GST FORUM: Space companies look for Middle East investors

Of the more interesting, first up was Mike Gold of Los Vegas Bigelow who outlined the company's plans for “transhabs” - or expandable space stations.  

An enthusiastic Gold (pictured above) said that Bigelow had successfully demonstrated that its inflatable space complexes could work, by way of its  Genesis 1 and Genesis II programmes launched in 2006 and 2007 respectively.  

Without actually saying it, Mike was offering GSTF delegates the chance to beat the Americans, Russians and Europeans at their own game – by putting together a space station at a fraction of the cost and in a fraction of the time it has taken to put the International Space Station together.  

He said that one of the keys to the projects success was the use of ex-Soviet rocket technology, by way of a converted ICBM DNEPR missile launched from the SC Kosmotras Space and Missile Complex near Yasny, Russia.  

The complex had launched both Genesis I and II, putting both satellites within a few hundred metres of their projected orbital insertion points.  

The brainchild of Las Vegas multimillionaire Robert Bigelow, the first Genesis expandable Kevlar-type space station was put into orbit for an investment of around $500m. Both systems are still holding their pressure, proof Mike Gold says, that the technology could work.  

Their next project is Sundancer – a 175 cubic metre space blimp that could support a crew of six and ultimately offer more space than the International Space Station once all three modules are docked together.  

If Bigelow was trying the soft-sell approach, Dr Oleg Ventskovsky of of the Ukraine-based Yuzhnoye State Design Office went straight for the region's wallets.  

He said that his company was looking for a $350m investment to maintain its Sea Launch system. The company behind rocket systems like the DNEPR, the OKEN, Vega and Sich-1M systems, Yuzhnoye points to its 28 successful launches from its ocean-based platform as proof that the system works.  

“We are here today and tomorrow if any partner wants to talk to us,” Ventskovsky said. The reason he is so keen to hear from Middle East investors is that in June 2009 the provider of the Sea Launch service, Sea Launch Co. LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.  

If $350m is a bit too rich, he had another offer as well. The company is currently looking for backers for its Space Clipper project, which would air-launch rockets from a modified Antonov 24 aircraft.  

Once released at altitude, the two or three-stage booster would ignite, sending the payload into orbit.  Yuzhnoye is looking for a partner with $300m for that project.  

Or what about its Microspace project that would launch boosters from underneath the wing of a modified MiG of Sukhoi jet aircraft?  

The company needs just €60m to develop a prototype launch vehicle or €10-12m to develop a working model.