Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies

Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) was a subsidiary of Robert Bigelow's aerospace and real estate enterprise, established as a scientific research and contracting organization to pursue anomalous phenomena investigation, including unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). It was the primary contractor for the Defense Intelligence Agency's AATIP-related research program (formally designated the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program, AAWSAP) from 2008 to approximately 2010.¹

Background: Robert Bigelow

Robert T. Bigelow was born in 1944 in Las Vegas, Nevada. He built a significant fortune through Budget Suites of America, a chain of extended-stay apartment hotels, and through Bigelow Aerospace, a commercial space company focused on the development of expandable habitat modules for space stations. Bigelow had maintained a longstanding personal interest in UAP and anomalous phenomena, influenced by his family's reported UAP encounter and by his relationship with Nevada Senator Harry Reid, who shared his interest in the subject.¹

In 1996, Bigelow purchased the Sherman family's ranch in northeastern Utah - known as the Skinwalker Ranch - for $200,000. The property had been the site of reported anomalous events including cattle mutilations, apparitions, unusual craft sightings, and other phenomena reported by the Sherman family and documented in local press. Bigelow established the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS) in 1995 to conduct systematic investigation of anomalous phenomena, and NIDS researchers conducted observation at Skinwalker Ranch from 1996 through the early 2000s.¹

AAWSAP Contract

In 2008, the Defense Intelligence Agency awarded a firm fixed price order to BAASS, with a one-year base period and one option year, to conduct the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program. The contract was secured through the advocacy of Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and two colleagues, Senators Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), who obtained the funding as an earmark. The contract specified research into advanced aerospace threats including potential foreign developments - the framework that allowed UAP investigation to be packaged as a defense intelligence requirement rather than a paranormal inquiry.¹

BAASS employed approximately 50 full-time researchers and contracted hundreds more to staff the program. The chief scientist was Hal Puthoff, the physicist who had directed the original SRI remote viewing program in the 1970s and maintained decades of research interest in advanced propulsion and UAP physics. BAASS investigators conducted site visits to UAP encounter locations, collected witness testimony, analyzed materials, and commissioned studies on advanced propulsion, exotic physics, and human physiological effects from UAP encounters.¹

Skinwalker Ranch and Anomalous Phenomena

BAASS investigators conducted detailed ongoing research at Skinwalker Ranch during the contract period. The ranch had been the site of continued anomalous events since NIDS's initial investigation, and BAASS deployed instrumented observation posts, camera systems, and resident researchers. The scope of reported phenomena at the ranch - which Colm Kelleher and George Knapp documented in Hunt for the Skinwalker (Paraview Pocket Books, 2005) - included UAP, cattle mutilations, poltergeist-type effects, and what researchers described as a "hitchhiker effect," in which phenomena reportedly followed investigators home.¹

Reports and DIRD Studies

BAASS produced a series of Defense Intelligence Reference Documents (DIRDs) - technical reports on advanced aerospace science topics relevant to UAP propulsion and performance. Hal Puthoff and other contributors addressed topics including warp drives, traversable wormholes, high-frequency gravitational wave communications, and exotic materials. The reports, produced between 2009 and 2010, were contracted at $25,000 each from subject matter experts in theoretical physics and advanced engineering. Several were later declassified and released as part of the post-2017 UAP transparency process.¹

A document titled "BAASS Ten Month Report," 530 pages, dated July 30, 2009, circulated online from May 30, 2025, when researchers including Jonathan Davies received an email from the Phenomainon website announcing a function called PhenomGPT through which two BAASS files could be retrieved. A second file, 141 pages, carries the title "BAASS Summary Report on BAASS' UAP Analysis Capabilities" and the date November 23, 2010. Keith Basterfield wrote on June 5, 2025 that he used no images from these documents and gave no links, and noted that Appendix 1 of James Lacatski, Colm Kelleher and George Knapp's Skinwalkers at the Pentagon (2021) lists "BAASS July 2009 Ten Month report" (530 pages) and "Summary Report on BAASS UAP Analysis Capabilities" (141 pages) among the BAASS deliverables lodged with the Defense Intelligence Agency.²

Basterfield wrote on June 28, 2025, citing page 3 of the Ten Month Report, that the first BAASS monthly report (for September 22 to October 2008) records two employees, "Robert Bigelow and senior analyst John Schuessler (In September 2008, a BAASS administrator was hired, but shortly thereafter resigned.)"³

Basterfield wrote on July 7, 2025, quoting the Ten Month Report, that its description of Project Campus gives the objective as "to stimulate, motivate and encourage the senior levels of the academic community within the United States to involve themselves in study and research of very advanced aerial spacecraft that is presently considered phenomenological." As a "test case" BAASS approached senior management at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, which "responded positively"; BAASS proposed ten scenarios, including announcements by the United States Air Force or other officials that unidentified aerial phenomena were real and extraterrestrial, for the university to study with regard to "the media, economy, department of defense, political groups, science, the general public, religion, public health and academia." The report states: "Dr. Smith and four others have expressed strong interest in submitting a specific proposal to BAASS by August 2009."⁴

According to Basterfield's quotation, BAASS also sought proposals from Battelle Memorial Institute, Southwestern Research Institute, the Center for American Progress and Sandia National Laboratories for a study budgeted at 400,000 dollars. The request for proposals states: "For the purpose of the proposed study we take the presence of such advanced exotic aerospace craft as a given." It asks whether "by 2050 there will be confirmation to the public by the U.S. government and its military authorities" of craft "beyond those of our own most advanced military craft," what format such a confirmation should take and what its effects would be on the military and "the U.S. body politic in the areas of commerce, religion, academia and so forth," and what steps could be taken to "soften the societal blow." As of the report date: "BAASS has not received a reply from CAP or SWRI regarding the RFP. Sandia National Laboratories volunteered that they did not have the expertise for the project and Battelle Memorial Institute declined the RFP."⁴

Medical Effects Research

BAASS research included investigation of physiological effects reported by individuals claiming proximity to UAP, building on a database of cases with reported biological effects. Kit Green, the CIA neurophysiologist who had overseen the original SRI remote viewing program from 1972, contributed to this aspect of the research, applying forensic neurological analysis to reported injury patterns. The physiological effects research represented a continuity between the 1970s government anomalous phenomena programs and the AATIP-era research.⁵

Termination and Legacy

The BAASS contract was not renewed after its initial two-year period. The AAWSAP program transitioned to a smaller successor effort designated AATIP, directed by Luis Elizondo within the Pentagon's Washington Headquarters Services. BAASS's accumulated research and case files remained with the program's intelligence customers. Robert Bigelow later sold Skinwalker Ranch to a new ownership group in 2016.¹

Department of Homeland Security Records, Case 2022-HQFO-00386

Marc Cecotti submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Homeland Security on December 8, 2021 for "a copy of all records, including but not limited to e-mails, reports, memorandum, presentations, mentioning: 'Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program' or the acronym 'AAWSAP' 'Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies' or the acronym 'BAASS.'" with a record-search date range of January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2012. The department's final response, dated June 20, 2023 and signed by Jimmy Wolfrey, Senior Director, FOIA Operations and Management, was assigned case number 2022-HQFO-00386. It states: "Following a search of the Office of the Chief Information officer (OCIO), we are granting your request under FOIA ... After carefully reviewing the responsive document, we have determined that it is appropriate for public release. The documents are enclosed in their entirety; DHS has claimed no deletions or exemptions."⁶

Cecotti posted the letter and its enclosure on X on June 20, 2023, writing: "According to Skinwalkers at the Pentagon, AAWSAP officials tried to find alternative locations to house the program and attempts were made to transfer it to the Dept of Homeland Security in 2011. I went after DHS records, this is what they found."⁶

The enclosure is a single page headed "BAASS Goals 2011/2012." It has no author, date or letterhead on its face. Its text reads in full:

Area 1

1. Advanced Technology Analysis Center (an em dash follows these words in the original) analyze recovered AAV technology in collaboration with aerospace companies. Construct extremely secure underground lab facility.
2. Consciousness interactions with, and control of, advanced AAV technology.
3. Extend Remote Communication Programs to communicate and retrieve data across dimensional/space-time barrier. Target multiple locations.
4. Identify anomalous activity in select areas of United States and establish field research laboratories and remote communication programs on site.

Retrieve and integrate all historical data on AAVs from retirees (oral history).

Area 2

1. Liaison with IC, FBI, state, local, and tribal police, FAA, DoD (including AFOSI), National Laboratories and with US Aerospace Companies.
2. Collect data, including classified data, from IC/DoD entities, e.g, cockpit flight recordings of AAV performance, communications, medical autopsy reports, weaponry use, AAV trajectory records (from NORAD).
3. Classified data collection from AAV interactions with Nuclear Weapons Storage Facilities (an em dash follows these words in the original) (Northern Tier and other AFB AAV incidents).

Area 3

NOTE: Unclassified separate organization

1. Create an open organization for collection of data on AAV performance.
2. Liaison with civilian groups for AAV data collection.⁶

Basterfield transcribed the page on June 22, 2023 and set beside it the nine areas of work in BAASS's original proposal to the DIA as listed in Skinwalkers at the Pentagon (global data collection; contact with people who know of novel technologies; a laboratory program with Skinwalker Ranch as a "living lab"; oral history; use of Bigelow space platforms; existing DIA data; biological effects; remote sensing; expert analysis and synthesis), of which the DIA approved areas 1 to 4, 6 and 9 for the first year. His comments on the DHS page were: "Area 1:1. Analyze recovered AAV technolgy - to my knowledge, no such recovered material ever found its way to AAWSAP, and therefore none was ever analyzed"; and "Areas 2:1 and 2:2. These read very much like the current goals of the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)." On November 30, 2023 he called it "a very overlooked BAASS document."⁷

Solicitation and award

The Defense Intelligence Agency published its request for proposals on August 18, 2008, listing twelve technical areas: lift, propulsion, control, armament (radio-frequency and directed energy), spatial and temporal translation, signature reduction, materials, configuration and structure, power generation, human effects, human interface, and technology integration. A DIA talking paper dated May 4, 2009 states that DIA "received only one bid, from Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS), in response to the RFP," determined the proposal responsive, and signed the contract on September 22, 2008.⁸ A second DIA memorandum describes BAASS as "the only bid, headquartered in North Las Vegas, Nevada." The November 17, 2009 talking points describe the award to "the sole bidder" as covering "unclassified research in 11 technical areas" with technical reports due July 31, 2009.⁹¹⁰ The solicitation number is HHM402-08-R-0211, and the awarded contract number appears on DIA's own forms as HHM402-08-C-0072.¹¹¹² Block 6 of the order form gives the solicitation issue date as September 1, 2008, block 8 gives an offer due date of September 10, 2008, and the order incorporates the BAASS proposal dated September 3, 2008; the DIA talking paper dates the request for proposals August 18, 2008.⁸¹¹

The award document is a Standard Form 1449 (Solicitation/Contract/Order for Commercial Items) issued by the Virginia Contracting Activity at Bolling Air Force Base (issuing office code HHQ402, administered by ZD50). It names "Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies, LLC, 4640 S Eastern Ave, Las Vegas NV 89119" as contractor (CAGE 54JU7) and designates the NSA Finance and Accounting Office at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland as the paying office. Block 26 of this copy gives the total award amount as 21,948,810 dollars. The copy of the same Standard Form 1449 reproduced at the front of the modification P00001 package (block 3 award date September 22, 2008, block 6 solicitation issue date September 1, 2008) gives the total award amount in block 26 as 10,000,000 dollars.¹³ The contract type is firm fixed price, with a base year of September 22, 2008 to September 29, 2009 and an option year of September 22, 2009 to September 21, 2010; the order incorporates BAASS's proposal dated September 3, 2008. The line items are monthly status reports, project management plans for the tasks listed as 3.a.1 through 3.a.12, research reports for the same tasks, a "Comprehensive Integrated Threat Assessment," travel, and other direct costs; the unit prices and line amounts are redacted under FOIA Exemption 4.¹¹ The statement of work (section 5.1) required the contractor to provide a work facility with a Top Secret facility clearance granted by the Defense Security Service, and states that cleared facilities "are not required at contract inception."¹² Modification P00001 refers to the order as dated September 22, 2008.¹³

DIA's response letter in case FOIA-00269-2018, which released a single six-page document, is dated June 26, 2023; its response letter in case FOIA-00349-2018, a request that cited contract HHM402-08-R-0211, is dated October 13, 2022 and covers nine documents (36 pages).¹¹¹² Two documents (13 pages) were withheld in full under 10 U.S.C. 424 and 41 U.S.C. 2102(a)(1) (contract source selection information).¹²

Payments, funding and modifications

A DIA contract status briefing dated December 16, 2008 for contract HHM402-08-C-0072 states that "equal amount monthly payments to contractor have commenced and allow for research subcontracts to be put into place quickly," that the technical approaches were "established, traditional techniques within intended scope of contract," and that the effort was "on track, on schedule, and within cost." It records that the first contract status brief was given on November 10, that Senator Harry Reid raised the subject in a meeting on November 13, and that BAASS submitted program management plans for the twelve technical areas on November 21, 2008.¹⁴

A briefing of August 24, 2009 states that BAASS was "in full compliance," had delivered 12 project management plans and 26 detailed research reports ("twice minimum requirement") by June 30, 2009, that DIA should proceed with option year 1 "subject to available funding," and that 12 million dollars for continuation had been submitted in the fiscal 2010 defense budget. It records that the contracting officer would extend the contract through September 30 to use fiscal 2010 funds in option year 1 at no additional cost to the government, and that BAASS had indicated it was "willing to operate 'at risk' in option year 1 until FY10 funding arrives."¹⁵ A later briefing states that the 12 million dollars "also covers BAASS overhead, staff, facilities, IT, security, databases, etc."¹⁶

The modifications released in FOIA-00349-2018 are:

Modification P00001, effective September 2, 2009 (signed September 4, 2009): extended the period of performance to September 30, 2009, revised the option year to October 1, 2009 to September 30, 2010, and exercised option year 1 "subject to availability of funds" under FAR 52.217-9, with a modification amount of 0.00 dollars. The contractor address on this form is 1899 W Brooks Ave, North Las Vegas.¹³

Modification P00002, effective February 2, 2010: provided funding (amount redacted) for the exercise of option year 1, removed the availability-of-funds clause of P00001, and directed BAASS to "identify impacts to deliverables as a result of reduced funding for Option Year 1" and to identify "technical risks of reduced funding."¹⁷

Modifications P00003 and P00004, both distributed May 18, 2010: administrative changes concerning the contracting officer's representative.¹⁷

Modification P00005, September 28, 2010: extended the period of performance from September 21, 2010 to December 21, 2010 under FAR 52.217-8, with no funding required.¹⁷

DIA's October 30, 2009 memorandum lists 26 technical reports delivered in fiscal 2009. It states that eight reviews were performed by other authors listed in its table and five by outside reviewers, among them three research staff members at Sandia National Laboratories, and that "based on draft budget guidance, Congress apparently will fund the contract's option year one at $12 million."¹⁰ A 2010 memorandum to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics states that the fiscal 2010 Defense Appropriations Act "included a $12 million add for the project," that twelve additional reports were produced and delivered, and that one of the 26 reports, "Advanced Space Propulsion Based on Vacuum (Spacetime Metric) Engineering," was published in March 2010.¹⁰

Counterintelligence notation

Talking points prepared for the Deputy Secretary of Defense's November 17, 2009 meeting with Senator Reid contain the entry "August 2008: DIA learned of counter-intelligence concerns with Bigelow Aerospace, the parent company of Bigelow Aerospace Advance Space Studies. These concerns do not appear to be directly related to Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Application Program (AAWSAP)." The next entry reads "September 2008: DIA awarded the contract to the sole bidder." The document does not state the nature of the concerns. The talking points are attached to a memorandum signed by James R. Clapper Jr., Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, recommending against a Special Access Program; it states that the program manager and his leadership "saw no justification for Special Access protections based on the content of the FY09 deliverables or the anticipated FY10 work."⁹

Sole source for the August 2008 counterintelligence sentence: the November 17, 2009 talking points as released. The redactions leave the nature of the concerns and the component that learned of them unstated.

Appropriation as described in DIA papers

The talking points state that "Senators Reid and Inouye co-sponsored a $10M earmark in the July 2008 supplemental" and that "a $12M earmark has been allocated to support the program in FY2010," and record that Reid met a DIA analyst "at a technical conference" in early 2008. They list that a Reid staff member, Bob Herbert, made "multiple phone calls" between July and October 2009 to Marcel Lettre (listed as "PDASDILA"), asking about the status of the response to Reid's June 24, 2009 letter, and that DIA met Herbert on November 4, 2009, who "relayed the Senator's impatience."⁹

Foundations at the contractor's address

The Robert Thomas Bigelow Educational Foundation Inc (EIN 93-3962948) and the Robert Thomas Bigelow Medical Foundation Inc (EIN 93-3974535), both with a March 2024 IRS ruling date as 501(c)(3) organizations, list their address as 4640 S Eastern Ave, Las Vegas, Nevada, the contractor address on the 2008 order. Their Forms 990-PF for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024 report contributions of 62,000 dollars to each, all from Robert Thomas Bigelow, expenses of 105 and 8,158 dollars, and year-end assets of 61,895 and 53,953 dollars. The returns list Robert Thomas Bigelow as president and director and as treasurer and director, Donna Stauch as secretary and director, and Colm Kelleher and Jody Erickson as directors.¹⁸