Back at the end of September, I did another article on the race to a private space station, this one called "The Other Other Space Race." The Other Space Race that everyone knows about is the race to start settlements on the moon; what I was referring to was the race to put a private Space Station into orbit.
In that article, I listed the companies I can easily document working on a replacement Space Station. Over the life of the blog, I've covered Axiom Space, VAST, and Blue Origin, while that post itself was about a fourth company I wasn't aware of, Voyager and their concept for a space station, Starlab.
As that post talked about, Vast has been developing a prototype of a space habitat they call Haven-1. Space.com reported today that they are in the final stages of getting ready to launch the first Haven-1 and NextSpaceflight reports that launch date to be NET May of '26. According to the article:
In the past couple of weeks, the California-based startup has completed the final weld on the primary structure of Haven-1, followed by painting. Next steps include integrating the flight article's hatch and a domed window as the company moves closer to realizing its vision of a private space station in low Earth orbit (LEO).
Haven-1 is designed to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 and, at around 31,000 pounds (14,000 kilograms), will be the largest spacecraft to lift off atop the rocket. The space station is planned to host up to four short-duration astronaut missions during its three-year lifespan, with crews of four people spending 10 days at a time aboard Haven-1 (or some other combination of missions totaling 160 astronaut days).
Vast lead astronaut Drew Feustel, spoke with Space.com at the 76th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Sydney, Australia, in early October.
"If we stick to our plan, we will be the first standalone commercial LEO platform ever in space with Haven-1, and that's an amazing inflection point for human spaceflight," said Feustel, who's a former NASA astronaut.
Space.com author Andrew Jones comments that Vast's rise has been meteoric. They were founded in 2021 and now has around 800 employees.
Nearly all of its hardware is built in-house, with only solar arrays and thrusters outsourced. "When I joined in December 2023, we were still deciding between stainless steel and aluminum." Feustel recalled. "Now, less than two years later, the primary structure is welded."
The Haven-1 flight article has been painted. Next, key components including the hatch and domed window will be integrated ahead of pressure and load testing in Mojave, CA. Image credit to Vast, posted to X.
The company has learned a lot from SpaceX - and hired a few people away from the world's busiest launch provider.
Haven-1 contrasts with the utilitarian International Space Station and with a more human-centered design. The aesthetics, psychology and "Earth tones" of Haven-1 are designed for comfort and calm. Vast also hired a former Campbell's food developer to rethink astronaut cuisine, and has developed an inflatable sleep system that allows crew members to adjust the pressure to create a sense of simulated gravity for sleeping, rather than the tethered sleeping bag approach on the ISS. Visitors to the Vast exhibit at IAC could try out the new system.
When it launches in 2026, Haven-1 will mark a milestone, but it is also designed as a testbed for bigger plans. Haven-2 is a much more ambitious, modular project that Vast hopes could replace the ISS, which will be deorbited in 2030.
Early on when I first heard of Vast, one of the things that caught my eye is that they're aiming for a station with artificial gravity - by spinning the station.
Then I see things like this conceptual art of a Space Station made of Haven-2 modules, I don't see how they could rotate that to create the illusion of gravity. It's nothing like the giant wheel designs we've seen in sci-fi movies since the mid-60s.
An illustration of the full configuration of the Haven-2 space station, a proposed replacement for the ISS (Image credit: VAST)
I assume it would rotate around the central hub, so the axis of rotation would be 'vertical' in that picture. Each 'arm' would have gravity more like a multi-story building ('up' is towards the center, 'down' is towards the end of each 'arm').
ReplyDeleteI do wonder how they would handle docking with it spinning. Would the approaching ship match the rotation or would they try to de-spin the station for every docking call?
It's not supposed to spin. Static only. It's done as spokes as the 'central core' connects all 8 'standard' modules.
DeleteStandard modules can be launched by Falcon. The central core, I believe, is only launchable by Starship, unless SpaceX modifies Falcon Heavy to carry a 7-8 meter diameter hub.
Yeah, my problem was that they're referring to Haven-2 as being an experimental module that can do the artificial gravity spin but I can't see it arranged like that. Four coplanar "arms" with each at 0, 90, 180, and 270 degrees? The only freedom of rotation I can envision is like you say, Wayne: rotate around the central hub. That seems to make the modules be oriented the wrong way, 90 degrees off. Maybe my imagination isn't working properly. More coffee!
DeleteIt seems pretty clear to me: spin axis is thru the central hub, module floors are perpendicular to their long axis. Only the outermost modules would have much "gravity", as you really couldn't spin it fast enough to get anything very large due to Coriolis forces on such a small system. Docking is easy enough, as there is a port on the center hub. Dock by matching the spin, exactly as shown in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
ReplyDeleteBut even a little "gravity" would be good, even if only 1/10th g.
This is a big deal; the world is about to change. Once they get the station into (on?) orbit, they will have to keep it filled with paying customers. After 50 years of searching, there is no known industrial use case for a space station. So Vast will switch to space tourism. Starship will dwarf this station so customers will have to ride Falcon / Dragon (/ Orion and the other little launchers). This passenger demographic will be completely different than the historical government employees that have previously been to space stations. Vast will have to (finally) solve space sickness. If there is anything to the overview effect, we should start to see it trickling down to earthbound society in ideas and technological developments. Even if Vast fails as a company and a station, this is a big step.
ReplyDeleteSpinning a mass in orbit is ALWAYS a giant headache for engineers because of the balance problem. It can be solved by pumping around water (or other liquid) mass, but it's still a PITA.
ReplyDelete