ITAR and Inflatables
4 July 2004: Private Initiative for Inflatable Space Habitat Lures Chinese Interest, Aviation Now
“Inflatable technologies–or “expandables” as Bigelow prefers to call them–are increasingly popular, and NASA and the Defense Dept. are also potential customers for Nautilus research. As envisioned by NASA for the TransHab concept, Bigelow engineers believe the Nautilus could also be a proof-of-concept development for similar materials technologies and inflatables as habitats on the Moon as part of the new U.S. lunar/Mars manned exploration initiative.”
Editor’s note: One would expect that there are some nasty ITAR-related concerns just waiting to pounce on Bigelow’s plans.