back to article NASA: We'll try again in the morning after friction ruins engorgement

After halting the first try on safety grounds, NASA is going to make another attempt to inflate the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) aboard the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday. The module, made up of layers of micrometeoroid-resistant fabric, was delivered to the ISS by SpaceX last month and was due for …

  1. Alan Brown Silver badge

    Delays

    " It has undergone a tremendous squeeze for over 15 months, which is 10 months longer than planned."

    There are some items sitting in warehouses around the world whose launch is 30 years overdue.

    Bigelow shouldn't be too miffed and hopefully it will slowly inflate to the proper dimensions.

    1. Mikel

      Re: Delays

      There are some Russian rocket engines sitting in a warehouse 50 years waiting for their ISS mission.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Delays

        Anf I guess they use it with the same seals and lubricants of 50 years ago... c'mon.

        Metal parts have a long shelf life - just like the whole Russian technology, still mostly stuck in post WWII German designs. Guess you can still launch a V2, if you can find one...

        This is real innovation, instead.

  2. Elmer Phud

    "Pump it up when you don't really need it.

    Pump it up until you can feel it."

  3. Scroticus Canis
    Paris Hilton

    Friction ruins engorgement - ¿Que?

    Must be doing something wrong then. KY and a touch more pressure should do it.

    (even Paris knows that)

  4. Chozo
    Coat

    Bigelow Remix

    Pump up the pod

    Pump it up

    While Mission Control's chillin

    And the station's spinning

    Look ahead, your fans are grinnin

    Pump it up a little more

    Get the party goin' on the lab floor

    See, 'cause that's where the bubbles at

    And you'd go pop if you do that

  5. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Coat

    Oh dear, Mr Floppy?

    Had to be said.

    1. Paul Crawford Silver badge

      Re: Oh dear, Mr Floppy?

      Do you want to read my naughty inflation-procedure parchments again?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    Eye popping

    What would be cool would be if the module were designed to do this.

  7. Me19713
    Childcatcher

    They need to send some KY jelly up on the next freighter to reduce the friction!

  8. Doctor_Wibble
    Angel

    Wot no trouser press?

    So it got badly creased after being squashed in the suitcase, and they don't have anything to iron it with. Bummer.

    Presumably if NASA ask nicely Corby would be happy to deliver but I bet the P&P will sting a bit.

  9. petur
    Thumb Up

    Done

    https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2016/05/28/beam-fully-expanded-and-pressurized/

    1. Aslan
      Flame

      Re: Done

      Congrats on scooping El Reg.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The Glastonbury Module

    It should really be given the honorary nickname 'The Glastonbury Module', hope that sticks.

    1. DropBear

      Re: The Glastonbury Module

      Nope. "Blimpy McBlimpface". Or, at the very least, "Stay Puft!"...

  11. thexfile

    "The Jiffy Pop Module"

  12. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

    "Jason Crusan, director of Advanced Exploration Systems at NASA Headquarters, said that the inflation process was stopped because the habitat wasn't expanding as quickly as the computer models predicted."

    Good example to illustrate that you need to keep to be aware of the possibility that reality won't comply to your model(s), especially not the untested ones. Which is one of the reasons why stuffTM needs to be tested IRL. Which is a bit complicated if it's stuff-for-spaceTM.

    No doubt the team at Bigelow was expecting something to work out differently as planned - now they know what did and will work it into their design and performance models. Other things might work out differently as well, which is why a two year test period makes sense to me.

    As I am given to understand that there already is a technology to inflate limp things by exposing them to a localized near-vacuum, that has been around for some time, I was initially puzzled by the failure to expand the module at the first try. But now that I know that it had been in a tight squeeze for 15 months, three times the duration originally planned for, I'm quite sure that this is the root of the problem.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Also, I'm not sure the vacuum helps in this case, as there is not much free atmosphere up there to pump inside.

      That is, it's the pump (expanding gases) doing most of the work.

  13. Stevie

    Bah!

    I know what the problem is likely to be, and friction doesn't even enter into it.

    The astronauts are obviously working from a Haynes manual.

    All Haynes manuals have at least one procedure where they miscount the number of bolts, forget that the chassis and exhaust system is in the way or neglect to mention the need to undertake the work in a garage equipped with a pit until you have a transmission about to hit the floor.

    My guess would be the need to loosen two bolts before turning on the air supply.

    1. DropBear

      Re: Bah!

      Naaaah, if they'd be working from a Haynes, the ISS would be a completely dismantled collection of floating bits and parts before they'd get to step #164568: "loosening the Bigelow Module retaining bolt" (in the time honoured tradition of "Headlight removal, step one: loosen bolts A, B and C holding your tailpipe...")

      1. Stevie

        Re: Bah!

        "Jack up the space station and remove the road wheels".

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