Monthly Archives: January 2013

What's going on with the International Space Station "station sightings" website process? In the good ole days, one could simply log on to NASA and with a couple of clicks get a list of times to stand outside on a clear night and watch the station pass. Now you must provide an email address, wait for a registration code, and you still can't get the list of times to watch for the station. Is the TSA involved? I don't want a boarding pass, I'd just like to watch the station pass by. Any idea what's up?

H.C., Medford

It is a bit tricky, though not impossible, to find out when the International Space Station will be visible over the Rogue Valley, H.C.

NASA's Johnson Space Center SkyLab website is undergoing maintenance, so its usual list of ISS sighting times isn't available. But NASA does offer an email or text message alert a few hours before each individual sighting, H.C.

To sign up, see http://www.spotthestation.nasa.gov.

Of course, we understand if you'd like to plan a little further ahead.

One resource that can help is the Astro Viewer website at http://www.iss.astroviewer.net. Once at the site, click on the observation tab and enter the latitude and longitude for where you live about 42 North and 122 West for the Rogue Valley.

After saving the location, a list of visible sighting opportunities for the next 10 days will pop up, along with how bright the station will appear.

Because the station reflects a lot of light, it is best to observe when it is dark in the Rogue Valley but the station itself is in sunlight, which happens just before sunrise or just after sunset, according to the Astro Viewer site.

For each of the next 10 days, the site lists the window of time when the station will be 10 degrees above our horizon and the direction of the sky from which the ISS will enter and exit.

Originally posted here:
Spotting the space station

NASA's decision to buy an inflatable new room for the International Space Station may push the module's builder commercial spaceflight company Bigelow Aerospace one step closer to establishing its own private stations in orbit.

Last week, NASA announced that it will pay $17.8 million for the Nevada-based company's Bigelow Expandable Activity Module(BEAM), which will be affixed to the huge orbiting lab as a technology demonstration.

NASA and Bigelow will discuss the deal during a media event Wednesday (Jan. 16) in North Las Vegas, where the company is headquartered. BEAM could help prove out the viability of inflatable crew habitats, potentially jump-starting Bigelow's ambitious plans in low-Earth orbit and, perhaps, on the surface of the moon.

Expanding access to space

Bigelow Aerospace was founded in 1999 by Robert Bigelow, who made his fortune in real estate and finance. He also owns the Budget Suites of America hotel chain, for example. [Photos: Bigelow's Inflatable Space Station Idea]

Bigelow Aerospace specializes in expandable habitats, which launch in a compact form and then inflate upon reaching space. The company says expandable modules offer greater on-orbit volume and better protection against radiation and micrometeoroid strikes than traditional "tin can" designs can provide.

Inflatable modules were first pursued seriously by NASA, which developed a design called TransHab (short for "Transit Habitat") for possible use on the International Space Station. When Congress cancelled the TransHab program in 2000, Bigelow officials licensed the patents and began adapting the technology for the company's own purposes.

The company's goals are big: to establish private space stationsthat could be used by many different clients for a variety of purposes, from research to tourism.

"We are primarily focused on providing sovereign clients (individual or groups of nations) and companies with the opportunity to lease space and resources aboard our habitats for a broad array of activities, ranging from turn-key astronautics to conducting ground-breaking and lucrative biotech research," Bigelow Aerospace's website states.

"We offer a way for countries to bolster their human spaceflight programs while at the same time reducing their budgets, or for smaller countries that thought human spaceflight was beyond their financial reach to enjoy capabilities that until now only the wealthiest nations have been able to sponsor."

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Inflatable Private Space Stations: Bigelow's Big Dream

The International Space Station is getting an inflatable spare room.

The first-of-its-kind habitat built by Bigelow Aerospace LLC weighs 3,000 pounds and is made of a Kevlar-like material to withstand space debris and radiation. It looks more like a giant propane gas tank than a kids moon bounce and will be attached to a port on the space station.

It will rocket into space in 2015 with the blessing of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which last week awarded the firm a $17.8 million contract to demonstrate the technology. Eventually, Las Vegas hotelier Robert Bigelow wants to build separate stations that might be used as research laboratories orbiting Earth or to establish a permanent presence on the moon or Mars.

Ultimately, hes hoping to build hotels in low-earth orbit and have that be one of the up-and-coming space businesses -- this will give him more credibility, said Marco Caceres, a senior space analyst with Teal Group Corp. in Fairfax, Virginia. Theres a lot of people out there that say, Oh cmon, hotels in low-earth orbit -- thats a fantasy right? I believe he has the tools to do it.

The challenge will be finding customers, Caceres said in a phone interview. Bigelows primary focus is on corporations and governments interested in developing astronaut programs or doing research. Space tourism is secondary, and the company has tried to steer away from the space hotel label.

NASAs willingness to back the mission is a seal of approval, Bigelow Aerospace said in a press release scheduled for release today. We cannot think of a stronger endorsement, the company said.

Bigelow, 68, and NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver planned to discuss the mission during a press conference today at the companys Las Vegas headquarters.

The agreement is a step forward in cutting-edge technology that can allow humans to thrive in space safely and affordably, Garver said in a Jan. 11 release announcing the contract.

Bigelow plans to introduce a stand-alone station that can accommodate as many as 12 people by 2016, the company said.

A flight to the planned Alpha Station would cost between $26.3 million and $36.8 million for a 60-day stay, depending on the taxi selected, according to the company.

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NASA Goes Ikea to Test Inflatable Annex for Space Station