Bigelow Aerospace to offer $760 million for spaceship to orbit

[LunaSea]

http://space.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn12836&print=true

Bigelow Aerospace intends to spur development of a commercial space vehicle to take people into Earth orbit by offering to sign a contract worth $760 million with any company that can meet their criteria, company president Robert Bigelow says.

Speaking with New Scientist at the company's headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada, Bigelow said the offer is meant to head off a crisis over the lack of transportation options available to get people to the large inflatable space stations it plans to launch by early 2010.

[liberalmuse]

1. Yeah, baby!

I used to work for Mr. Bigelow at another org he had, and it was the best job I ever had. He always taps the best minds from a variety of fields for his projects. I remember when he came out with his idea of hotels in space, knowing close to nothing what it entailed. He's expanded that idea a bit over the years. Everyone kind of thought it was out there, but years later, he's successfully launched his dream. He gave it 20 years before he'd have a hotel in space, and that was 7 or 8 years ago. I get excited when I come across articles like this.

[LunaSea]

2. I'm impressed thus far

He's flying hardware, and that says a lot. I've spent years working with small space startups that never got as far.
Almost took a position with BA in it's infancy. A partner of mine did for about a year and was a bit dismayed at the intense security.
Has that always been the case in his companies?

I remember him discussing his Americas Space Prize a while back and wondering if he still wants to limit competitors to US companies.
I think the Chinese and Russians would love to get in on it but can't imagine that there would be a way around ITAR in it's current state.

This is a substantial upping of the ante over what the NASAs COTS competition is offering, and that competition was quite fierce.
As a veteran of the first round of COTS, I'm still puzzled at RPKs initial selection, and quite pained at seeing 32 million down the tube with nothing to show for it. I'm quite happy that SpaceX has made all it's milestones thus far. I hope they can make COTS a worthwhile venture.
This news is going to make things quite interesting.

[soothsayer]

3. Is it true that NASA won't allow any private spacecraft to leave orbit?

[htuttle]

4. What could they do about it?

I mean, how much is the ticket for 'leaving orbit without permission'?

Hell, I'd be proud to have one of those on my driving record!

[LunaSea]

5. No, not that I'm aware of

Gravity does a pretty good job of that on its own.
The FAA has some rigid regulations regarding what can fly and what can't, after all, we don't want amateurs raining smoking bits of poorly designed vehicles down on populated areas.

A few years ago, a Japanese telecom satellite failed to reach it's target orbit. With millions of dollars at stake, a smart guy up at Princeton figured out a way to expend a little of the satellites' fuel to send it slowly around the moon and back placing it precisely where it needed to be. This was not in the mission plan and was not considered until the sat had failed in the first place.

The Russian company Energia, along with a private firm is currently looking at the the concept of sending tourists around the moon and back in a similar manner. And with no atmosphere on Luna to get in the way, an orbit could be designed to carry a vehicle within a few kilometers of the surface. Talk about a scream of a ride!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6558855/

The Russians also carried the first tourists up to ISS despite NASAs initial objections. I doubt NASA would be able to stop the Russians, Japanese, Chinese, or Indians from going where they please.

Once the cost of retrieving the Helium III or platinum gets reduced, we could see a new goldrush, or rather Moonrush.
http://tinyurl.com/ytb7xp

[PhD]

6. Bigelow Aerospace? Run by CEO Deuce, no doubt!

As a grizzled veteran of the aerospace field, I caution skepticism of proposals like these.

[LunaSea]

7. You're right...

But how else will the newbies earn their grizzle?