Robert Bigelow

Robert Thomas Bigelow (born May 12, 1944) is an American aerospace entrepreneur and real estate developer — owner of Budget Suites of America and founder of Bigelow Aerospace — who became the primary private-sector funder of UAP and parapsychological research in the United States in the 1990s and 2000s, purchasing the Skinwalker Ranch in 1996 for scientific investigation, funding the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS), and later contracting with the Defense Intelligence Agency to conduct the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) research that preceded public UAP disclosure. In a 2017 CBS 60 Minutes interview, Bigelow stated he was "absolutely convinced" that non-human intelligence had visited Earth and that concealing the knowledge requires no great effort from government: "It's not something that is just going to happen overnight... you don't need a lot of people to maintain a secret."

Early life

Bigelow was raised in Las Vegas approximately 70 miles from the Nevada National Security Site nuclear weapons testing range. He enrolled at the University of Nevada, Reno in 1962, studying banking and real estate, and graduated from Arizona State University in 1967.

Real estate and Budget Suites

From the late 1960s through the 1990s Bigelow developed commercial real estate in the Southwest — hotels, motels, and apartments — building approximately 15,000 units and purchasing another 8,000, the bulk of which he sold before the 2008 financial crisis. In 1987 he founded Budget Suites of America, a extended-stay apartment chain whose suites include full kitchens; locations have included three properties in Phoenix, five in Las Vegas, ten in Dallas, and one in San Antonio.

Bigelow Aerospace

Bigelow founded Bigelow Aerospace in 1999, planning to spend up to $500 million developing the first commercial space station based on inflatable habitat technology licensed from NASA's cancelled TransHab program. The company launched the experimental modules Genesis I (2006) and Genesis II (2007), and the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) launched to the International Space Station in April 2016 aboard a SpaceX cargo mission. In October 2017 Bigelow announced plans for an inflatable "space hotel" by 2022, estimated at $2.3 billion, with three-day stays priced at $5 million.

In March 2020, Bigelow Aerospace laid off all 88 staff members and halted operations after over 20 years, partially attributed to the coronavirus pandemic. In March 2021 Bigelow sued NASA for $1.05 million for unpaid contract work.

NIDS and Skinwalker Ranch

Main articles:

National Institute for Discovery Science

and

Skinwalker Ranch

In 1995 Bigelow founded the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS) to research fringe science and paranormal topics — particularly ufology — assembling a team that included physicist Hal Puthoff, former CIA medical officer Kit Green, retired Army Colonel John Alexander, physicist Eric Davis, and biochemist Colm Kelleher. NIDS investigated cattle mutilation and black triangle UFO reports — ultimately attributing the latter to military aircraft — and disbanded in 2004.

In 1996 Bigelow purchased Skinwalker Ranch, a 512-acre cattle ranch in northeastern Utah with reported paranormal phenomena, for $200,000, following accounts by the Sherman family of poltergeist activity, cattle mutilation, UAP sightings, and other anomalous phenomena. The property became a long-term research site for NIDS scientists, whose investigation was documented in Colm Kelleher and George Knapp's 2005 book Hunt for the Skinwalker. Bigelow sold the ranch to Brandon Fugal in 2016 for $4 million.

AAWSAP and AATIP contract

Main articles:

Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program

and

Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program

In December 2017 the New York Times reported that Bigelow had urged Senator Harry Reid to initiate the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), a Defense Intelligence Agency study from 2007 to 2012 examining UAP. According to the Times, Bigelow stated he was "absolutely convinced" extraterrestrial life exists and has visited Earth. Through Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS), Bigelow contracted with the DIA in 2008 to conduct research under the broader AAWSAP umbrella — producing 38 Defense Intelligence Reference Documents on exotic propulsion, exotic materials, and advanced aerospace threats, as well as managing several UAP encounter databases. The arrangement connected private NHI research infrastructure to the classified government program that eventually led to Luis Elizondo's 2017 resignation and public disclosure.

Scientific credibility of Skinwalker data

Luis Elizondo acknowledged in 2021 that the data collected by Bigelow's team at Skinwalker Ranch — under the AAWSAP program, conducted by the former AAWSAP director and Bigelow Aerospace personnel — was "absolutely compelling," and credited subsequent owner Brandon Fugal and others with recognizing the validity of some of that data in ongoing investigations. Annie Jacobsen — author of Area 51 — separately confirmed that she had interviewed multiple Ph.D.-level researchers with DARPA contracts who had been on-site at Skinwalker Ranch during the Bigelow ownership period and who attested to witnessing anomalous phenomena including what they described as portals.

Bigelow Aerospace science board

Bigelow maintained a science advisory board at Bigelow Aerospace that included major figures in UAP research. Jacques Vallée described being brought to Las Vegas to address the Bigelow Aerospace science board, where he discussed the Corso case and physical trace evidence — including fiber optic materials allegedly recovered from crashed vehicles — with the board's scientists.

Greer's critique of AAWSAP funding

Steven Greer has described the AAWSAP contract as a case of insider capture, alleging that "the people in that circle around Bigelow and Bigelow Aerospace were all operatives of these unacknowledged special access projects" who ensured the $22 million was "the equivalent of opening a toilet lid, putting the money in, and flushing it." In a separate account, Greer specified that John Alexander was the operative who directed the operation, stating that Bigelow "didn't know" and "was innocent" but that "it was Alexander who did all the gas lighting." Greer further claimed that General Bob Herbert, who had left the military and was working closely with Senator Harry Reid on the project, confirmed to him during Covid: "we didn't get anything of any value out of all those millions of dollars."

Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies

In June 2020 Bigelow founded the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies (BICS) to support research into survival of consciousness after death. In January 2021 the institute offered a $1 million award for essays on the survival of human consciousness after death; first place ($500,000) was awarded to parapsychologist Jeffrey Mishlove, second to cardiologist Pim van Lommel, and third to sociologist Leo Ruickbie.

Personal life

Bigelow married Diane Mona Grammy on February 4, 1965; the couple had two children — Robert Michael "Bobby" Bigelow and Rod Lee Bigelow. Rod died by suicide in 1992 at age 24, and grandson Rod Lee Bigelow II died by suicide in 2011 due to drug addiction. Diane died on February 19, 2020, from myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia.

Political contributions

Bigelow has donated to conservative Republican candidates. In July 2022 he donated $10 million to Ron DeSantis's re-election campaign, and contributed over $25 million in support of Joe Lombardo's Nevada gubernatorial candidacy — potentially the largest single-donor spending on a statewide race in modern history. In January 2024 Bigelow stated he had given Donald Trump $1 million for legal fees with a promise of $20 million more to a super PAC.

See also

• National Institute for Discovery Science
• Bigelow Aerospace
• Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program
• Skinwalker Ranch
• Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies

References

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