sky high

Two privately-built prototype modules are circuiting the Earth � prelude technology to seed space with far larger orbital housing that support human occupants.

Lofting all that living room into Earth orbit is on the business agenda of Bigelow Aerospace of North Las Vegas, Nevada � but the company faces significant challenges in attaining their sky-high goals.

The privately-backed Bigelow Aerospace Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 expandable sub-scale space modules were shot into orbit � on July 12, 2006 and June 28, 2007, respectively � via Dnepr boosters from the ISC Kosmotras Yasny Cosmodrome, located in the Orenburg region of Russia.

Both remain in excellent shape, providing valuable data on the use of expandable space structures for crews, not only in low Earth orbit, but on the moon and Mars, said Michael Gold, Corporate Counsel for Bigelow Aerospace in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

"We're ahead of schedule," Gold told SPACE.com, thanks to the success of the Genesis craft that are proving out the fundamentals of the Bigelow Aerospace module design.

Expedited schedule

In an August 13 message from Robert Bigelow, president of the entrepreneurial space firm, he underscored the fact that global launch costs were escalating.

"These price hikes have been most acute in Russia due to a number of factors including inflation, previously artificially low launch costs and the falling value of the U.S. dollar. What this now means for Bigelow Aerospace is that to conduct another subscale demonstrator mission would cost two to three times what it has in the past," Bigelow explained.

That being the case, Bigelow announced an expedited schedule � one that skips an in-orbit flight of a module dubbed Galaxy...and fast forwarding directly to the much larger Sundancer � an expandable habitat capable of being boarded by humans.

"We still intend to construct and test the Galaxy spacecraft and/or various parts of it in order to gain familiarity and experience with critical subsystems. However, by eliminating the launch of Galaxy, we believe that Bigelow Aerospace can move more expeditiously to our next step by focusing exclusively on the challenging and exciting task presented by the Sundancer program," Bigelow reported.

Business case

But while Sundancer is already taking shape � with 2010 eyed as the time period for launch � it also brings about some bad news, Gold said. "Our schedule is so aggressive and our progress has been so good, it is creating some significant concerns in terms of transportation," he added.

Gold urged launch companies to recognize the fact that the International Space Station is not the only destination target out there. "It is very disconcerting where the launch industry is today," he noted.

While there are rockets, both domestic and foreign, to loft the large and heavier Sundancer module, affordable, reliable, and safe transportation of crews to the private outpost is missing right now, Gold said.

Why not utilize the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to send crews to Sundancer? From a simple financial perspective, Gold responded, "we don't know if it can support the business case" of Bigelow Aerospace. "It's probably not a financially viable choice for us."

Expanding the technology

Sundancer is meant to form the foundation of a future Bigelow Aerospace space complex, one that ties separate modules together to form an even larger on-orbit facility. Moreover, the company has its sights set on beyond Earth applications of expandable structures.

"I think it's widely acknowledged that expandable habitats are where we are heading, whether it's the moon, Mars or beyond," Gold emphasized. "Low Earth orbit is the first stage of that...to test the systems prior to deploying anything on the moon or Mars. What we learn in Earth orbit will be absolutely vital to expanding the technology to future worlds."

Meanwhile, the two Genesis-class modules continue to rack up space mileage as they circle the Earth. The intent is that the dual spacecraft will provide priceless data for years to come.

The "Fly Your Stuff" initiative � in which participants paid to fly items inside the Genesis spacecraft is completed, Gold said. Engaging the public in future Bigelow Aerospace ventures will continue, he said, in one form or another.

Another idea being prototyped on Genesis 2 is the use of a projector on the tip of the craft's solar arrays. That equipment casts an uploadable image on the side of the orbiting module. The resolution and clarity of those images has proven the concept workable � and also bolsters the prospect of being a revenue-generating idea, Gold said.
plate of linguine at restaurants in Italy will jump 20 percent this fall, Italians are being warned.

Two weeks ago, a national pasta protest focused the attention of Italians on the world shortage of durum wheat, the essential ingredient in pasta.

That shortage brought the unheard-of price of $13 a bushel for durum in northeastern Montana on Thursday.

"It is amazing," said Dagmar farmer Rick Sampsen. "There is no marketing strategy here - just sell it." Sampsen was sitting in his truck Thursday waiting to unload durum in Plentywood that he sold recently for $10 a bushel. While waiting, he sold some more for $13.

"Never, never, never, never," replied Jerry Thuesen, who farms at Reserve, when asked if he remembered anything similar to the current durum market. "I cannot keep up with it."

Neither can the rest of the world.

A general shortage of wheat worldwide, aggravated by weather woes and panic buying, has spiked the price of all classes of wheat, including durum, to record levels this summer. Wheat futures in Chicago, Kansas City and Minneapolis all hit highs again Thursday.

Durum is the spring wheat that produces semolina, which in turn is used for making pasta in all its innumerable forms: fettuccine, spaghetti, rigatoni, orzo, etc. Italians consume more than 60 pounds of pasta per person each year; Americans eat about 20 pounds.

Italy produces half of the durum it needs each year and imports the rest. In 2006, Italy imported 250,000 metric tons from the United States. The remainder came from Canada and the European Union.

For the Mon-Dak region of the United States, where most of the country's durum is grown, the current cash market has provided a boom. There are no futures contracts for durum.

Mon-Dak refers to the area of northeastern Montana and northwestern North Dakota that has common economic interest in farming and energy production.

But to take advantage of the record prices, one must have grain in storage. With durum, there is very little.

"We are near out of durum," Sampsen said, noting that the demand in recent weeks has produced the high prices to draw out any existing farm stocks.

"The crop was real poor in North Africa," he said. Canada, a major exporter, also reduced production, he said.

In countries such as Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Libya, the annual consumption of wheat averages 400 to 500 pounds per capita, Sampsen said. Couscous, made of durum, is the North African version of pasta.

Sampsen remembers high prices for durum more that 30 years ago when it hit "$8.40 one day, Valentine's Day, in 1974."

This year's crop in the Mon-Dak region was of high quality, Sampsen said. It graded No. 1 with protein at 16 percent. Stocks were low because of a weather-stunted crop in 2006.

"Otherwise, prices would not be this high," he said.

Sampsen said that once the price for durum started going up this summer, it did not back off.

"There was never a pricing drop back, or correction, this year," he said.

While the price has risen steadily, most farmers marketed their durum through the season. Contracts in the spring were offering $5.25 a bushel, he said.

He estimated that most farmers would average $7 a bushel or more but doubted that many would average more than $8.

"It is the craziest I've ever seen," said Thuesen, who has farmed for almost 40 years. He has served as president of the U.S. Durum Growers Association and the Montana Grain Growers Association.

He, too, spread his marketing of durum through the summer and the harvest season. He added that prices for yellow peas at $6.50 a bushel is also more than double in 2006. The diversity of crops in the Mon-Dak region is helping to support higher prices for all, he said.

The significantly higher prices for wheat this year, however, are offset by high production costs. According to U.S. Wheat Associates economists, the input costs have increased about 300 percent in the past five years, with fuel and fertilizer leading the way.

"This (run-up) is a really good thing," Thuesen said. "These prices will help make some farmers well. To catch up for last year in this area."

Despite the temptation to plant more durum next year, Sampsen said his family would "stick with the program" with one-third of the land going to lentils and peas. Rotating the crops breaks up disease cycles, and the lentils and peas add nitrogen to the soil, saving on fertilizer costs, which have also skyrocketed the past two years.

Montana farmers produced 13.1 million bushels of durum this year, double the 2006 crop, according to the Montana Agricultural Statistics Service. The highest monthly average price for durum in MASS history was $6.59 a bushel in November 1974, but that was exceeded last month with a price of $6.64.

North Dakota produced 46.4 million bushels this year, compared with 31.5 million in 2006.

Montana has a pasta plant in Great Falls. Pasta Montana is owned by Nippon Flour Mills, a Japanese firm, with about half of its production going to JapanThe Melbourne reconstructive surgeon is one of hundreds set to take on the 92 flights of stairs to the top of Melbourne's tallest tower, raising money for medical charity Interplast.

The race is the first for the huge building, and Interplast hopes to send an equally big message about their work rebuilding lives.

Operating from Melbourne for the past 24 years, Interplast Australia sends teams of plastic and reconstructive surgeons, anaesthetists and nurses to poverty-stricken Asian regions.

The teams provide life-changing treatment for people, and especially children, who have disfiguring medical conditions.

"Most people think of plastic surgery as cosmetic surgery, but actually it's a hugely important treatment," Mr Hunter-Smith said.

Interplast started in the US, after an American plastic surgeon saw a child with a cleft lip chained under a house in Mexico.

Interplast volunteer and board member Mr Hunter-Smith said children throughout the Asia Pacific also became outcasts due to cleft lips and disfiguring burns.

"You get a kid with a cleft palate, and the family can't afford to get it fixed -- often they don't even know it's possible," he said.

"Then they get ostracised, they don't get education because they can't go to school, they don't marry, they don't get a job . . . and yet it only takes an hour for the surgery to fix it."

On October 14, Interplast is holding its first Tower Climb, challenging supporters to take on the Eureka stairs.

With more than 200 participants, organiser Debbie Shiell hopes the event will raise $92,000 -- or $1000 for each flight of stairs.

Participants include Eureka developer Daniel Grollo, who said it was an easy decision to sponsor the event.

"When you see the change these surgeons make to the lives of those kids, it's incredible," he said.

Ms Shiell said Eureka Tower was a great location for the fundraiser.

"The Eureka Tower was all about construction and building, and Interplast is all about reconstruction and rebuilding," she said.

Since its inception, Interplast has trained hundreds of overseas medical personnel, sent over 600 volunteers to 22 countries, and carried out 17,000 life-changing operations.