North Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace lands $17.8 million NASA contract

A private company has staked the first claim on commercial real estate in space and - surprise! - it's not Starbucks.

North Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace has landed a $17.8 million contract with NASA to build, launch and install its Bigelow Expandable Activity Module at the International Space Station. The idea, said NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver on a Wednesday visit to Bigelow's 342,000-square-foot headquarters, is to test the module's Kevlar-like surface for its ability to withstand orbital temperatures, radiation and debris. If the module holds up, it might replace today's aluminum-based space stations for orbital travel and living.

Bigelow won't just be the first company with a private, commercial space habitat in orbit. It's also the first Las Vegas Valley business to win a lead contract from NASA, which is looking to partner with private companies on exploration now that its space shuttle program has ended.

Garver said the contract will help NASA test technology for humans to live in space long-term and let Bigelow refine plans to tap its modules to attract corporate space research.

"This partnership agreement for the use of expandable habitats represents a step forward in cutting-edge technology that can allow humans to thrive in space safely and affordably, and heralds important progress in U.S. commercial space innovation," Garver said.

Aerospace observers said the agreement has important implications for Bigelow and Southern Nevada.

Wallace Fowler, an aerospace engineering professor at the University of Texas and director of the Texas Space Grant Consortium, said a tryout with NASA is critical to any aerospace business.

"It is extremely important when a small company gets its first NASA contract," Fowler said. "Other contracts will follow if the company is successful in sending the habitat to the (International Space Station)."

What's more, as it grows, Bigelow could help diversify the local economy by attracting aerospace subcontractors who supply parts, equipment and other components, Fowler said.

The contract also gives Bigelow a role in boosting the U.S. space program in a post-space shuttle world.

"The (International Space Station) is the only thing we have flying at present, and by enhancing it, we strengthen our position in space," Fowler said. "The fact that we have new private companies providing modules helps to expand sources for space equipment beyond the big aerospace companies. This is very important if a healthy U.S. commercial space sector is to develop."

Bigelow Aerospace founder and President Robert Bigelow said the company considers the NASA deal a steppingstone to bigger missions.

"We're ambitious. Low-earth orbit is our first target, but we have ambitions to go to the moon someday, and to have a base there," Bigelow said. "It's a major undertaking from a financial standpoint, a technology standpoint and a political standpoint. Each one of those are very serious challenges in the space world."

Bigelow, who made a fortune developing Budget Suites and other motels and hotels nationwide, has already spent heavily to overcome some of those challenges. Since he opened his company in 1999, he's invested $250 million to develop and launch habitats and other space-related technologies. The business could spend another $250 million to achieve its goals, he said.

The company already has had some success with launches and partnerships. It hitched rides on Russian rockets in 2006 and 2007 to put two of its Genesis satellites into orbit. It announced a deal in May with California-based Space Exploration Technologies to use SpaceX's Falcon rockets and reusable Dragon capsule to send up its orbiting BA 330 habitat sometime in 2016. And it has a deal with Boeing Co. to develop a spacecraft to ferry crews to the International Space Station and to the BA 330. Bigelow and Boeing conducted parachute drop tests of their spacecraft near Alamo in early May.

Bigelow is also marketing its Alpha Station, which will consist of two connected BA 330s available for lease starting at $25 million for two months (the same amount will get you full station naming rights for a year). Bigelow executives said they hope to attract governments who want to train astronauts for nascent space programs, as well as corporations interested in space-based research.

The activity module that NASA contracted for is smaller than the 330 cubic-meter BA 330. The NASA module has 16 cubic meters, or about 70 square feet of space. It's 13 feet tall, 10 1/2 feet in diameter and weighs 3,000 pounds, or about as much as a Honda Civic. As a collapsible habitat, it's small enough to hitch a ride in SpaceX's Dragon, which will take it via a Falcon rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., to the International Space Station in the second half of 2015. Once the module links to the International Space Station, astronauts will deploy it to its full size.

NASA is interested in the module because of its collapsibility .

Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjour
nal.com or 702-380-4512. Follow @J_Robison1 on Twitter.