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Vegas' Bigelow Aerospace to launch first space station

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  • #76
    Originally posted by DanS
    That's JP Aerospace. The plan is to have a very large hydrogen-filled airship launched from way up (no hazard at those elevations). It would use an ion thruster to build up orbital velocity over the span of several days.

    It is an interesting concept, but from what I have heard, the physics don't make sense. The company keeps saying that it does make sense, but can't discuss it for competitive reasons...

    There are other reasons why I am not following that effort, such as the company doesn't have the financial side sorted.
    I've been pondering this concept.

    As I understand, an orbital craft has to do a 're-entry' where the craft turns into a fireball from air friction when travelling through the ionosphere. Would it not follow that a craft going up also be subject to the same effect?
    There's no game in The Sims. It's not a game. It's like watching a tank of goldfishes and feed them occasionally. - Urban Ranger

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    • #77
      That's right. The craft coming down is going orbital velocity and has to shed that speed in the atmosphere.

      The conventional wisdom is that an airship going up would break up in the thin atmosphere as it gained orbital velocity over a several day time period. There are some rumblings that the black community may have found a way to create a protective bubble effect around the airship. Keeping in mind that orbit is a speed more than an altitude, another faint possibility is for the airship to continually bounce off the top of the atmosphere during this accelleration period.

      But this seems all rather speculative to me. I would spend neither my time nor my money on it.
      Last edited by DanS; July 30, 2006, 01:24.
      I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891

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      • #78
        There are some rumblings that the black community may have found a way to create a protective bubble effect around the airship.


        What?

        Keeping in mind that orbit is a speed more than an altitude, another faint possibility is for the airship to continually bounce off the top of the atmosphere during this accelleration period.


        We have those already. They're called airplanes.

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        • #79
          Good morning!
          Attached Files
          I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891

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          • #80
            Originally posted by DanS
            Good morning!
            Fantastic picture!

            Seems like NASA doesn't have a monopoly on stunning images any more .

            I sent a letter asking for permission to use it on the Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigelow_Aerospace .
            http://www.hardware-wiki.com - A wiki about computers, with focus on Linux support.

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            • #81
              Originally posted by DanS
              Good morning!
              God Bless Free Enterprise!

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              • #82
                It's not exactly free enterprise when the government gives you lots of free help.
                Christianity: The belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree...

                Comment

                • #83
                  Originally posted by chegitz guevara
                  It's not exactly free enterprise when the government gives you lots of free help.
                  It's not exactly governmental help when the owner ponies up $75 million.

                  Comment

                  • #84
                    Get your facts straight, che.

                    Bigelow licensed the technology from NASA for cash money. Bigelow also is flying NASA experiments.

                    There are indirect benefits to NASA as well, including making sure that Bigelow is building the modules such that NASA can use them down the line, if it wishes.
                    I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891

                    Comment

                    • #85
                      Tuttle: I've been thinking about ancillary investments in this space. Here is what I found -- not much. Can't say that I'm particularly enthusiastic about these companies for the long term in space, but I did put in a modest short-term speculation for SPAB in anticipation of future contracts.

                      SPAB. Space station consumables (towels, food, etc.) and science project servicing. They own some of the consumables modules in Shuttle and Station. A penny stock traded on NASDAQ quoted $1.05. Trading at about 0.3 to sales, but if all of the convertible notes are converted to common stock, then we are talking about 1.0 to sales. So not extremely favorable after all. Might see a bump up in revenues now that the Shuttle is flying regularly once again. Has a long history of pissing away investors' money.

                      The reason that I speculated is because SPAB is well-known and comfortable to NASA and is the only game in town for 3rd party space station servicing. Inexpensive enough to be used by Bigelow. It is part of the SpaceX COTS team, which is one of 6 finalists for a private ISS resupply contract with NASA. It also has its own proposed solution, which is also a finalist for COTS.

                      Only $500 million is dedicated to the program over several years right now, and SPAB would only get a small slice of the SpaceX contract in any event. I think it unlikely that SPAB will win the COTS contract with its own solution, and it would cost too much for the company in capital expenditures if it did win. But I wouldn't be surprised to see SPAB eventually get contracts from every winning team and secure its long-term position in the market. COTS awards to be announced in ~ October.
                      I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891

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                      • #86
                        TSX:MDA. Manufactured Canadarms for the Space Station and Shuttle. Does all sorts of things outside of space. Traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Consistently profitable.

                        Has an interesting position in the market. It is well known and trusted by NASA and sits in the center of space station construction standards through the ISS and Shuttle Canadarms. It's also part of the SpaceX and Spacehab COTS teams and will provide docking and rendez-vous for the capsules through use of the ISS Canadarm. It's a short-cut for SpaceX and Spacehab that could put MDA in the center of rendez-vous and docking standards for all future space stations, including Bigelow's modules. SpaceX probably will be the long-term launcher of choice for Bigelow, and so Bigelow may go with an MDA solution eventually. The Russians long ago demonstrated that it's possible to do station construction, rendez-vous, and docking without a robotic arm, but the arm is proving handy.

                        If I were thinking of investing in MDA, I would do a thorough analysis of its other businesses, since only a relatively small portion of the company's revenues are devoted to Canadarm.
                        Last edited by DanS; August 6, 2006, 15:31.
                        I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891

                        Comment

                        • #87
                          Originally posted by DanS
                          Get your facts straight, che.

                          Bigelow licensed the technology from NASA for cash money. Bigelow also is flying NASA experiments.


                          According to the article in the Sun-Sentinal I read about a month before you posted this thread, they mentioned that government engineers were giving them quite a bit of free help.
                          Christianity: The belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree...

                          Comment

                          • #88
                            None of the benefits are free. Bigelow is flying NASA's experiments and NASA is providing some technical support on the license.
                            I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891

                            Comment

                            • #89
                              Originally posted by chegitz guevara
                              Originally posted by DanS
                              Get your facts straight, che.

                              Bigelow licensed the technology from NASA for cash money. Bigelow also is flying NASA experiments.


                              According to the article in the Sun-Sentinal I read about a month before you posted this thread, they mentioned that government engineers were giving them quite a bit of free help.
                              Isn't it quite normal that government funded science helps the enterprise? In Denmark, the windmill industry was kick-started by government research. Even Google was given free bandwidth by Stanford University in the beginning...

                              The problem is when the main part of a company's profit is from the government.
                              http://www.hardware-wiki.com - A wiki about computers, with focus on Linux support.

                              Comment

                              • #90
                                Stanford University is a private uni.
                                DISCLAIMER: the author of the above written texts does not warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for any offence and insult; disrespect, arrogance and related forms of demeaning behaviour; discrimination based on race, gender, age, income class, body mass, living area, political voting-record, football fan-ship and musical preference; insensitivity towards material, emotional or spiritual distress; and attempted emotional or financial black-mailing, skirt-chasing or death-threats perceived by the reader of the said written texts.

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