{"id":2921,"date":"2018-01-18T04:26:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-18T04:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/52.10.1.109\/?p=2921"},"modified":"2018-01-20T01:26:53","modified_gmt":"2018-01-20T01:26:53","slug":"united-launch-alliance-bigelow-aerospace-announce-joint-low-lunar-module-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecoloradostatesman.com\/?p=2921","title":{"rendered":"United Launch Alliance, Bigelow Aerospace announce joint low lunar module project"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Image courtesy of NASASpaceflight \u00a9 2005 – 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

BY JAN WONDRA<\/strong>
\nSTAFF WRITER<\/span><\/p>\n

United Launch Alliance, based in Centennial, and Bigelow Aerospace of Las Vegas, Nev. have announced a joint working relationship focused on the launch of a B330 expandable module that it will launch into low lunar orbit on ULA\u2019s Vulcan launch vehicle by the end of 2022. <\/span><\/p>\n

The module will function as a lunar depot designed to support commercial and business development projects directed to the moon\u2019s surface. It will also provide a habitat location for NASA and other governments to conduct long-term exploration and astronaut training.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are excited to work with ULA on this lunar depot project,\u201d said Robert Bigelow, president of Bigelow Aerospace. \u201cOur lunar depot plan is a strong complement to other plans intended to eventually put people on Mars. It will provide NASA and America with an exciting and financially practical success opportunity that can be accomplished in the short term. This lunar depot could be deployed easily by 2022 to support the nation\u2019s re-energized plans for returning to the moon.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

ULA\u2019s Vulcan 562 rocket is the only commercial launch vehicle in development today with the performance ability and payload capacity to carry the module to the moon. Once it is successfully placed in Earth\u2019s orbit, Bigelow Aerospace will outfit and test its capability. ULA will then use its lift capacity to direct it toward a moon orbit. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are so pleased to be able to continue our relationship with Bigelow Aerospace,\u201d said Tory Bruno, ULA\u2019s president and CEO. \u201cThe company is doing such tremendous work in the area of habitats for visiting, living and working off our planet and we are thrilled to be the ride that enables that reality.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

While the company refers to the unit as a habitat module, in reality it is a standalone commercial space station that can operate in low Earth orbit, in lunar orbit, or beyond. Just one B330 module is comparable to one third of the current pressurized volume of the entire International Space Station. Bigelow Aerospace says it will have two of them ready for launch any time after 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  BY JAN WONDRA STAFF WRITER United Launch Alliance, based in Centennial, and Bigelow Aerospace of Las Vegas, Nev. have announced a joint working relationship focused on the launch of a B330 expandable module that it will launch into low lunar orbit on ULA\u2019s Vulcan launch vehicle by the end of 2022. The module will …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aerospace","category-business","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecoloradostatesman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecoloradostatesman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecoloradostatesman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloradostatesman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloradostatesman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloradostatesman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloradostatesman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecoloradostatesman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloradostatesman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloradostatesman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}