According to the firm hired to build a vital support system for the advanced site, a new fully private space station is being developed that could be launched in a few years.
Collins Aerospace in Charlotte, North Carolina, builds life support and water recovery systems for NASA that are used on the International Space Station (ISS).
The firm says it was awarded a $ 2.6 million contract by a “long-term orbital” customer who was building a space station, but has not revealed the mysterious buyer.
A subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, Collins said they are building an environmental control and life support (ECLSS) system that could be launched “in a few years” to provide living conditions outside the Earth’s atmosphere.
Speculation points to Axiom Space, a private space tourism company, as a buyer, as it is the highest-profile firm that is actively planning a commercial space station.
The space tourism firm maintains an agreement with SpaceX to transport passengers on the ISS and has proposed a module for the station exclusively for the use of private astronauts.
Collins Aerospace in Charlotte, North Carolina, builds life support and water recovery systems for NASA for use on the International Space Station (ISS)
It is unclear who is building the outpost, although one candidate is the Gateway Foundation, which plans a ring-based station to be launched in 2027.
The low Earth orbit, where the International Space Station currently resides, could one day be full of habitable advances for humans, both commercial and governmental.
There are currently two, the ISS itself, and Tiangong, the Chinese space station launched earlier this year and which will be approximately the size of Mir when complete.
Russia is also working on its own space station, the first time it will operate its own orbiting base since it deactivated the Soviet-era Mir in 2001.
It is unclear whether this new space station, with the life support system provided by Collins, will be a module attached to the ISS or an advanced site in itself.
Collins vice president Dave McClure said this new era of commercial spaceflight “created the need for Earth-like atmospheres in low-Earth orbit destinations.”
“This award underscores Collins’ commitment to working with both the private and public sectors to provide the basis for commercial space travelers to live, work and play in space.”
Axiom Space, the private space tourism operator that manages flights to the ISS with SpaceX, declined to comment on the rumor that they were the buyer.
They will bring three paying customers and a former astronaut to the ISS in a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft early next year, as part of their push toward commercial orbital space tourism.
The Houston, Texas-based company raised $ 130 million in February to begin building commercial modules that will be attached to the ISS starting in 2024.
Finally, he hopes to adapt the modules, remove them from the ISS at the end of his life, and create a new, fully commercial space station.
The Russian Rassvet module is the most recent habitable module launched into space and is connected to the ISS, which is mainly used for cargo storage and some payload operations.
Future space stations, such as the Gateway Foundation ring, could include restaurants, hotels and lounges like the one in the picture.
Thales Alenia Space is building the first two modules that will eventually form Axiom Station, launching in 2024 and 2025 for the ISS.
They will also be the first commercial modules attached to the ISS, all previous modules were operated by national agencies such as NASA, ESA and Roscosmos.
Axiom isn’t the only commercial operator exploring the idea of a space station, both Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin have hinted at the possibility, though Sir Richard Branson said it would probably be decades of rest.
Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin, has gone further, saying that one day he would like heavy and polluting industry to move into Earth orbit.
The other possible client for a life support system to be used in an advanced orbital location is the Gateway Foundation. They have proposed an artificial gravity station.
Developed by the Orbital Assembly Corporation (OAC), the Voyager station could be operational as early as 2027, with the infrastructure built in orbit around the Earth.
It will include a series of pods connected to the outside of the rotating ring and some of these pods could be sold to NASA and ESA for space research.
No details have been revealed about the cost of building the space station or the cost of spending a night at the hotel, although the OAC says construction costs are getting cheaper thanks to launch vehicles. reusable like the SpaceX Falcon 9 and the future Starship.
Developed by the Orbital Assembly Corporation (OAC), the Voyager station could be operational as early as 2027, with the infrastructure built in orbit around the Earth.
Chinese astronauts Tang Hongbo (L), Nie Haisheng (C) and Liu Boming (R) are the first crew members of the country’s new space station, Tiangong, which was launched earlier this year.
In order not to be missed by the commercial sector, both China and Russia are developing space stations in Earth orbit, as well as a planned station in orbit around the moon.
NASA is also developing a lunar orbital station known as the Lunar Gateway, in collaboration with ESA and JAXA, by 2028.
The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, will launch its own space station in 2025 and, as part, will include a tourism module dedicated to hosting visitors.