spaceflight, 1 month ago

#Starlink hosts more than 10,000 laser communications systems on orbit. Those lasers can sustain 100 Gbps connection 📶 per link. #VastSpace and #SpaceX announced in May 2023 a plan to launch #Haven1 as soon as 📆 August 2025. The commercial station would feature the ability to spin and generate enough centripetal force to create the equivalent of #gravity on the Moon. https://aviationweek.com/shows-events/space-symposium/vast-space-station-use-spacex-starlink-laser-comms

#SpaceStation #SpaceCommunication

spaceflight, 1 month ago

“Our goal is to launch the #SpaceStation’s equivalent of volume in one #Falcon launch. We want to demonstrate you can do it cheaply.” https://spacenews.com/max-space-announces-plans-for-inflatable-space-station-modules/

#SpaceHabitat

spaceflight, 1 month ago

The #ISS, which was completed in 2011, cost around $100 billion 💰 to construct. #MaxSpace claims it could build a similar-sized structure for just $200 million 💵 – just 0.2 per cent 📉 of the cost.The first habitat is scheduled to launch aboard a #SpaceX rocket in 📆 2026 https://www.independent.co.uk/space/space-station-stadium-max-spacex-b2526411.html

AEBdigital, 1 month ago

@spaceflight MaxSpace isn’t building a space station, they’re building a proof of concept pressure vessel. They’re building a balloon.

cstross, 1 month ago

@AEBdigital @spaceflight Looks like a descendant of the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module currently docked to the ISS? In which case, very feasible indeed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigelow_Expandable_Activity_Module

Beam was constrained by available LV payload diameters in the early 2010s, and then Bigelow went bust during COVID. But they had plans for a much larger follow-on version and MaxSpace seem to have gone for it.

AEBdigital, 1 month ago

@cstross @spaceflight It's certainly feasible, and very interesting technology based on (as I understand) a new method/materials to pack and inflate the module, making it more scalable than Bigalow's tech. It could be extremely useful in designing furture spacecraft, or as a storage annex for gasses or fluids on-orbit, but it is not currently (and not intended to be) a fully realised space station, and so comparisons with the ISS are highly misleading.