NASA inflating new experimental room at space station

While that scenario would require extensive technical analysis, NASA-government concurrence and worldwide agreements, the much larger, 12,000-cubic-foot Bigelow B330 module could be launched atop an Atlas 5 and operate on its own in low-Earth orbit as a stand-alone commercial space station.

A temporary habitat at the International Space Station failed to inflate on Thursday, May 26, and work was halted after the United States space agency ran into problems expanding the module to full size.

After analyzing the data for an hour, Mission Control told astronaut Jeffrey Williams to resume the test, the first of its kind in space. If the data looks good for a second try, ISS staff could restart the process as soon as Friday. “It’s the space business, so thank you all for your patience”.

The test had started off smoothly, as the astronaut opened a valve to allow air to slowly flow into the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM). When Williams stopped and then repeated the valve-opening process four more times, the same anomalous pressure rises occurred.

After a lengthy delay he tried again, but was told to pause. Instead, the structure refused to inflate-and nobody’s quite sure what went wrong.

Mission control used this grid to chart the progress of BEAM’s expansion. NASA wants to study the technology for future deep-space habitats, while Bigelow Aerospace has its sights set on private space stations and moon bases. Once it is connected to the Tranquility Node utilizing the station’s robotic Canadarm2, the BEAM will be filled with air to expand it for a two-year test period. The BEAM started off at 2.16 m in length and 2.36 m in diameter and will expand to 4.01 m and 3.23 m respectively-a significant increase.

Expandable habitats are created to take up less room on a spacecraft, but provide greater volume for living and working in space once expanded.

Williams and his five crewmates won’t venture inside BEAM – the world’s first inflatable room for astronauts – until next week. Except for when astronauts go in to take measurements every few months, the hatch will remain sealed.

United Launch Alliance, builder of workhorse Atlas 5 rocket, has agreed to work with Bigelow Aerospace to launch a much larger inflatable module by 2020 that could be attached to the space station, adding 30 percent more volume, officials said shortly after BEAM’s launching.