Bigelow Aerospace is a
North Las Vegas, Nevada space technology
startup company that is pioneering work on expandable
space station modules. Bigelow Aerospace was founded by
Robert Bigelow in 1998 and is funded in large part by the fortune Bigelow gained through his ownership of the hotel chain
Budget Suites of America. By 2010, Bigelow had invested US$180 million in the company. Bigelow has stated on multiple occasions that he is prepared to fund Bigelow Aerospace with about US$500 million through 2015 in order to achieve launch of full-scale hardware. Bigelow is pioneering a new market in a flexible and configurable set of
space habitats. Moreover, industry observers have noted that Bigelow is demonstrating audacity to pioneer such a market "in a capital-intensive, highly-
regulated industry like
spaceflight."