NASA Announces to Make Second Attempt to Inflate Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, BEAM

NASA has said that its astronauts on board the International Space Station will make second attempt to expand the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module or BEAM on Saturday.

The experimental module had failed to inflate during the first attempt carried out by NASA astronauts on Thursday. Jeff Williams tried to expand BEAM with spurts of the space station’s air, but could get no success.

According to Bigelow Aerospace, the module might have failed to expand as planned on Thursday due to its materials becoming stiff. There was a delay of 10 months in the unpacking of the module due to launch delays. Lisa Kauke, BEAM deputy program manager at Bigelow, the outer layers of the BEAM module were probably affected due to long delay in its unpacking.

The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module is made of Kevlar-like materials and flexible layers of soft fabric and foam.

According to Kauke, the material could take a little while to return in original shape if it remains packed for longer durations.

BEAM was left alone overnight, and was found to have expanded a little in length as well as diameter. This has given American space agency and the manufacturer company Bigelow Aerospace confidence that they can resolve the problem.

NASA Fails in its First Attempt to Inflate Bigelow Expandable Activity Module – BEAM – Habitat

26 May 2016 

NASA has failed in its first attempt to inflate and deploy the new expandable space module – Bigelow Expandable Activity Module or BEAM – the huge inflatable habitat attached to the International Space Station.

On May 26, the ISS team – led by Jeff Williams – tried to inflate the space module, but it failed to expand properly, forcing the American space agency to call off the attempt. After two hours of pumping, the BEAM could expand only in width. If successful, the BEAM would have expanded to 13.16 feet long and 10.5 feet in diameter. The trial has been deferred for one day, and in the meantime, NASA will try to troubleshoot what might be going wrong.

NASA officials said in a statement that the space agency is “working closely with Bigelow Aerospace” to find out the reasons why the module failed to expand as planned. The engineers at Johnson Space Center in Houston are now discussing the next steps to be taken for the space module. The data from the expansion is being evaluated, and if it is found that the data supports a resumption of operations, crew at ISS would attempt to expand the module on Friday.

During Thursday’s attempt, air was let inside the BEAM module (manually by Williams) via a small valve. Initially, the module expanded about 5 inches, but then stalled. The Mission Control then decided to call off the attempts for the day.

“This are the kinds of things [where] the team is up for the challenge,” Williams radioed down to Mission Control. “It’s space business.”

Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM): NASA to Expand the Inflatable Space Pod on May 26

24-May-2016

NASA has said that it will start inflating the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) to its full size on May 26, and the live fed of the event will be shown on NASA Television.

According to NASA, BEAM will be expanded to full pressurized volume on Thursday morning. Currently, the crew is preparing for the event and is busy checking connections, installing computer cables, and verifying all the required hardware.

BEAM has been designed by Bigelow Aerospace, which has been working on the technology since 2000. BEAM was delivered to ISS by SpaceX’s cargo re-supply mission in April this year. This first-of-a-kind space habitat was then deployed on ISS. Astronauts on board ISS spent a few hours to attach the BEAM to ISS’ Tranquility module. First, it was removed from the unpressurized trunk of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft using the robotic arms, and was then secured using common berthing mechanism controls.

The inflatable module – dubbed Bigelow Expandable Activity Module or BEAM – is expected to become the home of future astronauts on Mars. The module has been designed in such a way that it will “greatly increase the amount of transport volume” for space missions, and will provide much bigger volume to astronauts for living in space once expanded. For the past many years, scientists are trying to develop such expandable habitats that would occupy very less space on a rocket but would give astronauts a larger and comfortable habitat to live in. NASA says inflatable habitats require “less payload volume on a rocket than traditional rigid structures”, and provide a “varying degree of protection from solar and cosmic radiation, space debris, atomic oxygen, ultraviolet radiation and other elements in space”.

This inflatable technology was first conceptualized in 1990s by NASA. In 2013, Bigelow Aerospace signed an $18 million deal with the American space agency to develop BEAM. The company is developing the technology using NASA patent. The Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace had earlier launched two inflatable, unmanned habitat prototypes (called Genesis I and Genesis II) into orbit, in 2006 and 2007, respectively. The company is currently in the process of developing B330, a larger space habitat that would provide 11,650 cubic feet of space to astronauts, and would probably serve as the foundation for a manned base on the Mars or Moon.

Bigelow Expandable Activity Module is made up of fabric and will provide 565 cubic feet of area (13 feet long and 10 feet in diameter) after it is inflated. The inflatable habitat will remain attached to the ISS for two years. NASA astronauts will spend many hours inside the BEAM in next two years to analyze conditions inside it. They will observe the performance of the BEAM (Bigelow Expandable Activity Module) in terms of protection against solar radiations, extreme temperatures, and space debris. Several sensors have been installed in this space module to keep an eye on temperature and radiation changes. The results will inform engineers about the effectiveness of the tough multi-layer fabric in dealing with various space hazards.

Astronauts will enter the BEAM module for the first time on June 2. They will enter it through station’s Tranquility module, though they won’t stay there for extended periods just yet. If everything goes perfect, they’ll routinely enter the module in next two years to “monitor its behavior and measure its performance” in the hostile environment of space. After completion of the experiment (in next two years), the module will be “robotically jettisoned” back down to Earth.

“It’s a big step for us, because inflatables can be a big multiplier for us as we move further out into space,” said Mark Geyer of Johnson Space Center.

Scientists are of the opinion that future astronauts traveling to Mars and beyond would require durable, easy-to-transport habitats, and Bigelow Expandable Activity Module is expected to be a potential candidate to serve as an alternative to conventional space habitats.

“Our hope is that NASA would be the primary customer for that structure and we’d be given permission [to commercialize it],” said Robert Bigelow, CEO Bigelow Aerospace.

BEAM is a joint project of NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems Division and Bigelow Aerospace. Bigelow Aerospace has already announced collaboration with United Launch Alliance (ULA) to develop a much bigger expandable module that would be launched on board a ULA Atlas V rocket in 2020.

On May 24, NASA will host a live Q&A session on its Facebook page and an AMA on Reddit. Scientists from NASA and Bigelow will be available to answer questions on Facebook from 4 pm EDT (8pm GMT) on May 24, and from 5 pm EDT (9 pm GMT) on Reddit.

The deployment of the BEAM will commence at 5.30 am EDT (9.30 am GMT) on May 26.

Basic Facts about Bigelow Expandable Activity Module:

– The module measures about 8 feet in diameter when in packed configuration, but provides 565 cubic feet of volume in expanded form. It features no windows.

– The module weighs about 3,000 pounds.

– This inflatable habitat is composed of: an aluminum structure, two metal bulkheads, and several layers of soft fabric. These layers of fabric have space in-between them. Various sensors and radiation monitors have been installed in this module.

– The mission duration of BEAM is two years.

– After completion of two-year test and validation period, BEAM will be robotically jettisoned from ISS. It will leave the orbit and will eventually burn after entering the Earth’s atmosphere.

– If scientists feel satisfied with the performance of BEAM, this technology could lead to future development of expandable habitation structures for crews traveling in deep space.

“What you’re buying with inflatables is the ability to send up something that’s shaped like a giant hockey puck or a birthday cake, and then have it expand to a habitat about four times that size,” says Steven Munday, the BEAM Program’s Deputy Director.

According to Rajib Dasgupta, who led the project, the team had to face a variety of design challenges, just because “this is a one-of-a-kind, first-of-its-kind technology.”

They had to take into consideration that “too much load” is not transferred to space station during expansion, and that ISS is not contaminated due to BEAM. The team also had to ensure that everything is airtight and nothing about the module messes with the ISS.

According to Munday, BEAM would be very rigid when fully expanded.

“When the astronauts first go in, it will be dark, cold, and possibly a little bit wet.” But even though things will get better after astronauts set up equipment like fans to circulate air, BEAM is not going to be the ISS’s lounge area,” he said.

Primary Aim of Bigelow Expandable Activity Module

BEAM has been launched to test and demonstrate an advanced technique of designing habitat modules for space missions. It is the first human-rated expandable structure launched to space, and this inflatable module will spend two years attached to ISS, allowing crew members to enter within it periodically and monitor its performance. This project is also demonstrating how innovative cost-sharing partnership between NASA and Bigelow Aerospace can benefit both parties by sharing of costs, expertise, and risks to pursue mutual goals.

Before launch of BEAM, NASA’s team at Johnson Space Center worked meticulously to complete safety certification of the BEAM payload. The team also finalized the launch certification of this module on SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. The on-orbit operational procedures were finalized for berthing and deployment of BEAM on the aft section of the Tranquility Node (Node 3) at ISS.

How was Bigelow Expandable Activity Module Attached to the ISS

After arrival of SpaceX Dragon at ISS, Robotic Canadarm2 was used to transfer BEAM from Dragon’s trunk to ISS. Canadarm2 was remotely operated by controllers at NASA’s Mission Control Center at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and Canadian Space Agency’s Mission Control Centre near Montreal. The crew at ISS operated the common berthing mechanism at Node 3 aft to attach BEAM.

What will NASA Astronauts do Inside This Module?

NASA astronauts onboard ISS will enter BEAM only three to four times in a year and will spend just a few hours during each visit. They will collect sensor data, check general housekeeping conditions, and then return to ISS. Since crew schedules are carefully allocated to ISS research, astronauts will be able to spend just a few hours within the module. BEAM will take in air pushed from the space station through an inter-modular duct, and there will be adequate air circulation inside the module for safe human ingress.

Astronauts will collect data from deployment dynamics sensor (DDS), and perform surface sampling, and monitor the general housekeeping condition within BEAM. Periodic change-out of the radiation area monitors (RAM) will also be carried out. The DDS data collected by NASA astronauts will be downloaded to ISS laptop using a USB port before being transmitted to Earth. NASA scientists will also analyze the surface samples for microbial growth.

Advanced Active Radiation Sensors for Measuring Radiation Levels

The Radiation Environment Monitor (REM) sensors – provided by the RadWorks team – consist of an advanced SSD device. These sensors have been connected USB interface and are low in mass. They consume minimal power and can effectively sample the radiation field. BEAM has been installed with two REM sensors to provide real-time measurement of the shielding characteristics of the module.

Micrometeoroids and Orbital Debris (MMOD) Protection

NASA scientists believe BEAM is able to provide similar micrometeoroids and orbital debris (MMOD) protection as provided by other ISS modules. The relatively small size of BEAM compared to other space station modules means it faces lower risk from MMOD than other ISS modules.

Engineers have designed BEAM in such a way that its MMOD shielding is made up of multiple layers of fabric with spacing between layers. This shielding will protect the internal restraint and bladder system. In case, orbital debris penetrates through the shielding, the bladder and the restraint, the module will leak (rather than burst) and the air within the module will escape to space.