Bigelow report calls for use of COTS model for cislunar transportation

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Source: Newspace Journal

A report prepared by Bigelow Aerospace for NASA concludes that the commercial approach that the space agency used successfully for developing commercial cargo transportation to the International Space Station should also be applied to developing transportation beyond Earth orbit, including in the vicinity of, and to the surface of, the Moon.

The report, prepared under a Space Act Agreement between NASA and Bigelow Aerospace announced earlier this year, is being formally released today at a press conference in Washington. It recommends that NASA pursue a partnership with industry to develop beyond-LEO transportation systems, given NASA’s constrained budgets and the record of success by NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program to develop launch vehicles and spacecraft to supply the ISS.

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Much of the report is devoted to demonstrating that the capabilities to enable those plans will exist within the next few years, if not already today. The report examines some of the launch vehicles and spacecraft that could support cislunar development, ranging from NASA’s Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft to vehicles under development in the private sector and by other nations. “By 2017–2018, all of the destinations within our immediate neighborhood including low lunar orbit will again be accessible to humans,” the report concludes. “The physical craft that have been under development (some for more than a decade) will be ready to execute any of these missions.”

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The Bigelow report argues that, for private companies to be involved in any joint venture with NASA in cislunar development, they must have property rights on the Moon or other bodies that are not available today under existing space law structures, a controversial subject in space policy. Companies “must known they will be able to (1) enjoy the fruits of their labor relative to activities conducted on the Moon or other celestial bodies, and (2) own the property that they have surveyed, developed, and are realistically able to utilize,” the report states. And, in a point emphasized in the report in bold, italic, and underlined type: “Without property rights, any plan to engage the private sector in long-term beyond LEO activities will ultimately fail.”

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Read more: http://www.newspacejournal.com/2013/11/12/bigelow-report-calls-for-use-of-cots-model-for-cislunar-transportation/

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1. Bigelow Urges Lunar COTS Program, Wants Moon Property Rights Review

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2013/11/12/50647/

Bigelow Urges Lunar COTS Program, Wants Moon Property Rights Review

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Company founder Robert Bigelow, who has ambitious plans for private space stations and lunar bases, said on Tuesday that he will be applying to the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Tranportation (AST) for a policy review of lunar property rights by the end of this year, Jeff Foust reports from Washington, DC.

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2. NASA, industry likely to team up

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20131113/SPACE/311130019/NASA-industry-likely-team-up

NASA, industry likely to team up
CEO says partnerships will be the only way to make big missions fly

Nov. 12, 2013 10:55 PM
Written by Ledyard King, Gannett Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Call it opportunity. Call it cold reality. The nation's space program is increasingly reliant on private partners to send astronauts into space as its slice of the federal budget diminishes.

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At the peak of the Apollo program, NASA's share of the federal budget was about 4.5 percent. Now, it's less than one-half of 1 percent at a time when Russia and China are increasingly competitive in the space sector.

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The agency's role as the world's trailblazer in space could disappear within a decade because it lacks the resources for missions beyond low Earth orbit “without significant help,” said Robert Bigelow, president of Bigelow Aerospace, which produced the report released Tuesday.

“If there is no outside help over the next 10 years, only a very modest human exploration effort is possible,” Bigelow told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference.

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3. Robert Bigelow is a colorful figure right out of Science Fiction

Eccentric self-made millionaire fascinated with space science because of UFO close encounters in his family. Jump starts private space technology company and drives new technological space race with full cooperation of NASA and exclusive contracts with the US government.

Has also recently come forward stating publicly on record that there are extraterrestrials visiting the planet, the government knows about it and general awareness of the facts will be brought about gradually.

Get ready. He's not nuts - maybe a little shady. His ideas are out on the bleeding edge and he has the government contracts and security clearances for all the cred he needs. Bigelow is bigger than life and a character to watch.

http://redpill.dailygrail.com/wiki/Robert_Bigelow