The craft was intended to support zero-gravity research including scientific missions and manufacturing processes.

The module's large size was intended to benefit lunar astronauts or the crews of other long-duration space missions,[11] which had fairly cramped quarters for the several-day flight.

The layers are fashioned to break up particles of space debris and tiny meteorites that may hit the shell with a speed seven times as fast as a bullet.

The outer layers protect multiple inner bladders, made of a material that holds in the module's air.

The key to the debris protection is successive layers of Nextel, a material commonly used as insulation under the hoods of many cars, spaced between several-inches-thick layers of open cell foam, similar to foam used for chair cushions on Earth.

The Nextel and foam layers cause a particle to shatter as it hits, losing more and more of its energy as it penetrates deeper.

The innermost layer, forming the inside wall of the module, is Nomex cloth, a fireproof material that also protects the bladder from scuffs and scratches.Bigelow has described their technology to news media[14] and have indicated that their proprietary technology inflatable shell, now in validation test in low-Earth orbit in two subscale spacecraft, incorporates a layer of Vectran, along with the Kevlar, etc.

As of 2005[update], Bigelow Aerospace had plans to develop the CSS Skywalker, a space station based upon using B330 modules to act as an orbital hotel.

[21] In early 2010, Bigelow selected[22] Orbitec as the supplier for environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS).

As of November 2013[update], Bigelow Aerospace indicated that the company has the financial capacity to produce at least two B330 habitats, along with a couple of transit tugs and a docking node if Bigelow is able to secure commercial customers to pay for approximately half of the launch costs for these systems.

[8] Also in 2014, Bigelow announced notional designs for two enhanced B330s,[8] but has explicitly stated that it would need to secure an anchor customer to go forward with building and launching any systems beyond low Earth orbit (BLEO).