NASA buys $18M inflatable room for international space station

NASA has officially signed a deal to attach an inflatable private module to the International Space Station, space agency officials confirmed Friday, Jan. 11.

Under the new deal, NASA will pay $17.8 million to the Nevada-based private spaceflight firm Bigelow Aerospace for the company's Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), which will be affixed to the orbiting lab as a technology demonstration.

"This partnership agreement for the use of expandable habitats represents a step forward in cutting-edge technology that can allow humans to thrive in space safely and affordably, and heralds important progress in U.S. commercial space innovation," NASA deputy chief Lori Garver said in a statement.

Friday's announcement confirms reports that surfaced earlier in the week. Garver and Bigelow founder and president Robert Bigelow will discuss the BEAM program at a media event Jan. 16 at Bigelow Aerospace facilities in North Las Vegas, NASA officials said.

- NASA deputy chief Lori Garver

BEAM is likely to be similar to Bigelow's Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 prototypes, which the company launched to orbit in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Both Genesis modules are 14.4 feet long by 8.3 feet wide, with about 406 cubic feet of pressurized volume. [Photos: Bigelow's Inflatable Space Station Idea]

NASA officials have said that BEAM could be on orbit about two years after getting an official go-ahead. The module will likely be launched by one of the agency's commerical cargo suppliers, California-based SpaceX or Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp.

Bigelow's dreams don't stop at the International Space Station. The company wants to launch and link up several of its larger expandable modules to create private space stations, which could be used by a variety of clients.

Tenants could get to orbiting Bigelow habitats in several different ways. The company has set up a partnership with SpaceX for use of its Dragon spacecraft and another one with Boeing, to use the aerospace giant's CST-100 capsule.

Bigelow is also eyeing a possible outpost on the moon, for which the company envisions using its BA-330 modules (so named because they offer 330 cubic meters of usable internal volume). Several BA-330 habitats, along with propulsion tanks and power units, would be joined together in space and then flown down to the lunar surface.

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NASA buys $18M inflatable room for international space station