Bigelow Aerospace surprised a lot of people late Friday when the company announced that it planned to “accelerate future plans” related to the series of experimental orbital modules it planned to develop and launch. Details were sketchy, and the company said it would only provide additional details early next year, when it launches its next spacecraft, Genesis 2. The company offered an odd mix of reasons for the change, including “the outstanding performance of Genesis I, the hoped-for adequate performance of Genesis II and various additional factors—including, but not limited to, domestic and international issues forecast over the next four to five years bearing upon America’s transportation and launch deficits.” I’m not exactly sure what a “launch deficit” is, unless that’s supposed to mean difficulty finding affordable launch options for its spacecraft.
One near-term result of this is that Genesis 2 will be the only mission opportunity for Bigelow’s “Fly Your Stuff” program, where people can pay to fly photos and items into space. This is an interesting turn of events, since when I talked with Robert Bigelow last month, he suggested that the program was a key experiment in generating revenue and public interest in his company’s work. “We are very involved with experimenting—and this is a grand experiment all of its own—with outreaching to the public,” he said. “We’re captivated by the adventure here, and part of the adventure is exploring whether the public is going to be interested.”
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