B330

Compared to their volume-mass ratio, expandable modules offer more living space than traditional rigid modules. For example, the pressurized volume of a B330 module was , compared to of the 15-tonne ISS Destiny module. Thus B330 offered 210% more habitable space, with an increase in mass of only 53%. Bigelow claimed that the module provided radiation protection equivalent to, and ballistic protection superior to, the International Space Station. The exterior of the craft was long by in diameter as hard as concrete once the craft was fully expanded. The exterior had four large windows coated with a UV protection film. Dual-redundant control thruster systems were to be used, one using mono-propellant hydrazine and the other using gaseous hydrogen and gaseous oxygen. The second system was refillable from the on-board environmental control system. which had fairly cramped quarters for the several-day flight. == Technology ==

While details on the purchased TransHab technology have not been published, NASA states the following about the structure of the module that Bigelow adopted as a starting point: Bigelow has described their technology to news media and have indicated that their proprietary technology inflatable shell, now in validation test in low-Earth orbit in two subscale spacecraft, incorporates a layer of Vectran, along with the Kevlar, etc. of the NASA technology. == History ==

Its design is based on the cancelled NASA TransHab program. Bigelow gained access to TransHab engineers and workers, some of whom later went on to advise Bigelow's project. The module follows the launch of two demonstration modules successfully tested in Earth orbit, Genesis I in 2006 and Genesis II in 2007. , Bigelow Aerospace had plans to develop the CSS Skywalker, a space station based upon using B330 modules to act as an orbital hotel. Plans in 2010 continued to call for construction of a space station, but without the CSS Skywalker moniker, with "more usable volume than the existing International Space Station". Orbitec as the supplier for environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS). , an initial launch of the B330 was slated to be no earlier than 2015, following a notional launch of the smaller Sundancer habitat in 2014. In July 2010, Bigelow announced that a B330 would be the sixth spacecraft component making up the notional Bigelow Commercial Space Station. The Sundancer development was later halted, with a decision to move directly from the Genesis-series prototypes to the B330. , Bigelow Aerospace indicated that the company has the financial capacity to produce at least two B330 habitats, along with a couple of transit tugs and a docking node if Bigelow is able to secure commercial customers to pay for approximately half of the launch costs for these systems. In February 2014, some pricing and other lease details were made public. The B330 lease rate will be for one-third of the station——for a 60-day lease and a round-trip taxi-seat to the B330 in low Earth orbit (LEO) on a SpaceX Dragon 2 was projected to be per seat. At the time, Bigelow indicated that the habitat could be launch-ready by 2017. Also in 2014, Bigelow announced notional designs for two enhanced B330s, The first B330 launch was originally planned to be launched aboard an Atlas V rocket, Bigelow ceased all work on the B330 in March 2020 as it laid off its entire 88-person workforce. == XBASE ==

In August 2016 Bigelow negotiated an agreement with NASA to develop a full-sized ground prototype Deep Space Habitation based on the B330 under the second phase of Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships. The module was called the Expandable Bigelow Advanced Station Enhancement (XBASE), as Bigelow hoped to test the module by attaching it to the International Space Station. == See also ==