NASA Rewrites the Rules for Developers of Private Space Stations
1 min read
Summary
As the International Space Station (ISS) is set to be decommissioned in the next five years, NASA has awarded $500m to four companies to begin work on commercial space stations to fill the void.
The four companies are Northrop Grumman, Blue Origin, Axion Space, and Voyager Space, although Northrop has since dropped out and joined Voyager’s team.
There is expected to be a $4bn shortfall in the budget NASA expects to receive and what the agency needs for the program, hence a new directive has been introduced by Duffy, NASA’s Acting Administrator.
This new plan will favor the development of stations with a limited lifespan on orbit and a minimum capability of serving four crew members for one-month increments.
Vast’s Elon Musk-owned station is favored to be the most successful following the changes, with its CEO Max Haot stating the company has “bet that starting with a minimum viable product was the best business strategy and fully funded that approach without government money”.
