Open for Business - In Low Earth Orbit
Credit: Axiom Space
Commercial companies will likely be able to invest in “real estate” outside of our atmosphere in the very near future.
In June of 2019, NASA announced that they would be opening the International Space Station to commercial business and allowing private companies to contract their own commercial activity in low-Earth orbit. They planned to provide this opportunity “so U.S. industry innovation and ingenuity can accelerate a thriving commercial economy in low-Earth orbit”, per NASA’s press release on their website.
Last month, NASA selected their first commercial partner with the ISS: Axiom Space. Axiom is a Houston-based startup led by Michael Suffredini, who was formerly NASA’s project manager for the ISS. The contractors creating the modules that will be sent to the station are the same contractors who created the original building blocks for the ISS itself.
Axiom plans to make a series of small preliminary missions to the ISS while partnering with commercial spaceflight providers for the next 3 years. In 2024, however, the Houston-based private giant will launch the first of four modules of their commercial expansion of the ISS. The first to arrive will be Node 1 in 2024, followed by the habitation module the following year. Node 1 carries a large-window observation room, and the habitation module contains quarters which provide stunning views of the Earth from private windows. The designs of these modules clearly show that Axiom believes there is a legitimate market for space tourism.
The third and fourth modules are the research/manufacturing module and the power/thermal tower, estimated to be launched in 2026 and 2027, respectively. The power & thermal tower will provide Axiom’s section of the ISS with its own sustainable power source, so that it can operate independent of the central power system. This module is included because Axiom plans to make their station completely autonomous in the future. “It’s argued that we’ve spent so much time in low earth orbit and learned so much, that it is now well within the grasp of a commercial organization to entirely run their own program for profit”, claims Scott Manley, a reporter and commentator of space news on his popular YouTube channel.
In about a decade or so, when technological progress has warranted the International Space Station beyond its usefulness, the Axiom station will be able to detach from the decommissioned ISS and venture off as its own standalone station. This station will be commercially available for international business and Axiom claims that it will allow NASA to surge into a new era of exploration.
Private influence will continue to make its way into the space industry, led by firms such as Bigelow Aerospace, who are currently working on an experimental space station module to send to the ISS. However, Michael Suffredini believes Axiom holds a significant competitive advantage over competing aerospace firms looking to launch their own commercial stations. “Because we know firsthand what works and what doesn't in LEO, we are innovating in terms of design, engineering, and process while maintaining safety and dramatically lowering costs."
Will Greene is a freshman in the McDonough School of Business. He is a member of GUSI’s Commercial Team.
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Sources:
https://spacenews.com/nasa-selects-axiom-space-to-build-commercial-space-station-module/
https://www.axios.com/nasa-commercial-partners-low-orbit-5253ed1b-d82e-46b3-9b20-685b9aa26c08.html