More Bigelow info

From Spacetoday:

http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/new...s/07054wna.xml

From the article:

"Bigelow's in-orbit test plan involves:


a.. Two Genesis flights. The 2005 and 2006 Genesis payloads would each be
3,000-lb. units measuring 15 X 6.2 ft. before inflation. Cameras and
telemetry would observe inflation to double that size. The Genesis flights
would demonstrate inflation technology, pressure integrity and debris-shield
deployment.


b.. Two "Guardian" flights. Also set for launch on the Dneper, these
missions--planned for April and August 2007--would be 45% scale modules
carrying critical life-support system test hardware.


a.. Nautilus. Since the operational payload would weigh up to 50,000 lb.
including docking interfaces, a Russian Proton, Chinese heavy Long March or
U.S. heavy launcher would have to be used.

The watermelon-shaped Nautilus would weigh 20-25 tons and, once inflated in
orbit, measure 45 X 22 ft. with 330 cu. meters of volume."

Basically the volume of ISS in one Delta/Atlas Heavy launch.
IMO even the smaller versions would make a great Lunar base.

Another interesting side note is the Chinese are showing great interest in
Bigelow's design for a Chinese space station.

Anyone know why the 2.5 inches of water?
That does not seem enough to provide good radition sheilding but adds a lot
of weight.