{"id":797,"date":"2023-10-21T22:05:46","date_gmt":"2023-10-21T22:05:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sustainspace.com\/?p=797"},"modified":"2024-03-07T03:16:24","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T03:16:24","slug":"space-housing-market-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sustainspace.com\/?p=797","title":{"rendered":"Space Housing Market Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Sept. 27, 2023, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio broke the record for consecutive days in space, completing a single mission aboard the International Space Station of 371 days, which conclusively proves that astronauts can live in space for over a year and suggests that astronauts can survive in space much longer. (Russian cosmonaut Valery Ryumin<\/a> also logged 371 days in space, but broken over four missions).<\/p>\n

It’s an exciting milestone towards longterm human endurance and sustainability in space. Do you want to live in space in the near future? Here is an updated list of the prospective locations.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Day Trips<\/h4>\n

Virgin Galactic will get you to the edge of space, and has been launching several people about once per month. They have a considerable backlog of pair customers, so it you aren’t already on their list, don’t hold your breath for a trip. Blue Origin has also launched several missions of passengers. There was a mishap (on a flight involving no passengers) on September 12, 2022, but the FAA closed the investigation<\/a> on September 27, 2023, so flights will presumably resume. You can catch a ride all of the way to the International Space Station (ISS) on the Axiom Space also provides rides<\/a> on the SpaceX Dragon capsule.<\/p>\n

International Space Station<\/h4>\n

It is still up there in space. Transit routes are as a government astronaut or on an Axiom mission (above).<\/p>\n

Tiangong Space Station<\/h4>\n

China continues to expand its\u00a0Tiangong space station<\/a> in low earth orbit and is aiming for continuous habitation.<\/p>\n

Axiom Station<\/h4>\n

Construction is underway of what is billed at the\u00a0world\u2019s first commercial space station.\u00a0Preliminary and critical design reviews in collaboration with NASA have been completed.\u00a0Partners Thales Alenia Space has begin fabrication of the primary structures of Axiom Station’s first module. Then final assembly and integration of the module will be completed in Houston. Axiom Space is preparing for a 2026 launch of the first section of the station. It will operate in low earth orbit (LEO).<\/p>\n

\"Cylindrical<\/a>

First module of Axiom space station. Credit: Axiom Space.<\/p><\/div>\n

You will be living in style in quarters designed by Philippe Starck. You could also be dressed in style in a Prada-designed<\/a> space suit.<\/p>\n

\"Padded,<\/a>

Artistic rendition of living quarters on Axiom space station. Credit: Axiom Space<\/p><\/div>\n

Starlab<\/h4>\n

The Starlab space station is lead by Nanoracks<\/a>, Voyager Space<\/a> and Lockheed Martin<\/a>. Voyager Space has itself teamed up with Airbus, Above Space and Orbital Assembly.\u00a0Starlab plans to launch in 2028.<\/p>\n

Want to invest? Above Space has posted a crowd-investing link<\/a> on its site, although it appears to be for related but different companies.<\/p>\n

\"Single<\/a>

Artistic rendering of Starlab space station. Credit: Starlab<\/p><\/div>\n

Orbital Reef<\/h4>\n

The Orbital Reef space station<\/a> is being proposed by a consortium of aerospace companies, lead by Blue Origin with partners,\u00a0Sierra Space<\/a>,\u00a0Boeing and\u00a0Redwire. However, despite receiving\u00a0\u00a0$130 million<\/a>\u00a0under NASA’s Commercial Low-Earth Orbit Destination program,\u00a0the future of the Orbital Reef project is uncertain.\u00a0CBS<\/a> reports that “Blue Origin and Sierra Space are navigating a potential end to the Orbital Reef space station partnership”. Motley Fool<\/a> reports that Blue Origin is now focused on its $3.4 billion government contract for\u00a0Blue Moon, an astronaut moon lander and that Sierra Space is having success with its Dreamchaser project and investing in its own space station concept, but that NASA reports that Orbital Reef is still being worked on.<\/p>\n

Northrop Grumman \/ Lunar Gateway<\/h4>\n

Despite being awarded $125.6 million by\u00a0NASA under the agency\u2019s Commercial Low-Earth Orbit Destination program, Northrup Grumman Systems Corporation has dropped out of the competition an an individual firm. Instead, it will work with Voyager Space to provide supply missions<\/a> to the Starlab station.<\/p>\n

However, the Lunar Gateway (NASA, ESA, CSA and JAXA), previously called the Deep Space Gateway, and now sometimes just the Gateway<\/a> or the Gateway Space Station<\/a>, is expected to be launched in 2025 (previously 2024). The Gateway will be the furthest semi-permanent human facility in space. The only existing means to get there will be the Space Launch System and its Orion capsule. The SpaceX Starship could possibly reach it as well.<\/p>\n

Moon and Mars<\/h4>\n

Although NASA has no specific plans yet to land humans on Mars, there are concrete plans to send humans to the Moon by the end of this decade via the Artemis<\/a> missions<\/a>, including the Human Landing System (HLS). SpaceX and Blue Origin are the contracting companies working on HLS. The cost of landing on the Moon (and especially getting back) are very expensive, even by aerospace standards. To get a ticket, you’ll need to be a very lucky government astronaut. Private astronauts might be able to buy a ticket to a Starship mission to the Moon, but the ticket price likely won’t be for the feint-of-heart, even for billionaires.<\/p>\n

There is talk of sending the SpaceX Starship to Mars. So if that is your dream location, you can start with impressing Elon Musk by getting one of those verified X<\/a> accounts.<\/p>\n

Sustainability Analysis<\/h4>\n

Although these new facilities can increase the quantity of people who can simultaneously live in space, none of these facilities for living in space appear to do much to improve sustainability. Frank Rubio’s mission longevity record might be broken in incremental steps, but not by an order of magnitude unless there are also at least an order of magnitude in investments in life support technologies. Such investments do not appear to be taking place.<\/p>\n

UPDATED to include section on Orbital Reef.<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On Sept. 27, 2023, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio broke the record for consecutive days in space, completing a single mission aboard the International Space Station of 371 days, which conclusively proves that astronauts can live in space for over a year and suggests that astronauts can survive in space much longer. (Russian cosmonaut Valery Ryumin also logged 371 days in space, but broken over four missions).<\/p>\n
It’s an exciting milestone towards longterm human endurance and sustainability in space. Do you want to live in space in the near future? Here is an updated list of the prospective locations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,10],"tags":[50,61],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sustainspace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sustainspace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sustainspace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sustainspace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sustainspace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=797"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.sustainspace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":977,"href":"https:\/\/www.sustainspace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797\/revisions\/977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sustainspace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sustainspace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sustainspace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}