{"id":23876,"date":"2025-02-12T20:24:22","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T12:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/vast-space-station-qualification-article-passes-major-milestone\/"},"modified":"2025-02-12T20:24:22","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T12:24:22","slug":"vast-space-station-qualification-article-passes-major-milestone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/vast-space-station-qualification-article-passes-major-milestone\/","title":{"rendered":"Vast space station qualification article passes major milestone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Vast is one step closer to launching its first private commercial space station. The company recently completed testing of its <em>Haven-1<\/em> qualification article in Mojave, California, and reported that it successfully passed its tests. The company\u2019s current goal is to launch the flight article aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket no earlier than May 2026.<\/p>\n<p>During a tour of Vast\u2019s facilities in Long Beach, California, with NSF\u2019s John Galloway and D Wise, Vast gave insights into their plans to eventually win a NASA contract to allow its larger space station, <em>Haven-2<\/em>, to act as a replacement following the deorbiting of the International Space Station (ISS), which is currently scheduled for 2030.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNone of us are actual space station companies,\u201d Vast CEO Max Haot said. \u201cI don\u2019t have a space station in orbit. I cannot have a crew go to it and come back. Neither have any of our competitors\u2026 so if we want to create this amazing future, we need to exist. To exist, we need to be profitable. So, to be profitable, we believe we need NASA as an anchor customer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2026, NASA will select partners to continue the United States\u2019 presence in low-Earth orbit (LEO) through private space stations. Vast says it hopes to have <em>Haven-2<\/em> selected as part of the Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destination Phase II Contract and that its advantage will be having had a space station already in orbit by the time of selection.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"The Race to Replace the ISS | VAST's American-Made Space Station\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/us_V_e0-NVs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" name=\"fitvid0\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-14=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-21=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we don\u2019t win [the contract], we don\u2019t think we can even exist, so it\u2019s a matter of survival,\u201d Haot said. \u201cBeing realistic, how can we win? And the strategy we came up with is <em>Haven-1<\/em>. So, our thesis is, what if we actually build a space station, launch it in orbit, have a crew of four go to it, spend two weeks at least in the space station, and come back home safely\u2026before the U.S. government makes their decision?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Haven-1<\/em> is a single-module space station set to launch aboard a Falcon 9 as a proving ground for the future larger station. While not permanently crewed, Vast expects the station to host multiple missions during its useable lifespan of two to three years.<\/p>\n<p>Aerospace industry analysis<path d=\"M7.59009 18.59L9.00009 20L17.0001 12L9.00009 4L7.59009 5.41L14.1701 12\" style=\"animation: initial !important; background: initial !important; border: 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: inherit !important; cursor: inherit !important; direction: inherit !important; display: inline !important; fill: currentcolor !important; filter: initial !important; float: none !important; margin: 0px !important; opacity: initial !important; outline: 0px !important; overflow: initial !important; padding: 0px !important; stroke: initial !important; transform: initial !important; vertical-align: initial !important; visibility: inherit !important;\"><\/path>Space Shuttle<path d=\"M7.59009 18.59L9.00009 20L17.0001 12L9.00009 4L7.59009 5.41L14.1701 12\" style=\"animation: initial !important; background: initial !important; border: 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: inherit !important; cursor: inherit !important; direction: inherit !important; display: inline !important; fill: currentcolor !important; filter: initial !important; float: none !important; margin: 0px !important; opacity: initial !important; outline: 0px !important; overflow: initial !important; padding: 0px !important; stroke: initial !important; transform: initial !important; vertical-align: initial !important; visibility: inherit !important;\"><\/path>NASA educational resources<path d=\"M7.59009 18.59L9.00009 20L17.0001 12L9.00009 4L7.59009 5.41L14.1701 12\" style=\"animation: initial !important; background: initial !important; border: 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: inherit !important; cursor: inherit !important; direction: inherit !important; display: inline !important; fill: currentcolor !important; filter: initial !important; float: none !important; margin: 0px !important; opacity: initial !important; outline: 0px !important; overflow: initial !important; padding: 0px !important; stroke: initial !important; transform: initial !important; vertical-align: initial !important; visibility: inherit !important;\"><\/path>\n<p>     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n<p>Haot noted that one way they plan to achieve the ambitious 2026 launch date involves extensive in-house manufacturing. This manufacturing occurs in three buildings at its 4,645 square meters Long Beach facility, with additional manufacturing in Hawthorne, California. Their testing site in Mojave is the former test site of Virgin Orbit.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-104857\" class=\"wp-image-104857 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_41_09_22.Still006-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"892\" height=\"501\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_41_09_22.Still006-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_41_09_22.Still006-350x197.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_41_09_22.Still006-622x350.jpg 622w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_41_09_22.Still006-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_41_09_22.Still006-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_41_09_22.Still006-1170x658.jpg 1170w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 892px) 100vw, 892px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-104857\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of Vast\u2019s three buildings at its Long Beach, California, production site. (Credit: D Wise for NSF)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you can outsource to the supply chain, machine shops, and so on, you should do it. So you don\u2019t bottleneck our own internal department and only go in-house if you need a quicker timeline or it\u2019s a complex part and you need to work quickly,\u201d Haot said. \u201cIn the supply chain, using a [larger scale CNC] machine will probably take six months before we get the part. We knock them out in three or four days.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This became critical when designing the main shell for&nbsp;<em>Haven-1<\/em>. The company began with a 40% scale model of the station, which allowed it to test different materials. Since outsourcing was not an option, Vast tried two different materials: stainless steel and aluminum.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe dual path it, and we did both in parallel. That was November of last year, 2023 is when we developed it,\u201d Haot noted. \u201cIn February, we stopped the work on stainless steel and moved the team to aluminum.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The final design includes an ortho grid pattern located on the outside of the panels for strength, with the design tapered toward the bottom and growing before narrowing again toward the top. This was done with the design of Falcon 9 in mind.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-104858\" class=\"wp-image-104858\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_24_53_22.Still002-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"901\" height=\"506\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_24_53_22.Still002-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_24_53_22.Still002-350x197.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_24_53_22.Still002-622x350.jpg 622w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_24_53_22.Still002-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_24_53_22.Still002-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_24_53_22.Still002-1170x658.jpg 1170w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 901px) 100vw, 901px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-104858\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">NSF\u2019s John Galloway (right) and Vast\u2019s Max Haot (left) inside the Haven pathfinder article. (Credit: D Wise for NSF)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe lower the [center of gravity] the better the launch,\u201d Haot noted. \u201cThat\u2019s why the propellant tanks are [toward the bottom] and not at the top\u2026 it\u2019s right there where the [Falcon 9 payload] adapter attaches to it so the load is all concentrated down there.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re transferring the load from the top all the way through the main structure\u2026and then you have the fairing interface. If you look at the render of the inside, the corridor, the most dense area, all of the propellant \u2014 it\u2019s all as low as possible. The common crew area is as forward as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Vast does not plan to have a permanent human presence on the station. Instead, a crew aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon vehicle will dock to&nbsp;<em>Haven-1<\/em>, remain for approximately two weeks, and then return home, with three or four different crew rotations flying to the station during <em>the station<\/em>\u2018s operational lifetime.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-104860\" class=\"wp-image-104860 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_45_03_28.Still007-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_45_03_28.Still007-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_45_03_28.Still007-350x197.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_45_03_28.Still007-622x350.jpg 622w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_45_03_28.Still007-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_45_03_28.Still007-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_45_03_28.Still007-1170x658.jpg 1170w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-104860\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Haven-1\u2019s qualification article before being shipped to Mojave, California, for testing. (Credit: D Wise for NSF)<\/p>\n<p>According to Haot, the limiting factor for&nbsp;<em>Haven-1<\/em>\u2018s crewed missions is having consumables onboard the station when crews arrive. This is different from the ISS, which receives regular resupply missions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith the Dragon\u2019s payload, you could only bring consumables for a few days,\u201d Haot noted. \u201cSo if you\u2019re talking about [crews staying on&nbsp;<em>Haven-1<\/em> for] 40 days, the consumables are not coming from Dragon. They have to meet the crew there\u2026so you can\u2019t really use the cargo area in the back of the Dragon.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"widget-title penci-border-arrow\">See Also<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>ISS Updates<\/li>\n<li>L2 Space Station Section<\/li>\n<li>NSF Store<\/li>\n<li>Click here to Join L2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Typically, items placed in the trunk require a robotic arm to remove them. However,&nbsp;<em>Haven-1<\/em> does not have a robotic arm to conserve mass, simplify the design, and fit inside the Falcon fairing.<\/p>\n<p>The company ordered 40 carbon dioxide scrubbers from SpaceX. These scrubbers will be identical to those used during Dragon free-flying missions like Inspiration 4 and Polaris Dawn. Crews can swap out the cartridges after lasting four to five days. For <em>Haven-<\/em>2, Vast plans to use single-use consumables before expanding to a closed-loop system.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe should try to improve the life support system towards a closed loop that recycles everything, features better CO\u00b2 scrubbing, and recycles the water as quickly as you can so that you can have it permanently crewed as quickly as you can,\u201d Haot said.<\/p>\n<p>Part of the contract with NASA stipulates that the station should have permanent astronaut presence from day one, something Vast believes is unrealistic. Instead, it aims to transition from part-time to full-time living gradually.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s never occurred on any space station, including the ISS, and we believe that all that [the contract\u2019s stipulation] will do is just delay having anything up there,\u201d Haot noted.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-102746\" class=\"wp-image-102746 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_9729-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1186\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_9729-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_9729-350x162.jpeg 350w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_9729-630x292.jpeg 630w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_9729-768x356.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_9729-1920x889.jpeg 1920w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_9729-1170x542.jpeg 1170w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-102746\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rendering of the complete Haven-2 space station. (Credit: Vast)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know, maybe two ninety-day missions or two sixty-day missions using consumables, which we will have proven with&nbsp;<em>Haven-1<\/em>, and then we\u2019re adding module two, module three, module four every six months.&nbsp;Each extra module is bringing more consumables, but our goal is that each module is bringing better technology.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Vast\u2019s design for the station differs from those of the ISS, especially in its modular design. Whereas the ISS has specific modules for science, living, storage, and even power generation, <em>Haven-2<\/em> is planning for each module to include redundant systems. This means each module could operate as a free-flying station of its own.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you have an anomaly on a module, we could get rid of it without compromising the whole space station,\u201d Haot pointed out as a benefit to the design. \u201cWe can also be fully functional with the first module and so on. It\u2019s also lower cost because we have one design.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Haven-2<\/em> will begin with four modules, each 3.8 m in diameter, designed to launch aboard a Falcon Heavy using a specialized stretched fairing. The core module, measuring seven meters in diameter, is designed to launch atop SpaceX\u2019s Starship. The company wants to be able to launch more using Starship, but Vast says there are a few limiting factors, including the vehicle\u2019s currently unknown final specifications.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t yet know the exact volume of the Starship fairing, and we don\u2019t know the [deployment] mechanism yet,\u201d Haot pointed out. \u201cSpaceX is focused on what they should be focused on, which is making money to get to Mars and launching Starship and Starlink next year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The aim is to have<em> Haven-2<\/em> in orbit two years before the end of the ISS\u2019s operational lifetime, with the station fully built by 2032.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-104859\" class=\"size-full wp-image-104859\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_21_27_08.Still010-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_21_27_08.Still010-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_21_27_08.Still010-350x197.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_21_27_08.Still010-622x350.jpg 622w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_21_27_08.Still010-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_21_27_08.Still010-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Final1.00_21_27_08.Still010-1170x658.jpg 1170w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-104859\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Haven Demo satellite inside a clean room at Vast\u2019s headquarters. (Credit: D Wise for NSF)<\/p>\n<p>Vast will launch a 500 kg satellite demonstration mission on an upcoming SpaceX Bandwagon rideshare mission to test several key technologies featured on its upcoming stations. Specifically, the <em>Haven Demo<\/em> satellite will test major components of the&nbsp;<em>Haven-1<\/em> station.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s designed to test all of our propulsion, avionics, RF systems, all the subsystems [of <em>Haven-1<\/em>],\u201d Haot said.<\/p>\n<p>It will not include any pressure modules. Vast estimates the mission will cost approximately $10 million, which Haot notes is significantly less than the $1 billion including revenue in the <em>Haven-1 <\/em>program at the time of the first crewed mission. Furthermore, if additional testing is needed, the company will have three slots on three future SpaceX rideshare missions.<\/p>\n<p>Vast hopes these fast technological leaps, including demonstrating technologies on rideshare missions, will lead to significant leaps in American spaceflight and the commercial space station industry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ISS [modules], many of them were built in the U.S. in the late 90s and early 2000s, so it\u2019s been twenty years since a space station primary structure has been built in the U.S.,\u201d Haot said. \u201cThe reason we are doing it is because we need to do it. [We\u2019re doing it with] low costs and high speeds of iteration, [so] we\u2019re really proud to bring that capability back to the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>(Lead image: Artist\u2019s impression of the Vast Haven-1 space station with a SpaceX Crew Dragon docked to it. Credit: Vast)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vast is one step closer to launching its first private commercial space station. The company recently completed testing of its Haven-1 qualification article in Mojave, California, and reported that it successfully passed its tests. The company\u2019s current goal is to launch the flight article aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket no earlier than May 2026. [&hellip;]<\/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":[7796,7809,479,678,8169,578,1119,717,233,265,316,240],"class_list":["post-23876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-commercial","tag-falcon","tag-falcon-9","tag-falcon-heavy","tag-haven","tag-haven-1","tag-haven-2","tag-international-space-station","tag-iss","tag-space-station","tag-spacex","tag-vast"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23876"}],"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=23876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23876\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}