The space station startup Vast has now established a new division, dubbed the Lunar Programs division, aimed at winning NASA contracts for its Artemis Moonbase.

The company aims to do this by leveraging the technology it has developed to build its Haven-1 single-module station.

Vast’s Haven-1 is targeted to be the world’s first commercial space station, with launch anticipated in 2027, and is currently in final integration in the clean room at Vast headquarters in Long Beach, California. By building upon the technologies, systems, and operational experience developed through the Haven-1 program, Vast is developing a scalable path toward lunar infrastructure, scientific discovery, and long-term human exploration.

The company is structuring the lunar products it will offer NASA based on the agency’s own approach, with infrastructure products offered first followed later by the more complex manned facilities.

First on Vast’s lunar product list is a mobile power system, shown to the right, very similar in concept to what the lunar lander startup Astrobotics (now part of Voyager Technologies) proposed in 2022, solar panels mounted on a mobile platform, allowing the power to follow an astronaut to wherever he or she is working. Packaged tightly for transport, once on the Moon the panels deploy vertically, opening up like an accordion.

Next the company proposes developing an airlock, using what it has learned in developing Haven-1. It will then use the knowledge gained from this to develop full scale modules for placement on the lunar surface. The graphic at the top of this post shows both the airlock and these lunar modules.

Right now the only company that has actually built such modules/habitats is Thales Alenia in Europe, which is why NASA and Italy’s space agency ASI have awarded it the contract to build the first Moonbase habitable module. Vast has repeatedly touted the all-American-made component of its operations, but until it launches Haven-1 and demonstrates actual operations, it is at a disadvantage in this competition. Similarly, the other space station startups Voyager Technologies and Max Space have proposed their own jointly developed lunar habitat concept, but they like Vast are at the same disadvantage. All three need to launch something to prove the can build something comparable on the Moon.

Hat tip to reader Nate P.