Category Archives: Bigelow Aerospace

Integral Payload Fairing Habitats

In the spirit of my previous post promoting healthy, competitive industries, I wanted to toss out an idea I’ve had for several years about an alternative to inflatable structures for providing large volume pressurized space facilities. The idea is a … Continue reading

Posted in Bigelow Aerospace, Commercial Space, Space Development | 12 Comments

Healthy Industries vs. Monocultures

One of the things I’ve believed for a long time is that for the NewSpace industry to be successful and healthy, that we need to see multiple providers and customers for the various goods and services in the industry. One … Continue reading

Posted in Bigelow Aerospace, Commercial Crew, Commercial Space, Launch Vehicles, Space Policy, SpaceX | 17 Comments

Random Thoughts: Integral Payload Fairing Habitats As a Potential Alternative/Competitor to Inflatables?

2009 was a busy year for me. Around the same time that we were slogging away at getting Xombie and Xoie prepped for the Lunar Lander Challenge at Masten, and around the time that the Augustine Committee was trying to … Continue reading

Posted in Bigelow Aerospace, Technology | 16 Comments

Some Blog Post Topics for 2013 (Updated 1/2/13)

Last month, while in the middle of a technical writing project for work, I tweeted a list of a few blog posts I wanted to write sometime in the near future, and asked some friends to nag me occasionally until … Continue reading

Posted in Administrivia, Altius Space Machines, Bigelow Aerospace, Commercial Space, COTS, Excuses for Light Blogging, ISRU, Launch Vehicles, Lunar Exploration and Development, MHD Aerobraking and TPS, Space Settlement, Space Transportation, SpaceX, Technology, Venus | 9 Comments

Variable Gravity Research Facility (xGRF)

For those of you who aren’t reading our ASM Blog, I participated in a panel at the SSI Conference last week in San Jose. Dallas Bienhoff presented the paper we are working on coauthoring, Gary Hudson talked about earth-to-orbit transportation, … Continue reading

Posted in Bigelow Aerospace, Lunar Exploration and Development, NASA, Space Development, Technology, Variable Gravity | 51 Comments

More Random “Lunar One-Way-to-Stay” Thoughts: A Business Case?

The more I think about the Lunar One-Way-to-Stay concept, the more intriguing it is. Fundamentally, it’s one of the only ways with existing transportation systems to get the cost of early lunar experimentation anywhere near low-enough to be useful and … Continue reading

Posted in Bigelow Aerospace, Commercial Space, International Space Collaboration, International Space Competition, Lunar Commerce, Lunar Exploration and Development, NASA, Space Development, Space Transportation | 26 Comments

Comment on Brett Alexander’s Congressional Testimony

I didn’t have a chance to watch either of the House subcommittee hearings today, so I’m grateful that Clark linked to the testimonies of the various witnesses.  I really enjoyed reading Brett’s testimony, and thought one of his points in … Continue reading

Posted in Bigelow Aerospace, Commercial Space, COTS, ESAS, Launch Vehicles, NASA, SpaceX | 13 Comments

Random Thoughts: Pre-Depot 2-Launch Manned Missions Using L2 Swingby

Ok, two weeks ago, I mentioned that the “pre-depot” dual EELV launch concept my friend had passed to me could be adapted to do manned lunar missions.  Lunar missions are a lot easier to close if you assume a depot … Continue reading

Posted in Bigelow Aerospace, Commercial Space, ESAS, Launch Vehicles, Lunar Commerce, Lunar Exploration and Development, MSS, NASA, Propellant Depots, Space Transportation, SpaceX | 13 Comments

Random Thoughts: Lunar Excavation Technologies

I recently found a fun presentation on lunar excavation technologies that I thought deserved a bit wider circulation.  I’ve actually been interested in lunar excavation for over a decade now (in fact, it played a role in leading me to … Continue reading

Posted in Bigelow Aerospace, Lunar Commerce, Lunar Exploration and Development, Technology | 8 Comments

COTS Thoughts

I think most in the commercial space industry would agree that COTS is one of the best things the government has done to help promote commercial space in a long time.  While I think that overall this program has been … Continue reading

Posted in Bigelow Aerospace, Commercial Space, COTS, NASA, Space Development, Space Policy, SpaceX | 10 Comments