Discussion of Space Tourism and Commercialization

[scaesare]

SpaceX is bypassing Axiom and doing it themselves too. Go down to the "Our Missions" spot and there is now a "Join A Mission" button.

SpaceX

SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft.

www.spacex.com

I'm going to send Bezos the "Join a Mission" link...

 

[JB47394]

SpaceX is bypassing Axiom and doing it themselves too.

This seems to be the new normal; companies that are so far ahead of the pack that they just keep building on what they have. Nobody else has the base of technology and infrastructure to compete, so it's pretty much impossible to duplicate their success. It's anti-competition through success instead of through acquisition or other less-savory practices.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

The only reasons that we have right now are basic research and national prestige. I think that commercial stations from US companies would suffice for national prestige, and NASA can use those stations for its research. The perpetual hope is that the research will turn up something that can be produced at a significant profit.

That's why the cost needs to come down so that there's an important 3rd reason: fun.

 

[JB47394]

Vast's Haven 1 space station now has a pathfinder article.

 

[ecarfan]

What do you estimate the max diameter is? 7.5m? Appears it could fit inside a Starship cargo bay.

I would still prefer a Starship as a short term LEO accommodation. It would be more spacious.

 

[JB47394]

What do you estimate the max diameter is? 7.5m? Appears it could fit inside a Starship cargo bay.

No, it's a small vehicle. It's supposed to go up on a Falcon 9 next year.

Haven-1 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Grendal]

 

[JB47394]

Aluminum cans are so 1980s. I'd prefer to see inflatable habitats. Let's start cranking out BA 2100 habitats. Put them on the Moon, in space, on Mars, wherever you like. Standardize them and start mass producing them. I mean, c'mon, it's only 70 tons. It starts out about 17.8 meters by 8 meters, so it needs to be shortened and fattened a bit.

I hope Sierra Space does well with it's LIFE habitat. They say that they could have a pathfinder on orbit late 2026 - the same time as Axiom Station. Maybe they can dock with Axiom and provide some additional volume (via a docking port, of course).

 

[ecarfan]

Aluminum cans are so 1980s. I'd prefer to see inflatable habitats

Inflatables are quite interesting. Here’s a NASA podcast with an expert who worked at the Langley Research Center discussing them, scroll down a bit on that page to where he talks about the numerous layers of different materials that make up the wall of an inflatable space habitat. Amazing engineering.

…each layer is designed for a specific purpose. There’s a number of different layers in there. You’re talking 20 or 30 layers total of various different types of fabric and membrane material.

Nomex wall material, multiple bladder layers to retain the atmosphere, multiple MMOD layers to create a Whipple Shield (disperses the energy of micrometeorite impacts), outer MLI layers and finally a layer to counteract the effects of atomic oxygen.

Incredible technology. What I wonder about is how you mount equipment and gear to the walls of such a habitat.

The Bigelow Aerospace BEAM module has now been on the ISS for 8 years and apparently is holding up well. Something I had not thought about before is “secondary radiation”:

They also looked at radiation levels inside BEAM over a period of time. Essentially the radiation levels were nominally the same as they were in the rest of the station, but one interesting feature of inflatables on soft goods is because they’re synthetic polymer materials for the most part, they actually don’t produce secondary radiation which can be a concern for astronauts. So, if you have materials that are made of heavy molecules like metals, when you have radiation come in, it can produce secondary radiation that can be damaging. Soft good structures don’t have that, so that’s a feature of inflatables.

Another potential issue: because the inner wall of an inflatable is textured and relatively soft there was concern about greater microbial growth compared to metal walls, but apparently that has not been an issue with BEAM.