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Humans have now had a continued presence in space for 20 years thanks to the IInternational Space Station (ISS), but the facility is unlikely to survive for the next decade. What happens after could shape the future of space exploration.
Not surprisingly, the ISS is starting to show its age. Earlier this month, astronauts finally fixed an air leak that had been going on for over a year – and this is just one of many maintenance issues the station faced recentlyly.
Right now, the station’s funding will run out in 2024, and while it’s likely to be extended until 2028, few expect any commitments beyond that point. Despite this, all the major space agencies in the world say that humanity needs a permanent presenceEorbit arth. However, how this will be achieved still seems uncertain and could have a significant impact on space travel in the decades to come.
NASA has made no secret of its desire to commercialize the space industry as much as possible, arguably supported by the rapid progress SpaceX has made since the turn of the century and the cost savings it has achieved. he ownsis reached at this time. The logic is that the agency’s limited budget should go towards lofty goals like putting humans on Mars or building bases on Mars. moon.
Space stations are no different, and NASA has made it clear that it wants private companies to step in. “It’s time for NASA to start turning to deep space exploration and let entrepreneurs move behind us,” Phil McAlister, director of commercial spaceflight development at NASA, Told Wired.
What this would look like is not yet clear. Last year, the agency announced that private companies would be allowed to use the space station for a fee in an effort to foster a low-earth orbit economy. But until now, most of the takers have been brands looking for a unusual publicity stunt rather than viable space companies.
NASA also signed an agreement with private space station builder Axiom to attach one of its modules to the space station in 2024, which the company plans to use as a stepping stone toward building its own commercial space station. The CEO of the company is a former NASA pprogram manager for the ISS, so if anyone wants to make it work, Axiom will.
But finding a way to make a profit won’t be easy. Bigelow Aerospace, which has spent years developing inflatable space station modules and even sent one to the ISS for testing in 2016, was considering competing for the spot Axiom took on the ISS, but the founder Robert Bigelow Told Space News this they decided not to bid because the funding offered by NASA was not sufficient.
And he said the prospects for a fully private space station in the near future are slim. “The marketing is not robust at all,” he said. “There has to be substantial government subsidies for a while until industries can stand on their own feet.” A little less than two months later, the company laid off its entire workforce.
Other countries seem less optimistic about the prospect of handing over space stations to private industry and are instead moving forward with plans for new national space stations. China has launched two prototype habitat modules in the past decade and plans to start build a complete space station in the next year or two.
India plans to launch its first astronauts into space in 2022, with a space station scheduled for 2030. And Russia, the United States ”s main partner of the ISS, also announced the construction of a new orbital space station after 2030 once the ISS is dismantled, according to the press agency Interfax.
It is far from clear whether these plans will materialize on time or not at all. But they signal a shift away from the cooperative approach that underpinned the ISS, which was perhaps his most important legacy, back to a more nationalistic approach to space exploration. Similar voltages already seem to be building on the next missions to the moon and the asteroid belt.
Nevertheless, it seems be something everyone can agree on. The huge wealth of discoveries which were carried out on the ISS have solidly supported the arguments in favor of building the space stations of the future. What they will look like still seems very uncertain, but there is no doubt that our continued presence in space will not end anytime soon.
Image Credit: WikiImages from Pixabay
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