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The hotel magnate, Robert Bigelow, wishes to base his idea on creating inflatable space habitats and follow it, apparently until the Moon and Mars.
On Thursday, the billionaire publicly unveiled the latest Bigelow Aerospace Expandable Space Station prototype model, called the "Bigelow Mars Transporter Testing Unit". The model has the volume of four containers 40 feet long and was built in part so that astronauts and NASA engineers can try it.
Bigelow's immediate goal is to convince NASA – who is testing prototypes manufactured by four other companies – to fund a space-worthy unit, called B330 (so named because it would have a volume of 330 cubic meters ). The works support the program of landing on the moon of the space agency, worth $ 20-30 billion, called Artemis.
Artemis is currently calling astronauts for housing in a space station called Orbiting the Moon. In this way, there would be a useful stop between the lunar surface and the Earth. In the more distant future, the bridge could serve as a stepping stone to Mars.
Bigelow wants to help NASA achieve both goals using the B330.
"It's important to listen to what President Trump said about Mars, the way to Mars goes through the moon, the path to the moon goes through the bridge," Bigelow said in a statement. to Business Insider before the unveiling. "The B330 is a space station for exploration and we are excited about its future."
Bigelow Aerospace built its demonstration unit to house astronauts for three days, and the company provided interior images of its configuration. Look inside.
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