{"id":12118,"date":"2020-11-11T20:23:57","date_gmt":"2020-11-11T12:23:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-chief-warns-of-gap-after-retirement-of-international-space-station\/"},"modified":"2020-11-11T20:23:57","modified_gmt":"2020-11-11T12:23:57","slug":"nasa-chief-warns-of-gap-after-retirement-of-international-space-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-chief-warns-of-gap-after-retirement-of-international-space-station\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA chief warns of gap after retirement of International Space Station"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
File photo from the International Space Station as the outpost flew over the Nile River delta n Egypt in August 2019. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The International Space Station is likely to continue operating for another decade, but without more government support, a privately-owned outpost may not be ready in time to replace it, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said.<\/p>\n

Bridenstine told Spaceflight Now he is concerned that a commercial space station may not be ready by the time the International Space Station reaches the end of its life.<\/p>\n

While NASA focuses more resources on a return of astronauts to the moon, and eventually human expeditions to Mars, the space agency still wants to send experiments and crews into low Earth orbit to test out technologies for deep space exploration and perform other research investigations.<\/p>\n

Instead of owning and operating a space station itself, the government wants to lease accommodations on a commercial outpost in orbit.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder no circumstances should we have a gap in low Earth orbit,\u201d Bridenstine in an interview. \u201cWe\u2019ve been asking Congress to fund the development of commercial habitation in low Earth orbit now for a number of years. And every year \u2026 Congress doesn\u2019t fund it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we keep going down this path where we don\u2019t fund the replacement for the space station, we will end up with a gap, which I think is very bad for the country,\u201d Bridenstine said. \u201cJust like after Apollo ended, we had an eight year gap before space shuttle. Just like after shuttle ended, we had a nine year gap before we did commercial crew.\u201d<\/p>\n

With SpaceX on the verge of starting operational commercial crew flights to the International Space Station, transportation services to low Earth orbit for people and cargo are now run by the private sector. Boeing\u2019s Starliner crew capsule, which could become operational next year after encountering delays, will be a second vehicle for commercial crew transportation to low Earth orbit.<\/p>\n

Congress has committed NASA to continuing International Space Station operations through at least 2024. Lawmakers have proposed another extension to 2028 or 2030, and Bridenstine said he is confident Congress will soon pass a bill to extend NASA\u2019s support of the ISS program through at least the late 2020s.<\/p>\n

Dmitry Rogozin, director general of the Russian space agency, said last month that Russia is \u201cready to consider\u201d any proposal to extend the International Space Station\u2019s lifetime.<\/p>\n

But Congress has not been as keen to provide NASA funding to jump-start development of new commercial habitats in low Earth orbit. That raises worries that the continuous presence of humans in orbit \u2014 began 20 years ago last month with the launch of the first International Space Station crew \u2014 may end when the ISS is decommissioned.<\/p>\n

NASA hopes a privately-owned outpost will be cheaper to operate than the $3 billion to $4 billion the space agency spends each year operating the ISS.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to make sure that we\u2019re investing today for commercial habitation in the future because NASA wants to be a customer in low Earth orbit, not the owner-operator,\u201d Bridenstine said. \u201cAnd I think that there\u2019s opportunity to avoid a gap if we start right now, but the longer we go, the more likely it is that we\u2019re going to have a gap.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trump administration requested $150 million for NASA\u2019s low Earth orbit commercialization initiative in fiscal year 2020, but Congress only approved $15 million for the program.<\/p>\n

The funding shortfall caused NASA to put on hold a solicitation for a company to build a commercial \u201cfree-flyer\u201d space station.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore we can get a solicitation out, we\u2019ve to make sure that we\u2019ve got funding for a selection, so that\u2019s what we\u2019re working on now,\u201d Bridenstine said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big thing that I\u2019m worried about is that the ISS comes the end of its useful life, and we don\u2019t have a replacement,\u201d Bridenstine said. \u201cAnd I\u2019ll tell you why that\u2019s a problem. It\u2019s a problem because China is building their own space station, and they\u2019re going to be attracting partners from around the world, and I think the United States of America should be in the lead.\u201d<\/p>\n

NASA has made more progress with an effort to add a privately-owned module to the International Space Station. Earlier this year, NASA selected Axiom Space of Houston to attach a commercial module to the ISS.<\/p>\n

Axiom eventually plans to build a commercial space station using its ISS module as the core of a new orbiting research complex. Axiom\u2019s module would be detached before the decommissioning of the International Space Station, which will end with a guided, destructive re-entry over the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s $140 million contract with Axiom covers just a fraction of the cost of the company\u2019s planned space station. And NASA is paying Axiom to demonstrate its capabilities. Funding to actually build the modules will come from other sources.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, the cost is $2.5 to $3 billion to build our whole space station, and the sum total of the contract we have with the government \u2026 is $140 million over five to seven years, depending on extensions,\u201d said Mike Suffredini, Axiom\u2019s CEO, in an interview with Spaceflight Now in September.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the development money is coming from either revenue or investment, and we\u2019re very proud of that,\u201d Suffredini said. \u201cWe\u2019re right on schedule relative to investments. That\u2019s a critical part of progress, and we like where we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Axiom is also working with NASA to fly paying private astronauts to the ISS.<\/p>\n

NanoRacks, another Houston-based company, is also interested in developing a commercial outpost to host people and experiments. NanoRacks plans to launch a small commercial airlock to the International Space Station later this year.<\/p>\n

Bigelow Aerospace, founded by real estate entrepreneur Robert Bigelow, has pursued plans to build a privately-owned space station using inflatable habitats for more than 20 years. But Bigelow laid off its entire workforce in March, according to Space News.<\/p>\n

Space News reported Bigelow said in January 2020 that NASA needs to provide \u201csubstantial government subsidies for a period of time until industries can stand on their own feet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bigelow Aerospace did not respond to questions from Spaceflight Now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are all kinds of commercial companies that want to do amazing things in space, so long as the taxpayer funds it,\u201d Bridenstine told Spaceflight Now. \u201cI think we need to have some really strong public-private partnerships for the development of the capability, and there needs to be an offer. Look, we want to be a partner in the development, for sure, but \u2026 in the long run, we want to be a customer, period.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Artist\u2019s concept of Axiom\u2019s space station, which the company says will be constructed while attached to the International Space Station, then detach to form an independent commercial research complex. Credit: Axiom Space<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Science and Technology Policy Institute, a federally-funded research center, concluded in a 2017 market analysis that it was unlikely a commercially owned and operated space station would be economically viable by 2025, when the Trump administration proposed ending government support for the ISS.<\/p>\n

The analysis showed that the annual operating costs for a commercial space station could range from $463 million to $2.25 billion. The report identified several types of activities that could generate revenue on a private space station in low Earth orbit, including its use as a human habitat or destination, satellite servicing, in-space manufacturing, basic research, technology demonstration, Earth observation, advertising, and education.<\/p>\n

Boeing, NASA\u2019s lead contractor in charge of the International Space Station, is supporting Axiom and NanoRacks in their development of new commercial space habitats. So far, Boeing has announced no plans to build its own space station.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be really important for companies like Boeing and others to make sure that over the long term, you can close the business case,\u201d said John Mulholland, Boeing\u2019s ISS program manager.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to evaluate that, and certainly, we\u2019re looking in a number of areas where we can add value and contribute, either from a prime or a support role,\u201d Mulholland told reporters in October. \u201cBut it all depends on the needs of the customer and the business case around it. In the near-term \u2026 our focus today is supporting these two companies (Axiom and NanoRacks) and other companies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking at opportunities that where we can provide more to our customer,\u201d Mulholland said. \u201cWe\u2019re looking at a number of avenues that we\u2019re not ready to discuss today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been the prime integrator of all science that rolls through the space station,\u201d Mulholland said. \u201cSo all payload integration is performed by this team.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Axiom, we\u2019re involved on the on the early stages of the design,\u201d Mulholland said. \u201cWe\u2019re going through and working, right now, with Axiom on the evaluation of the early design work that\u2019s being done, and helping them lay out a path to further advance it to final design.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mulholland said Boeing\u2019s engineers have performed structural analyses that show the International Space Station can safely remain operational for at least another decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom all the analysis that has been done, technically, we can support 2030 and beyond,\u201d Mulholland said. \u201cWe\u2019re finalizing that analysis, so we\u2019re looking forward from a policy standpoint, for policymakers to memorialize that in legislation, which we expect next year, and we\u2019re very supportive of that. Technically, that analysis is near complete.\u201d<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

File photo from the International Space Station as the outpost flew over the Nile River delta n Egypt in August 2019. Credit: NASA The International Space Station is likely to continue operating for another decade, but without more government support, a privately-owned outpost may not be ready in time to replace it, NASA Administrator Jim […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[376,2007,670,291,1545,717,466,1524],"class_list":["post-12118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-axiom-space","tag-bigelow-aerospace","tag-boeing","tag-commercial-space","tag-human-spaceflight","tag-international-space-station","tag-jim-bridenstine","tag-nanoracks"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12118"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12118\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}