by “What do you hope to accomplish in the next 10 years?” it’s a common question, often asked at job interviews or when starting a new company.
Space Axiom It was founded in 2016, so it’s coming up on that 10-year mark — and the Houston-based company has already checked off a lot of boxes that were likely on its milestone list.
For example, Axiom has organized three all-private crewed missions to the International Space Station (ISS) and received a NASA contract to the the first commercial module to the ISS. The company is also building the space suits that NASA’s Artemis astronauts will use when exploring the lunar surface.
Related: NASA’s Artemis Program: Everything you need
“The biggest points of excitement for me are the missions, the space suit and the station,” Tejpaul Bhatia, chief revenue officer at Axiom Space, told Space.com during the 39th Space Symposium, held last month in Colorado Springs.
“The missions we’ve done – three in the last three years, we’ve sent eight countries into space,” Bhatia said. “We’ve worked with over 50 research and commercial partners that work across those missions, and we’ll be doing more. The next mission [to the ISS] coming up soon, and more nations and more companies will be part of those missions. The excitement and outreach of reaching everyone to know about space – it’s a new era for space.”
At the beginning of this year, the company Ax-3 private mission made history as “the first pan-European commercial astronaut mission” for the ISS. The 22-day Ax-3, Axiom’s longest mission yet, sent a citizen of Türkiye to space for the first time and allowed Italy to participate in a new role with commercial spaceflight.
While in orbit, a new combination warning system developed by the Italian Air Force (ItAF) was used to monitor potential collision threats. The Italian Space Operations Center exhibit provided researchers with information that would allow crews to be almost real time collision warnings independently, without relying heavily on support from World. The team was also able to test other instruments that monitor solar activity and space weather.
“The most exciting part is to use all the heritage that Italy has gathered in the last 60 years to build new bridges with our national industries and try to create some link between that Italian industrial ecosystem or with the US one,” said Ax-3 Pilot Walter Villadei, a colonel in the ItAF. “There’s an Air Force; space for us is a kind of extension of our natural environment, so we want to be there, we want to understand how we’re supposed to behave or work in space. It’s a unique moment this is in time.”
Axiom’s fourth mission, Ax-4, is due to launch no earlier than next October and will send another crew to the ISS for up to two weeks. Such missions, Axiom says, will continue to build knowledge and skills that contribute to the company’s goal of building and operating the world’s first commercial space station.
Axiom is also building and testing the space suit that astronauts will wear on the surface of the moon during the NASA era. Artemis 3 mission, to be launched in September 2026. A prototype of this suit, called the Axiom External Mobility Unit (AxEMU), was made revealed in March. Like any other space technology, the prototype must be continuously evaluated and changed before the critical review phase begins in June.
“The suit is designed to have different layers of safety so in case anything happens, you have to be able to react quickly and minimize your activity to be safe from whatever is in your environment,” Villadei said. “It’s a combination of many factors.”
For example, the suit must be able to cope with the harsh and changing environments of the lunar surface, as well as provide mobility and comfort. It must be able to withstand a wide range of temperatures for at least two hours.
Since the unveiling of the AxEMU prototype in March 2023, Axiom Space has made significant progress in suit design and testing. The suit design is beyond the preliminary design review point with NASA and will enter the critical design review phase in June 2024.
RELATED STORIES:
— SpaceX Dragon carrying Ax-3 astronauts splashes down in the Atlantic to end Axiom Space’s longest private spaceflight
— Private space station: How Axiom Space plans to build its hub
— NASA selects 3 companies to design a lunar rover for Artemis astronauts to drive on the moon
“Inside that suit are a number of other systems and subsystems, so we’re bringing in a lot of commercial partners, a lot that worked on the original spacesuits, but a lot that are bringing new design features,” a Bhatia said.
“There are commercial elements from brands that you and I know that you can’t think of in terms of space, but it makes perfect sense when you hear that they’re part of it,” he said. “I think it’s going to start looking like a private company working with government institutions, and pretty soon it’s going to flip and you’re going to see a whole economy up in the space with brands that we know and love on them and use every day. This thing won’t be another frontier, but it’s really part of our lives.”
Axiom Space could also contribute to Artemis missions in additional ways; the company is partnering with Astrolab and Odyssey Space Research on the FLEX lunar rover project, one of three private efforts that have just been acquired NASA funding for development work. The Lunar Land Vehicle (LTV) is expected to be one of these three private designs, which Artemis astronauts will use to drive around. the moon.
“Leveraging our expertise in EVA [extravehicular activity]Axiom Space is leading the way in the design of EVA-centric components of the rover, such as vehicle interfaces for the crew and spacesuits, and containers/attachments for carrying EVA instruments,” Russell Ralston, vice president of Extravehicular Activity for Axiom Space, said in a press release. “This collaboration with Astrolab not only demonstrates our EVA expertise, but also underscores Axiom Space’s commitment to driving advances in lunar exploration.”
