Space Technology Series: Commercial Stations & Tourism

In theory, you or I can imagine what it is like to look back on Earth from Space. What it would look like. How it would change us. How we would feel. 

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In practice, we know nothing. A blue marble floating amongst the dark infiniti.

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It’s a feeling that the vast and overwhelming majority of our 7.8 billion human counterparts will never know. But within this understanding, lies something deeper. More of us will know than any generation before, the generation after more still. The number of interplanetary explorers expanding exponentially out into the cosmos. 

The blue skied daydreams of our forefathers are the wide eyed realities of our present. This is the decade of results. We will see the first fruits born of our labored research on the international space station, the first permanent private habitation of space with Axiom, and finally the fledgling forays of tourism, hawaiian shirts, disposable cameras and all.

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Whether you consider space to be the final frontier, or simply the newest, it presents us with new opportunities. An opportunity to be reborn as one species undivided by borders, connected irrevocably within closed systems, irretrievably altered by the shared experience of seeing our home planet from the great beyond. 

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In a foreign landscape with a cold and vicious indifference to our fragility, the only way we can hope to survive is together.

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The overview effect is used to describe the cognitive shift experienced by individuals viewing Earth from space. Many astronauts have described feelings of “appreciation and perception of beauty, unexpected and even overwhelming emotion, and an increased sense of connection to other people and the Earth as a whole”. Such a unique experience is incredibly powerful and provokes many questions about our purpose as humans and our place in the universe. Those lucky enough to have experienced such grandeur have inhabited orbital space stations throughout the last fifty years.

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A Brief History

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The first concept of a habitable station in space was Edward Everett Hale’s “Brick Moon”, published in the Atlantic Weekly magazine in 1869. Since the 1920s the scientific community has considered the possibility of spacecraft with the ability to support human life long-term in space. In 1971, the Soviet Union launched Salyut 1, the world’s first space station. Throughout its iterations the Salyut spacecraft was home to both civilian and military operations; the Salyut program was decommissioned in 1986. 

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Throughout the 1970s and 80s, the Soviet Union and United States began contemplating the idea of a collaborative project in space. Due to certain political and budgetary circumstances, both governments faced pressures to join forces in order to achieve greater economies of scale.

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In September 1993, the International Space Station program was announced. A total of five government space agencies were involved in the development and operations of the ISS: 

• NASA (United States)
• Roscosmos (Russa)
• JAXA (Japan)
• ESA (European Union)
• CSA (Canada).

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The first module, Zarya, was launched in 1998, and the station’s size and complexity have grown by orders of magnitude since. As of 2024, the only other operational station in orbit is China’s Tiangong station, who’s first module launched in April 2021.

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Station Architecture

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From airliner fuselages to recycled third stages of the Saturn V rocket, various primary structures have been proposed for orbital space stations. Both monolithic (single vehicle) and modular structures were proposed, and ultimately ISS and future stations adopted a modular design, a decision which was based upon a compromise of launch vehicle capabilities, system requirements, human factors, and political considerations.

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All stations must endure quite unfavorable conditions; space radiation, cold temperatures, and micrometeoroids to name a few. They are typically made using stainless steel, titanium, and aluminum alloys; the use of Kevlar as a ballistics shield protection is also common. Stations must all have extensive and redundant life-support systems to allow astronauts to survive for long periods of time. Sufficient water, food, and atmospheric conditions are provided by stations in orbit.

While not a strict requirement for short-term survival, 1g of gravity is the only human physiological need not met by currently operational space stations. Theoretical station designs have included artificial gravity through a centrifugal force created by the rotation of cylindrical or ring-shaped modules

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Research

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All stations must serve some underlying purpose and provide a benefit to society. ISS costs over $3B USD per year to maintain operations. Its primary function is as a research laboratory, exploring a wide variety of fields including but not limited to astrobiology, chemistry, material science, and human research. Research takes advantage of the unique environment: microgravity and high radiation. The station’s first decade focused on its construction, and the second decade on scaling up research operations; we are now in the decade of results. 

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Entire research papers have detailed the results of ISS studies and experiments and this article simply cannot do it justice. Some of the technologies in development include: next-gen medical scanning, crystallized protein synthesis, and simpler cancer treatments. Research stations will continue to provide significant breakthroughs to their respective fields throughout its operational lifespan. But what if a space station’s purpose was not research, but recreation?

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Space Tourism

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Since the 1990s, high net-worth individuals all over the world have shown serious interest in paying for trips to orbit. In 2001, American engineer and entrepreneur Dennis Tito became the first space tourist in history, staying on the ISS for a total of eight days, paying about $20 million for the stay at what could be considered the world’s most expensive hotel. Since then, only eight other individuals have visited space as tourists.

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Some in the space community hold the opinion that the term tourist is misleading, implying the role of an observer, passively on the periphery (many civilians have gone up to conduct research themselves). Space participant is the official term used by NASA and Roscosmos . Other terms like space pioneer or private astronaut are also viewed as having more positive connotations. However, that may change as the barriers to entry fall over the coming decades and legitimate tourists take to orbit, hawaiian shirts and cameras included.

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Startup Case Study: Axiom Space

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Space infrastructure developer Axiom Space was founded in 2016 with the ambitious goal of building and operating the world’s first commercial space station. The first section of the next-gen platform is set to launch in 2026 and will connect to the existing infrastructure of the International Space Station. Further modules will be added over time until ISS retirement (atmospheric reentry) throughout the second half of the decade. 

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Axiom also provides human spaceflight services to individuals, private corporations, and government space agencies. Service packages include “mission planning, hardware development, life support, medical support, crew provisions, hardware and safety certifications, on-orbit operations, and mission management”. They have had a total of three successful manned missions so far, the most recent of which (Mission Ax-3) was conducted January 2024, involving the transportation of four individuals to the ISS for a 14-day mission. The next mission (Ax-4) is scheduled for October 2024 and will transport four new individuals to the ISS for a similar mission duration (one of the participants is the winner of reality TV show Space Hero). 

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Axiom’s long-term goal is to fill the gap in commercial station services after the ISS’s retirement;  they aim to provide an accessible platform for private companies and national governments to continue the research and development of breakthrough innovation.

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Economic Framework

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With crew, cargo, and private missions routinely flying to the ISS, there seems to be lucrative potential for a thriving in-space economy surrounding permanent occupation in LEO and beyond. Space infrastructure developers, like Axiom Space, Sierra Space, and others, are betting that there will be a market for station applications: focused in-space manufacturing, continued research & development, and tourism. Those services have historically been met by government players (ISS), but the industry is preparing for a vacancy at the end of the decade with its retirement. Launch service providers, infrastructure developers, and tech application firms are strategically investing in products/services that will capture future revenue from increased in-orbit occupancy (SpaceX Dragon capsule, Axiom/Starlabs, Varda Industries, just to name a few).

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Launching flying supercomputers into orbit to provide value on Earth is much different than transporting human beings. There is an order of magnitude more at stake: the safety of individuals, who are paying a premium for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Bringing a human-oriented perspective to space travel makes it real for those who otherwise would never dream of getting to space. A positive feedback loop of public interest and private investment in space travel is inevitable and will spur innovation in technologies that will make science fiction a reality.

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As the horizon of space tourism and commercial space stations beckons, we stand on the cusp of an era that promises to redefine human potential and aspirations. 

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The journey from Edward Everett Hale’s imaginative "Brick Moon" to the operational marvels of the International Space Station and Axiom Space’s forthcoming commercial stations underscores a trajectory of human ingenuity and the relentless pursuit of the stars. As we embark on this new chapter, the boundaries between science fiction and reality blur, offering us not just a window into the universe but a mirror reflecting our collective potential. 

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In the vast, silent expanse of space, we find a profound connection to our home planet and to each other, reminding us that our greatest explorations are not only about reaching outward into the cosmos but also about discovering the depths of our shared humanity. 

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The stars have always been a canvas for our dreams; now, as we forge paths to live among them, we embrace the limitless possibilities of a future written not in the stars, but by our own hands.

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