The International Space Station is nearly five years from its scheduled death date. NASA’s funeral plans include seeing a private station springboard off the ISS before the older station plunges into the Pacific Ocean. However, the space agency announced last week that the private Axiom Station could break free “as soon as 2028,” two years ahead of schedule.
NASA awarded Axiom Space a $140 million contract in 2020 to attach a habitat module to the ISS, part of a government effort to commercialize low Earth orbit. Axiom’s Hab-1 would be the starting point for even more Axiom modules, leading to its own independent station. Both parties are now revising the order that modules will arrive.
Axiom’s Payload Power Thermal Module (PPTM) will now be the first piece of the station sent up to the ISS in 2027. This module will provide free-flight capability to the entire station. The revised plan will see the PPTM attach to one of the ISS docking ports before detaching to mate with Hab-1 as an independent station. This will avoid having multiple modules fixed to the ISS that aren’t slated for the seabed in 2030. Angela Hart, NASA Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program Manager, said:
“The updated assembly sequence has been coordinated with NASA to support both NASA and Axiom Space needs and plans for a smooth transition in low Earth orbit. The ongoing design and development of commercial destinations by our partners is critical to the agency’s plan to procure services in low Earth orbit to support our needs in microgravity.”
Without Axiom’s modules, NASA will also have more flexibility in attaching the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle to the ISS. The deorbit vehicle is a modified SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and will presumably be mounted to the ISS using a docking port. Mark Greeley, Axiom’s COO, said:
“We were ready to answer the call when NASA asked us to relook at our space station development plan. Our ongoing assessment of the assembly sequence revealed opportunities for flexibility and enhancements. With the International Space Station needing to protect for the ability to accommodate a deorbit vehicle on station, we were able to accelerate this work to support the program’s requirements.”
The ISS probably isn’t the best place to park your $3 billion private space station either. The Russian half of the station is plagued with air leaks that NASA fears could lead to a “catastrophic failure,” destroying the entire station.
