NASA Awards $17.8 M Contract for Expandable Module to ISS

NASA has signed a $17.8 million contract with Bigelow Aerospace to provide an expandable module to the international space station.

The Nevada-based private spaceflight firm will develop the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) that will be attached to the orbiting space station for future exploration.

"The International Space Station is a unique laboratory that enables important discoveries that benefit humanity and vastly increase understanding of how humans can live and work in space for long periods," NASA deputy administrator Lori Garver said in a statement.

"This partnership agreement for the use of expandable habitats represents a step forward in cutting-edge technology that can allow humans to thrive in space safely and affordably, and heralds important progress in U.S. commercial space innovation."

The prototype of the BEAM is expected to be similar to that of Bigelow's Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 prototypes, two small inflatable modules that were launched into orbit in 2006 and 2007 respectively, according to a report in Space.com.

NASA and the private company hope the inflatable module can be launched within two years. It could be launched either by the California-based SpaceX or by Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp.

NASA's Garver and Bigelow Aerospace president Robert Bigelow will discuss about BEAM during a media meeting Jan. 16 at the Bigelow Aerospace facilities in North Las Vegas.

Bigelow Aerospace is not the only private spaceflight firm that has been awarded a contract by the space agency. NASA has signed multi-billion dollar contracts with other private companies like SpaceX and Orbital Sciences to send unmanned cargo ships to the space station, after the retirement of its spacecraft in 2011.

Last year, SpaceX's dragon capsule was successfully launched to the space station for a resupply mission.

Apart from unmanned missions, NASA has also granted funds to private companies - Boeing, Sierra Nevada and SpaceX - to launch manned missions in the future.