Nanoracks and Lockheed Martin to partner in building commercial space station
Capitalism in space: The companies Nanoracks and Lockheed Martin have announced that they have formed a partnership to build their own private commercial space station, dubbed Starlab.
Nanoracks, its majority owner Voyager Space and Lockheed Martin, will collaborate on the development of a commercial space station as others in industry warn of a potential space station gap.
Nanoracks said Oct. 21 that it was partnering with Lockheed Martin and Voyager Space on a commercial space station called Starlab. Nanoracks will be the prime contractor with Voyager handling strategy and investment and Lockheed serving as the manufacturer and technical integrator.
Starlab would consist of a docking node with an inflatable module attached to one side and a spacecraft bus, providing power and propulsion, attached to the other side. Starlab will have a volume of 340 cubic meters, about three-eighths that of the International Space Station, and generate 60 kilowatts of power. Starlab will be equipped with a robotic arm and “state-of-the-art” lab, and be able to host four astronauts at a time.
They are aiming for a 2027 launch.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Capitalism in space: The companies Nanoracks and Lockheed Martin have announced that they have formed a partnership to build their own private commercial space station, dubbed Starlab.
Nanoracks, its majority owner Voyager Space and Lockheed Martin, will collaborate on the development of a commercial space station as others in industry warn of a potential space station gap.
Nanoracks said Oct. 21 that it was partnering with Lockheed Martin and Voyager Space on a commercial space station called Starlab. Nanoracks will be the prime contractor with Voyager handling strategy and investment and Lockheed serving as the manufacturer and technical integrator.
Starlab would consist of a docking node with an inflatable module attached to one side and a spacecraft bus, providing power and propulsion, attached to the other side. Starlab will have a volume of 340 cubic meters, about three-eighths that of the International Space Station, and generate 60 kilowatts of power. Starlab will be equipped with a robotic arm and “state-of-the-art” lab, and be able to host four astronauts at a time.
They are aiming for a 2027 launch.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Maybe as a partner rather than a contractor LM will make an effort toward on time delivery and cost containment.
I would think an engine-free tank isn’t that hard. Bigelow hab in the nose?
Will this one, finally, have artificial gravity? Or is weightlessness, and all of its disadvantages as well as advantages, be featured again?
Jeff, if you are talking about using a fuel tank as a habitable volume, they did that with Skylab as a dry workshop from the IV stage of the Saturn V. Some past proposals for a space station were to use the external tanks from the shuttles for a wet workshop.
I am right now half way through a detailed book on Skylab, which was a dry workshop. I have always been fascinated with Skylab and I have always thought it was the biggest waste to let it burn up.
Jeff, I’m guessing Bigelow is down for good. If they were able to ramp back up, we should have heard something by now, especially with the rising opportunities for new stations. Perhaps another company (like Sierra Nevada) could buy up what’s left and build upon their work?
Jay,
I blame Proxmire.
In fact.. I think that the next space station should rename the waste facility the Proxmire Module.
Matt in AZ
I would hope someone would see the assets and the opportunity.
Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I think Bigleow was waiting on NASA/Congress to bestow a contract on him.
If someone wanted to invest in a commercial habitat, and willing to accept a long term ROI, then I would think buying him out is the place to start.
(Checks wallet). That person, sadly, will not be me.
Phil Berardelli, I think the point is that it will be weightless. I believe that is the kind of research they are hoping to attract.
Otherwise, why bother with the expense of putting something into orbit?
sippin_bourbon wrote: “Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I think Bigleow was waiting on NASA/Congress to bestow a contract on him.”
I don’t know that you are wrong, but my impression was that he was waiting for Dragon or Starliner to be available to take passengers/researchers to his space station(s). NASA’s (Congress’s) delays hurt him badly. Bigalow had originally planned to have at least one independent habitat on orbit before 2020, but without commercial transportation, there was no point in launching them. The governmental mismanagement of the Wuhan flu probably put an end to Begalow’s ability to continue operations, as he depended heavily on real estate (hotels, etc.) to fund the aerospace company.
“Phil Berardelli, I think the point is that it will be weightless. I believe that is the kind of research they are hoping to attract.
Otherwise, why bother with the expense of putting something into orbit?”
An advantage to starting in orbit (free fall) is that then a rotating space station could create partial gravity sections, such as lunar and Mars gravity equivalents. Much research could be performed between 1 G and 0 G. Even a rotating space station could have a de-spun section for free fall experiments and for docking ports.
However, I do not know of any plan to build an actual rotating space station in the way that Disney and Von Braun envisioned.