SpaceX and Vast jointly request research proposals for first mission to Vast’s Haven-1 space station
Artist’s rendering of Haven-1 interior.
Click for original.
With the launch of Vast’s single module space station Haven-1 still scheduled for August, SpaceX and Vast have jointly requested research proposals (here and here) for station’s first manned mission, expected to be a four person 30-day flight soon thereafter. From the Vast press release:
Building on their established partnership, the two companies seek high-impact research projects to support humanity on Earth and advance our capacity to live and work in Earth orbit and beyond. Submitted proposals will be evaluated based on scientific and technical merit, feasibility, and alignment with mission objectives. Approved research proposals will be able to leverage the capabilities of the Haven-1 Lab, Dragon spacecraft, and/or private astronaut missions to the International Space Station (ISS).
Haven-1 is the only one of four commercial space stations being designed or built that has taken no NASA money. It also appears it will be the first to launch, thus putting it an excellent position to win the larger space station contract from NASA to build its much larger Haven-2 station.
Though neither SpaceX nor Vast are offering any funding for these proposals, they offer researchers access to space quickly and with relatively little bureaucracy (something all scientists routinely face in working with NASA). Researchers who fly on that first mission will also become well positioned to win further NASA research space station contracts later on.
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Artist’s rendering of Haven-1 interior.
Click for original.
With the launch of Vast’s single module space station Haven-1 still scheduled for August, SpaceX and Vast have jointly requested research proposals (here and here) for station’s first manned mission, expected to be a four person 30-day flight soon thereafter. From the Vast press release:
Building on their established partnership, the two companies seek high-impact research projects to support humanity on Earth and advance our capacity to live and work in Earth orbit and beyond. Submitted proposals will be evaluated based on scientific and technical merit, feasibility, and alignment with mission objectives. Approved research proposals will be able to leverage the capabilities of the Haven-1 Lab, Dragon spacecraft, and/or private astronaut missions to the International Space Station (ISS).
Haven-1 is the only one of four commercial space stations being designed or built that has taken no NASA money. It also appears it will be the first to launch, thus putting it an excellent position to win the larger space station contract from NASA to build its much larger Haven-2 station.
Though neither SpaceX nor Vast are offering any funding for these proposals, they offer researchers access to space quickly and with relatively little bureaucracy (something all scientists routinely face in working with NASA). Researchers who fly on that first mission will also become well positioned to win further NASA research space station contracts later on.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
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August? Kewl! I’d been figuring Q4 so mid-Q3 is pure gravy. It will be interesting to follow news of the proposals submitted as they come in.
Dick Eagleson: I actually have some doubts they will meet that August launch target. They keep referring to the module undergoing final testing as an “primary structure qualification article.” This implies it is not the actual module to launch, and if so, it means they have very little time to built that actual module and test it before August.
ZimmerBob: There is certainly a general tendency for any schedule for space-related stuff to slip rightward. Vast has no patent of immunity against such slips. One thing in its favor, though, is that it has followed the SpaceX example of being very vertically integrated. In particular, Vast has the capability of making all of its large structures in-house, unlike, say, Axiom, which subcontracts all such work. As always, we will have to see how things look as August approaches.
Robert Zimmerman wrote: “They keep referring to the module undergoing final testing as an ‘primary structure qualification article.’ This implies it is not the actual module to launch, and if so, it means they have very little time to built that actual module and test it before August.”
Usually when a flight unit is used for qualification testing, it is called protoqualification or protoqual testing. Since the same series of tests needs to be performed for an operational flight unit, although at lower ‘acceptance’ levels, I think Robert’s implication is correct that this unit will fly, because not only is there little time to build another unit but there is not enough time for another unit to go through the acceptance tests before August.
Schedules tend to be optimistic, so if Haven-1 runs into problems during testing or launch preparations, there are likely to be delays, but I expect that, since Vast seems to be using rapid development techniques, they are very likely to overcome any problems quickly and will launch this year. I am eager to see a commercial space station operating with crews onboard.
It is perhaps just as well–only today, there was an article published that has great relevance:
“Metal alloy shows practically no thermal expansion over extremely large temperature interval.”
From Dr. Khmelevskyi of TU Vien (Vienna).
Is it to be launched on a Falcon Heavy?
DRE: Nope, the Haven-1 module is designed to fit inside a Falcon-9 fairing.