Bigelow Aerospace announced a new spinoff venture that will focus on marketing and operating their inflatable space habitats.
The Las Vegas-based space company has launched Bigelow Space Operations (BSO), dedicated to marketing and operating inflatable space habitats, which could be used as space hotels.
The B330-1 and the B330-2, two inflatable space habitats, are designed for low-Earth orbit, and each is capable of housing up to six people inside its 330 cubic meters of expandable space. Each of the B330 habits is nearly one-third of the volume of the International Space Station (ISS).
Since its founding in 1999, Bigelow Aerospace has focused on building inflatable space modules that provide habitats in low-Earth orbit. According to Blaire Bigelow, VP for corporate strategy at Bigelow Aerospace, the company wants to make them available as “on orbit space for science and research at much a lower price than ISS.” Bigelow believes this accessibility to low-Earth orbit could help foreign nations jumpstart their own space programs.
