In an exclusive, SPACE.com reports that Bigelow Aerospace has signed memorandums of understanding with six nations-- Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden, Australia, and the UK-- to be clients of a private space station BA intends to build. The six are looking for more opprtunities to pursue space projects than exist on ISS, even though Japan has its own module attached to ISS.
The BA space station will be made using BA's inflatable structure technology. Two prototypes testing that technology are currently in Earth orbit, having exceeded expectations.
These six are all governments, but BA is also seeking to work with private, for-profit concerns and scientific research organizations. These "sovereigns," as Bigelow calls the governments, seem to put the question of the legitimacy of NewSpace-- or at least of BA-- in sharp relief. After spending $200 million of his own fortune on his space company, Robert Bigelow has either snookered six governments fully capable of thoroughly investigating him and his company, or he has built a company with a real chance to completely change the rules in space.
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