the financial capacity to produce at least two B330 habitats, along with a couple of transit tugs and a docking node if Bigelow is able to secure commercial customers to pay for approximately half of the launch costs for these systems.

In February 2014, some pricing and other lease details were made public. The B330 lease rate will be US$25 million for one-third of the station—110 cubic metres (3,900 cu ft)—for a 60-day lease and a round-trip taxi-seat to the B330 in low Earth orbit (LEO) on a SpaceX Dragon V2 was projected to be US$26.5 million per seat. At the time, Bigelow indicated that the habitat could be launch-ready by 2017.

Also in 2014, Bigelow announced notional designs for two enhanced B330s, but has explicitly stated that it would need to secure an anchor customer to go forward with building and launching any systems beyond low Earth orbit (BLEO).

In April 2016, Bigelow signed an agreement with United Launch Services to launch the first B330 module in 2020 using an Atlas V rocket.