MILAN — During the second day of the 2024 International Astronautical Congress, an interesting panel brought together several industry players to discuss future scenarios after the decommissioning of the International Space Station and the opportunities that commercial space stations in Low Earth Orbit could provide.
The US company VAST shared more details on its plan to succeed the ISS in 2030, thanks to a rapid all-private development approach, not yet supported by NASA funding.
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The deadline is approaching
One of the main topics addressed was the need to quickly find commercial solutions to compensate for the ISS’s operational end, currently scheduled for 2030. In fact, as of today, the private projects that have received funding from NASA under the Commercial LEO Destinations program (CLD) do not seem able to offer operational assets in orbit by the critical date.
When the vehicle specially designed by SpaceX, will lower the orbit of the ISS for its destructive re-entry, the West could find itself with a significant disadvantage gap, particularly compared to China. The Asian country currently has the Tiangong space station in orbit, which it plans to further expand. At the same time, Russia is developing its own station, and India also intends to do so.
As clearly explained by Max Haot, CEO of Vast: “We need a commercial space station in orbit, as soon as possible. The retirement of the ISS is coming soon. We shouldn’t try to replicate the ISS from day one; NASA and its partners need to select one or two partners and compel them to build a first module, get it into orbit, and start to use it for short-duration crewed missions, to do science and in-space manufacturing.” He added: “If we have a gap, it will be a huge loss for the community, and we can’t let that happen.”
Haot also underlined the important partnership with Redwire, represented at the panel by Mike Gold, CGO at the company.
“It is not only vital that we avoid the human space gap in orbit, we need to have a system for America and its partners that is at least of parity of what China has put up,” stated Gold.
Later he declared to Space Voyaging about CLD: “One and a half years for the procurement is unacceptable, we will not succeed if we move at that peace. NASA should offer enough in contractual value, that CLD can raise sufficient funds to produce and deploy the station.”
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Haven-2, VAST ambitious vision
Founded in 2021, VAST has rapidly set itself as one of the main players in the development of the first commercial space station. Already in 2023, they announced Haven-1, their first module, in collaboration with SpaceX, that is set to be launched by next year. On October 10, the company unveiled the final design of the first module, which will feature a laboratory and other instruments developed in collaboration with Redwire and Yuri.
During the first day of the 75th International Astronautical Congress, VAST announced Haven-2, an upgraded and NASA-certified version of Haven-1. With this new platform, the company aims to be selected for the Agency’s Commercial LEO Destination (CLD) program Phase 2 in mid-2026.
Haven-2 will be 5 meters longer than its predecessor, offering nearly twice the volume. The initial module could be operational in orbit by 2028. Later, three additional similar modules will be launched in two years, thus further expanding the station’s usable volume, enhancing available facilities, and efficiently delivering additional critical life support systems and consumables.
In the following years, Vast will expand the station by adding a 7-meter core module and two Haven-2 modules. In this way, Vast would deploy a full next-generation LEO space station, surpassing the current proposed designs of competitors and even the ISS itself.
For the complete coverage of the 2024 International Astronautical Congress, please click here.
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