Cutting-edge technology enabling settlement of the solar system and beyond – Art by Rick Guidice / NASA
Space stations, hotels, settlements, or developments enabling infrastructure
The newly formed nonprofit just issued their June 2020 BE Report outlining what steps need to be taken by government and industry in the areas of export controls, best practices and multilateral agreements to foster a future where millions of people will be living and working in space, while in compliance with the Outer Space Treaty.
Just announced in a press release January 24, the joint venture between Thales and Leonardo will design and develop Axiom’s Micrometeoroid & Debris Protection System and Habitation Module. Axiom was granted access by NASA in January to attach its space station modules to the International Space Station’s Node 2 Forward port in the latter half of 2024. The Axiom Segment may eventually replace the ISS upon decommissioning later this decade. We’re one step closer to the first space settlement in low Earth orbit.
In an interview by Stuart Clark in BBC Science Focus Magazine, Vice President for North American operations for the International Space University Gary Martin answers questions on how private enterprise is changing space exploration. Companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin, through their own initiatives and public/private partnerships are opening up the final frontier, paving the way for space settlement.
Made in Space, who’s mission is to develop state-of-the-art space manufacturing technology to support exploration, national security, and sustainable space settlement, has been acquired by Redwire, a company just formed earlier this month by AE Industrial Partners (AEI) through the acquisition of Deep Space Systems and Adcole Space. Redwire aims to be a leader in mission critical space solutions and high reliability components for the next generation space architecture. With the acquisition of Made in Space and its Archinaut platform designed to manufacture large structures in space, AEI is well positioned for solving the complex challenges of future space missions needed for space settlement.
Procure Space (Ticker symbol UFO) is a little known Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) available to average investors that is the only such vehicle focusing mainly on the space industry. Created by ProcureAM, LLC the ETF trades on the NASDAQ stock exchange. The objective of the fund is to track the S-Network Space Index which is designed to measure the performance of companies engaged in space-related industries. In the future, additional companies engaged in other space-related industries may emerge and be added to the index. These industries could include space colonization and infrastructure, among others.
SpaceWatch.Global examines arguments in support and against the EO. Christopher Johnson of Secure World Foundation states in the position in favor:
“The US would like to [be] the leading nation in the use of space resources. It’s worth noting that other States are also interested in space resources, such as Luxembourg, and others.”
On the side arguing against the EO, Dimitra Stefoudi of the University of Leiden says:
“Applied to outer space, the concept of global commons could be interpreted as prohibiting rights over resources found in that area, particularly for commercial purposes, and would be contrary to the US policy of promoting such rights for commercial actors.”
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has just published a white paper on recommendations for advocacy and policy to accelerate growth of a space-based economy
The Lexington, Kentucky startup was just awarded a NASA Research Opportunity for ISS Utilization for three projects that will help develop the manufacturing capabilities and commercialization of biomedical applications
Since the USSR launched Sputnik in 1957, the number of satellites in LEO has grown leading to an increasing threat of collisions. The Space Safety Coalition, a confederation of voluntary participants, has established a set of guidelines to mitigate the risk of interruption of vital space services that could arise if collisions occur. The SSC published the Best Practices for the Sustainability of Space Operations in September 2019 with 42 recommendations affecting not only the design of spacecraft but on-orbit procedures to ensure long term safety and sustainability.
The startup’s customers are studying zero-G materials processing, medical devices, flow chemistry and other processes through their plug and play systems on the ISS. But the company’s long term goal is scalable manufacturing leveraging the microgravity environment to add value through their planned orbiting platform called ST-42, which will operate autonomously from the ISS.