Show Date: July 19, 2006 
Pam Eastlick for THE DEEP on line

LIVING THERE

Welcome to The Deep science and technology column where we cover topics from the deep sea to deep space and beyond. Join us each week on Newstalk K57 on Wednesday night from 7 to 8 p.m. for exciting live science expeditions or listen live on our web site www.thedeepradioshow.com

We’ve talked a lot on The Deep about the future of human space travel. The major stumbling block is that it costs $10,000 per pound to put a payload into low Earth orbit and this boosts space flight beyond the reach of most individuals and into the realm of governments. They have much deeper pockets.

There are many individuals, however, who see the great potential of space flight and are constructing private launch vehicles to jump-start commercial ventures into space. But launch vehicles are very expensive to develop and use and they require very deep pockets indeed. There has been a lot of private interest in reaching space, but not a whole lot of commercial ventures geared toward staying there.

That all changed last Wednesday, 12 July. The major news was about the safe launch of the space shuttle and all the work done on the International Space Station and it overshadowed a different kind of launch. This payload went aloft from Siberia aboard a Russian Dnepr rocket but it was all-American. It was manufactured by Bigelow Aeronautics and it is the prototype of the first inflatable space habitat. Yes, you read that right; it’s a big balloon.

Genesis 1 reached its designed orbit of 340 miles above Earth (about 110 miles above the International Space Station) and shortly thereafter, computer-controller air-pressure tanks activated and expanded the pre-folded structure into its watermelon shape. After inflation, the one-third-scale prototype is 15 feet long and 8 feet in diameter. The tough fabric shell is made of a composite of Kevlar - used to make bullet-proof vests - and an advanced material called Vectran, a fiber spun from liquid crystal polymer that has a melting point of over 600°F and extremely high resistance to ultraviolet, a big plus in space.

Its creators plan to monitor Genesis 1 for five years to see if it can maintain the proper internal air pressure and temperature, withstand any collisions with space debris and micrometeorites, and whether solar radiation causes any deterioration of the airtight fabric.

Bigelow said the internal temperature currently is a comfortable 78 degrees Fahrenheit (26 degrees Celsius), and air pressure is within normal limits. Genesis carries live insect colonies, whose health will be monitored during the mission. Robert Bigelow expects to follow up the launch with Genesis-2; which will expand to 45 by 24 feet, which is, of course, house-sized. It will have improvements based on the data gathered by Genesis-1, and could launch as early as late 2006 or 2007. We may be living in space sooner than we think!

First picture from Genesis 1

Join us this week on The Deep when we’ll talk about living in space. We’ll also talk about what happened to the USS Hunley, the first submarine to sink another ship in battle. The Deep is broadcast on Newstalk K57 every Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. You can also listen live from our web site www.thedeepradioshow.com. Join Jim Sullivan, Pam Eastlick, and Peter Melyan on the deepest radio show on Earth.