| Submit your comments on this article |
| Science & Technology |
| Inflatable spacecraft blows itself up |
| 2006-07-14 |
| A small test version of an inflatable space hotel has reached orbit and filled with air. Bigelow Aerospace made contact with its Genesis I spacecraft for the first time on Wednesday. Then, just after midnight GMT on Thursday, the spacecraft passed over the company's control centre in Las Vegas, Nevada, US. Information received from the spacecraft indicates that it has inflated successfully – to 3 metres long and 2.4 metres wide – and that its solar panels have deployed. The temperature inside the spacecraft was measured at a cosy 26° Celsius. The Genesis I craft lifted off on Wednesday at 1453 GMT from a site in Yasny, Russia. The Dnepr rocket, a converted intercontinental ballistic missile, "flawlessly delivered the Genesis I into the target orbit", company founder Robert Bigelow said on the firm's website. The spacecraft is orbiting 550 kilometres above Earth, with a 64° inclination to the equator. Cameras onboard the spacecraft were to automatically take pictures of Earth and the spacecraft. The company has not released any imagery so far. It is expected to remain in orbit for two to five years, gradually falling in altitude as friction with the upper atmosphere causes it to lose momentum. It will eventually burn up in the atmosphere. The spacecraft is the first in a series of test craft designed to prove the feasibility of inflatable space stations – which could be used as space hotels. Genesis I is 3 metres across at its widest, one-third the length of a future habitable space station envisioned by the company. The company hopes to launch a similar spacecraft called Genesis II later in 2006. They plan to send a total of six to 10 inflatable test craft into orbit, culminating with the launch of the space station as early as 2012. But a launch vehicle suitable for carrying people to a Bigelow space station still needs to be developed. |
| Posted by:Chaish Threlet2390 |
| #5 Echo I only teeny, tiny. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-07-14 13:06 |
| #4 That's a great idea. Offload all further detainees to space orbit. When it's time for release, give them a scuba tank and a piece of tin foil to protect their ass from overheating on the way down. |
| Posted by: SOP35/Rat 2006-07-14 12:13 |
| #3 The Dnepr rocket, a converted intercontinental ballistic missile RS-20 (SS-18) |
| Posted by: john 2006-07-14 11:04 |
| #2 Blew itself up? Sounds rather ... Islamic. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2006-07-14 10:47 |
| #1 Great! Now the CIA will be keeping secret terrorism prisoners in it! Provoking a stinging response from the UN Space Ambassador. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2006-07-14 10:18 |