Associated Press
Robert Bigelow wants to build a lunar space station out of inflatable pods.
- Hotel billionaire Robert Bigelow is dedicating part of his fortune toward designing and building inflatable space habitats.
- On Thursday, his company Bigelow Aerospace unveiled its "Mars Transporter" test unit in Las Vegas. As part of a two-week ground test for NASA, astronauts will spend three days inside trying it out.
- The test unit is an early prototype of the B330: a habitat Bigelow wants NASA to use for its Artemis moon-landing program and, later on, travel to Mars.
- "It is important to listen to what President Trump has been saying about Mars. The way to Mars is to the moon," Bigelow said in a statement.
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Hotel mogul Robert Bigelow wants to take his idea to build inflatable space habitats and run with it - apparently, all the way to Mars.
On Thursday, the billionaire publicly unveiled Bigelow Aerospace's latest model of an expandable space station prototype, called the "Bigelow Mars Transporter Testing Unit." It has the volume of roughly four mid-size cargo containers and was built in part for a two-week-long test by NASA astronauts and engineers.
Bigelow's ultimate goal is to convince NASA - which is also testing prototypes made by four other companies - to fund a space-worthy unit, called the B330 (so named because it would have 330 cubic meters of volume), in support of Artemis: the space agency's $20-30 billion moon-landing program.
The Artemis plan currently calls for housing astronauts inside a moon-orbiting space station called the Gateway. That way, astronauts have a pit stop to visit between the lunar surface and Earth. In the more distant future, the Gateway may serve as a stepping stone to Mars.
"It is important to listen to what President Trump has been saying about Mars. The way to Mars is to the moon. The way to the moon is through the Gateway," Bigelow said in a statement provided to Business Insider ahead of the unveiling. "The B330 is an exploration destined space station, and we are excited about its future."
Bigelow Aerospace built out its demo unit to house astronauts for three days, and the company provided interior pictures of its setup.
Take a look inside.