Bigelow Aerospace Launch!

[PB666]

They just did a full 8 sec increase, previously 1 sec and occasionally 2 sec. I hear popcorn popping.

'Wow: you get this burst of popping sounds slow down and then start popping like craxy again, really starting to expand

Forth fold is clearly separating from the third.

 

Now opened fro what  count was 9 sec and the popcorn is a popping again. Its going to be done.

Edited May 28, 2016 by PB666

[PB666]

14 seconds blast of air. Fewer popping.

 

and 15 more seconds its at 63 heading to 68 inches. Much fewer popping. Not too many limiters left to free.

and 30 seconds 66 heading to 68.

and 9 seconds from 66.6.

and its over 67 and considered done, moving to step 5. Module gas injection.

Edited May 28, 2016 by PB666

[PB666]

Powering up the automated deployment controller, getting ready to let the module do its thing.

8 gas tanks inside that nearly complete the pressurization.

3;34 PM CST beam pressurization has begun.

 

Around .770 now, fully pressurized and the tanks are beginning to equilibrate.

 

at around 0.804 volt on the meter, slightly over ISS pressure the 5th stage is complete, its done except for testing

 

Edited May 28, 2016 by PB666

[Motokid600]

What did they need the volt meter for?

[Kerbart]

12 minutes ago, Motokid600 said:

What did they need the volt meter for?

It's connected to the pressure meter inside the BEAM. I guess it makes more sense to have sensors output a voltage (that can then be read with a multi-meter and translated to anything you want) than to have a whole slew of specialized unit-specific meters.

[tater]

I was gonna say that if I paid for that, I'd demand a refund, it's pretty ugly... but I think I did pay for it.

[PB666]

37 minutes ago, Kerbart said:

It's connected to the pressure meter inside the BEAM. I guess it makes more sense to have sensors output a voltage (that can then be read with a multi-meter and translated to anything you want) than to have a whole slew of specialized unit-specific meters.

Right, and the early operations used the millivolt scale, on the volt scale they started around 13 mV (0.013v)  thursday and went to 0.023 v before letting drift dow n over friday, then depressurizing and repressurizing on saturday.

Since the desired voltage was .660 we can guess that the tolerance was about  0.034 iSS atm before they stopped

As the module inflated it went from around 18 mV on saturday and the pressure fill as is blew up, just as the force required to inflate a balloon as you reach  a certain inflation by tge time they ende it was around 11 mV. After the major pushes began at the the voltage after the long open air cylces, the pressure after equilibration was lower than the starts. 

What you see in the image above was  a few minutes the modules  internal tanks began deployement. The process took 11 minutes. 

There were 2 multimeters, the other I only saw used on thursday. 

 

 

 

[Kerbart]

3 hours ago, tater said:

I was gonna say that if I paid for that, I'd demand a refund, it's pretty ugly... but I think I did pay for it.

I think using the word "pretty" is not in place here. It's [explicitive] ugly. And not at all what the "rendering" showed. Bigelow sank a whole lot of notches on my ladder.

I wouldn't mind if it turned out this way and the rendering did too. But the rendering shows something neat and tight. Not this rushed final project of a failed needlework 101 student.

 

[PB666]

3 minutes ago, Kerbart said:

I think using the word "pretty" is not in place here. It's [explicitive] ugly. And not at all what the "rendering" showed. Bigelow sank a whole lot of notches on my ladder.

I wouldn't mind if it turned out this way and the rendering did too. But the rendering shows something neat and tight. Not this rushed final project of a failed needlework 101 student.

 

On the bright there are lots of places to hang onto during EVA, course then you prolly couldn't grip them in the suit. 

[dino1984]

[PB666]

1 hour ago, dino1984 said:

Shrink wrap! 

[todofwar]

15 hours ago, tater said:

I was gonna say that if I paid for that, I'd demand a refund, it's pretty ugly... but I think I did pay for it.

I don't know, it has a certain "original star wars" charm to it

[PB666]

21 minutes ago, todofwar said:

I don't know, it has a certain "original star wars" charm to it

An emperor with no clothes is still an emperor.m

[Wjolcz]

So why does it look different? Is the outer cover not needed for testing purposes, or something?

[PB666]

5 minutes ago, Veeltch said:

So why does it look different? Is the outer cover not needed for testing purposes, or something?

I think for testing the covering is not wanted. They positioned this thing so that is had alot of exterior observations, and the slow rate of inflation that they used was more than cautionary,mit appears to be somewhat experimental, with a grid overlay, someone wanted ti study the inflation. 

[Kryten]

1 hour ago, Veeltch said:

So why does it look different? Is the outer cover not needed for testing purposes, or something?

Because it's a cheap low-fidelity mockup; Bigelow's BA-330 and Sundancer mockups are similarly low fidelity.

[Aethon]

 

 

[SuperFastJellyfish]

As interesting as it is(and cool from a materials standpoint), I still don't see the reason for these modules.  What is the gain from more volume that you still have to load up with stuff(with more launches)?  Unless you want a playground like Skylab, I don't understand the point.  I know this has been rehashed many times, but I'm still amazed this got approved to go to the ISS.

[Scotius]

Because it's a new, potentially useful technology for space uses? And thus it should be tested extensively in space - this is why we built ISS, right?

[tater]

The end goal would be for the next generation station/habitat. ISS was built the way it was largely as busy-work for Shuttle. The ability to maximize habitable volume per launch is valuable when we are not seeking to cobble something together out of many small parts that happen to fit inside Shuttle.

[RainDreamer]

This thing can be compressed and is made from lighter material - saving space and mass, the two most important thing to have for rocket payload. If this works out well we will see a new generation of space stations using these components. Increased volume would also help giving more space for cargo, or allow astronauts to live more comfortably. I really hope this become viable.

[kerbiloid]

12 hours ago, tater said:

ISS was built the way it was largely as busy-work for Shuttle.

TKS-based modules (15-20 t) were delivered by Proton launches and their own engines (the same about Mir).
Harmony-class modules have the same mass and max size, so they also could/can be delivered in the same way, without the Shuttle. Anyway, most of work is done by the ISS's own mechanical arms.
So, in fact, looks like Shuttle was used here just because it was, not because it required exactly the Shuttle.
But rather than these inflatables, all of them are delivered already equipped and ready to use. Not too much free space inside them to retract/expand.

1 hour ago, RainDreamer said:

This thing can be compressed and is made from lighter material - saving space and mass

Instead of 3 mm tin they use 40cm of plastic. And have no installed equipment, it's just an empty envelope.

Edited May 30, 2016 by kerbiloid

[Nibb31]

The material used for inflatables is actually heavier than conventional modules. The only advantage of inflatable modules is more volume, but the downside is that you need to fill that volume, which requires additional cargo launches and lots of outfitting work on orbit. Then there's the cost factor.

[Pipcard]

20 minutes ago, Nibb31 said:

The material used for inflatables is actually heavier than conventional modules.

Do you have a source for this?

[Exploro]

PM article suggest there is not much difference in terms of mass for inflatables versus rigid types when dealing with small volume modules. The mass advantage becomes favorable for inflatables as the volume of a module increases.