The Next Big Future recently checked in on Bigelow Aerospace, which plans to deploy a private space station in low Earth orbit by 2016. Robert Bigelow, the company's CEO, also had some blunt things to say about the Chinese.
More than the heavily government subsidized rocket companies such as SpaceX, real hopes for a vibrant commercial space sector resides in corporations like Bigelow. So far the government is at once the prime investor and the sole customer of the commercial launch companies it is funding under President Barack Obama's space policy.
Bigelow represents a much more pure manifestation of commercial space. Instead of chasing government subsidies, Bigelow envisions its space facility as hosting private researchers and astronauts, charging initially $28.75 million for a two-week stay, expensive to be sure, but still very competitive compared to what is charged by Space Adventures for a stay on the International Space Station.
Bigelow will benefit from the Obama commercial space plan at least indirectly. Bigelow has signed an agreement with Boeing to use the BA330 capsule, which the giant aerospace firm is developing using commercial space subsidies from NASA. The BA330 is in direct competition with SpaceX's Dragon space ship.
Bigelow would also not be averse to having guests paid by the U.S. government, say researchers who want to run experiments on board its facility. Plans are not quite firm for that kind of arrangement, so Bigelow is relying mainly on commercial customers for now. Of course, the US government is not the only government keen on getting in on space research. Bigelow's prices are low enough that any number of countries could use its space station to do research.
Moving beyond low Earth orbit, Robert Bigelow was quite blunt in his belief that as soon as practicable China would withdraw from the Outer Space Treaty which, among other things, forbids nation states from claiming extra terrestrial territory. China would hence start claiming large sections of the moon, especially the poles where water exists in relative abundance.
Bigelow's assertion may seem far-fetched, but it does mesh with China's aggressive behavior on Earth in its drive to supplant the United States as sole super power. And Bigelow does envision his company as being part of an American response, building inflatable lunar bases to counter Chinese territorial claims.
One of the refreshing aspects of Bigelow's prediction of a Chinese lunar land grab is the implied criticism of Obama's current space plan that bypasses the Moon, which in many ways is strategic territory, in favor of chasing asteroids. If one legitimately fears Chinese empire building on the Moon, then the recourse is to deploy American personal and infrastructure on the lunar surface to preempt that move. And, if Bigelow makes a little more money in the process, one suspects that Mr. Bigelow will not mind getting richer by being a patriot.
Mark R. Whittington is the author of Children of Apollo and The Last Moonwalker. He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the L.A. Times, and The Weekly Standard.
