In Space Infrastructure, Living in Space, Space Settlement

Space habitat reports – Sept.20.2024

Here is this week’s selection of videos, articles, and news items concerning space habitats (govt and commercial), living in space, and space settlement.

=== International Space Station & NASA

** Space to Ground: Sunita in Charge: Sept. 20, 2024 – NASA Johnson

** NASA’s Starliner astronauts talk about watching their ride leave ISS without them – VideoFromSpace

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore talk about Starliner’s return trip and requesting an absentee ballot for the US election in November. Watch Starliner land: https://www.space.com/boeing-starline…

** Tracy C. Dyson Powers Space Station Research – NASA Johnson

NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson is returning home after a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station. While on orbit, Dyson conducted an array of experiments and technology demonstrations that contribute to advancements for humanity on Earth and the agency’s trajectory to the Moon and Mars. Here is a look at some of the science Dyson conducted during her mission: https://go.nasa.gov/4euV5kt

** NASA Aatronaut Discusses Life in Space with KCRA-TV, Sacramento – NASA Video

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 71 Flight Engineer Tracy C. Dyson of NASA discussed life and work aboard the orbital outpost during an in-flight interview Sept. 20 with KCRA-TV. Dyson is in the midst of a long-duration mission aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration flights as part of NASA’s Moon and Mars exploration approach, including lunar missions through NASA’s Artemis program.

=== Commercial space habitats

** Updates on NASA’s transition from ISS to commercial space stations – Laura Forczyk

The International Space Station will soon be deorbited, and NASA is preparing to rely on commercial space stations, or commercial LEO destinations. In today’s NASA Advisory Council’s Human Exploration and Operations Committee meeting, NASA gave various updates on avoiding a gap in LEO, salvaging ISS items, the ISS deorbit timeline, the future of NASA microgravity research, and more.

** Axiom Space

— Axiom runs into financial turbulence: A key NASA commercial partner faces severe financial challenges | Ars Technica – Sept.17.2024

Axiom Space is facing significant financial headwinds as the company attempts to deliver on two key commercial programs for NASA—the development of a private space station in low-Earth orbit and spacesuits that could one day be worn by astronauts on the Moon.

Forbes reports that Axiom Space, which was founded by billionaire Kam Ghaffarian and NASA executive Mike Suffredini in 2016, has been struggling to raise money to keep its doors open and has had difficulties meeting its payroll dating back to at least early 2023. In addition, the Houston-based company has fallen behind on payments to key suppliers, including Thales Alenia Space for its space station and SpaceX for crewed launches.

— Progress on construction of Axiom’s first space habitat:

— Spacious habitat interiors:

** Sierra Space

–— Sierra updates NASA on progress with the projects (unfunded) carried out under the Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities-2 initiative (CCSC-2) :

Sierra’s CCSC-2 activities were described by NASA as follows:

Sierra Space is collaborating with NASA for the development of the company’s commercial low Earth orbit ecosystem, including next-generation space transportation, in-space infrastructure, and expandable and tailorable space facilities providing a human presence in low Earth orbit.

— Lunar oxygen production system demonstrated: Sierra Space Unveils Breakthrough Technology Designed to Extract Oxygen from Lunar Soil, Enabling Sustainable Human Presence on the Moon | Sierra Space – Sept.17.2024

Sierra Space, a leading commercial space company and defense tech prime that is Building a Platform in Space to Benefit Life on Earth®, announced today the company’s proprietary Carbothermal Oxygen Production Reactor has successfully completed thermal vacuum testing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, heralding the first time in history that oxygen has been extracted from simulated lunar soil, or regolith, using an automated, standalone system in a lunar environment. The technology, when scaled up, is designed to produce oxygen in bulk to support one of the primary objectives of NASA’s Artemis program: establishing the first long-term presence on the moon.

“The Apollo program took us to the moon to study and learn. Artemis is taking us back to the moon, this time to stay,” said Tom Vice, CEO of Sierra Space. “Our company is focused on building the infrastructure necessary to enable continuous human presence on the lunar surface. This sustainable future begins with developing the core technology and systems that create oxygen in that environment, using local natural resources.”

Sierra Space test engineers spent two weeks in August operating the company’s oxygen extraction system inside a thermal vacuum chamber at Johnson, working with lunar regolith simulant in an environment the hardware would recognize as similar to the water-ice-laden south pole region of the moon. Under lunar temperatures and pressures, the Sierra Space system executed all of the regolith handling steps and performed the carbothermal reduction reaction that extracts oxygen from minerals in the regolith simulant.

This disruptive innovation, a system developed at Sierra Space’s facilities in Madison, Wisconsin, represents a major leap forward in enabling long-term human habitation on the moon and future space exploration endeavors. …

** VAST

— Interview with VAST CEO Max Haot:

** SpaceX and Polaris project

— SpaceX Polaris Dawn spacewalk! See the first-ever private egress from crew – VideoFromSpace

SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission conducted the first-ever private spacewalk on Sept. 12, 2024. Full Story: https://www.space.com/spacex-polaris-…

During the spacewalk (also known as an extravehicular activity, or EVA), Polaris Dawn crewmembers Jared Isaacman (seen here) and Sarah Gillis exited their fully depressurized Crew Dragon spacecraft in specially-designed SpaceX spacesuits.

— SpaceX Polaris Dawn crew’s on-orbit event! Experiments explained + spacewalk time-lapse – VideoFromSpace

The Polaris Dawn crew Jared Isaacman, Scott “Kidd” Poteet, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon explain the experiments conducted during the mission. Also, see a time-lapse of Isaacman’s spacewalk.

=== Chinese space habitats

** Chinese astronauts conduct experiments and more on Tiangong space station – VideoFromSpace

China’s Shenzhou-18 crew is seen conducting experiments and maintenance on the Tiangong space station.

=== Lunar habitation

 ** Lunar Development Conference Videos | The Moon Society

A selection of videos of presentations and panel discussions at the Moon Society‘s recent online conference has been posted. For example:

** Explore NASA’s lunar orbital Gateway habitat with 3D app: Gateway Space Station in 3D | NASA – Sept.11.2024

=== Space habitat technologies

** TESSERAE: Self-Assembling Prototypes — Aurelia Institute

Artist’s animation of a futuristic TESSERAE habitat that self-assembles in orbit, forms a multi-module space station, and can also be transported to the surface. Based on the real-life research project out of the MIT Space Exploration Initiative and Dr. Ariel Ekblaw’s PhD Thesis. To learn more: tesserae.arielekblaw.com

TESSERAE (Tessellated Electromagnetic Space Structures for the Exploration of Reconfigurable, Adaptive Environments). The name and nature of the structure hearken to the small, colored tiles used in Roman mosaics, where many standard pieces, or “tesserae,” interlock to create the image. We make this reference to ancient history, while designing an artifact of our space exploration future, to tie architectural elements together across scales and across millennia.

Rendering courtesy of TU Dortmund Fraunhofer Institute as part of a collaboration with MIT Media Lab SEI. Collaborator credit: Aswin Karthik Ramachandran Venkatapathy. Artist credit: David Knozowski.

See also A futuristic space habitat will touch down in Seattle in new exhibit at Museum of Flight | GeekWire – Sept.10.2024

** Metal 3-D Printing in microgravity:

See also: Metal Part 3D Printed in Space for the First Time | Universe Today – Sept.19.2024

=== Other space habitat and settlement news and articles:

=== Earth views from ISS

** Highlight: Soyuz MS-26 19:19z Sep 11 2024 – ISS Above

NASA EHDC6 Live views of the Earth from the International Space Station

** Highlight: Brazil – Aug 31 2024 10:03 BRT – ISS Above

* Live Video from the International Space Station (Official NASA Stream) – NASA

Watch live video from the International Space Station, including inside views when the crew aboard the space station is on duty. Views of Earth are also streamed from an external camera located outside of the space station. During periods of signal loss due to handover between communications satellites, a blue screen is displayed.

The space station orbits Earth about 250 miles (425 kilometers) above the surface. An international partnership of five space agencies from 15 countries operates the station, and it has been continuously occupied since November 2000. It’s a microgravity laboratory where science, research, and human innovation make way for new technologies and research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. More: https://go.nasa.gov/3CkVtC8

Did you know you can spot the station without a telescope? It looks like a fast-moving star, but you have to know when to look up. Sign up for text messages or email alerts to let you know when (and where) to spot the station and wave to the crew: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov

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ISS after undocking of STS-132

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Outpost in Orbit:
A Pictorial & Verbal History of the Space Station