Bigelow Expandable Activity Module: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:35, 21 May 2021

Revision as of 08:35, 22 June 2021

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| mission_duration = {{time interval|8 April 2016|show=ymd}} ''(in progress)''

| launch = 8 April 2016, 20:43:31 [[Coordinated Universal Time|UTC]] <ref name="JonathanLL">{{cite web|url=https://planet4589.org/space/log/launchlog.txt|title=Launch Log|publisher=Jonathan's Space Report|access-date=1 February 2021}}</ref>

| launch_vehicle = [[Falcon 9 Full Thrust]]<br/>([[SpaceX CRS-8]])

| launch_site = [[Cape Canaveral Space Force Station|CCAFS]], [[Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40|SLC-40]]

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| unberthed = 2028 (planned)

| undocked =

| reentry =

| mass = {{cvt|1413|kg}} <ref name="nasa-overview"/>

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[[File:Bigelow Expandable Activity Module at Bigelow’s facility in Las Vegas.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|left|Completed BEAM flight unit at the Bigelow Aerospace facility in [[North Las Vegas, Nevada]]]]

On 20 December 2012, NASA awarded Bigelow Aerospace a US$17.8 million contract to construct the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) under NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Program.<ref name="spaceref20130111"/><ref name="NASAannouncement"/> [[Sierra Nevada Corporation]] built the US$2 million [[Common Berthing Mechanism]] under a 16-month firm-fixed-price contract awarded in May 2013.<ref name="sn20130612"/> NASA plans made public in mid-2013 called for a 2015 delivery of the module to the ISS.<ref name=sn20130612/>

In 2013. it was planned that at the end of BEAM's mission, it would be removed from the ISS and burn up during reentry.<ref name="ns20130116"/>

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The flexible Kevlar-like materials of construction are proprietary.<ref name="US 7204460 B2"/><ref name="Lyle2015"/> The multiple layers of flexible fabric and closed-cell [[Vinyl polymer|vinyl polymer foam]]<ref name="Seedhouse2014-26"/> in the BEAM structural shell are expected to provide impact protection (see [[Whipple shield]]) as well as [[Radiation protection#Spacecraft and radiation protection|radiation protection]], but model calculations need to be validated by actual measurements.<ref name="FAQ NASA"/>

In a 2002 NASA study, it was suggested that materials that have high hydrogen contents, such as [[polyethylene]], can reduce primary and secondary radiation to a greater extent than metals, such as [[Aluminium |aluminum]].<ref name="nasa-radiation"/> Vinyl polymer may also be used in laboratories and other applications for radiation shield garments.<ref name="newsci20021115"/>

== BCSS airlock ==