It comes equipped with labs, a gym, sleeping quarters, two bathrooms and the view, is literally
out of this world.
Liftoff of the Proton rocket and the Zarya control module.
The first segments of the International Space Station were launched in 1998.
And since 2000, the ISS has continuously housed a rotating group of astronauts from 19
countries. At about 250 miles above the earth, the International Space Station occupies an area known as
low earth orbit or LEO, and houses the only laboratory available for long-duration, microgravity research.
This research has been instrumental in a number of scientific developments, including creating more
efficient water filtration systems and exploring new ways to treat diseases such as Alzheimer's and cancer.
But it's starting to show its age.
Astronauts launched a very complicated series of spacewalks today to fix a cosmic ray detector at the
International Space Station.
Space is a harsh environment, and we've seen over the past couple of years small leaks appear within the
space station. These are not life threatening.
There's nothing serious.
But it is an indication that the lifetime of the International Space Station might be coming to an end.
The International Space Station is currently approved to operate through at least December 2024 with our
agreements with the international partners.
However, as we are actively working to continue to do science and research, we
understand that the ISS at some point will have its end of life.
But NASA will likely not build the next space station.
Instead, the agency will depend on the technology of outside companies.
A few, like Colorado-based Sierra Space, are well on their way to constructing their own commercial space
station.
So here we are in the inside of our LIFE element.
It's nearly 30 feet in diameter.
We have it broken up into three decks.
Space station right now is jam packed.
There's no room. There's no capacity.
So by starting with a large unit volume and then being able to build up a station from multiple elements
allows you to greatly scale the capacity of your space station, not just for NASA astronauts and international
astronauts, but for commercial activities such as manufacturing.
Because right now, we just don't have the space to do those things.
As space enters the commercial age, here's what a new international space station may look like.
Over the last couple of years, NASA has increasingly relied on outside companies to complete tasks that have
traditionally been reserved for the government agency.
Under its Commercial Resupply Services program, NASA has contracts with SpaceX and Northrop Grumman to send
cargo resupply missions to the ISS.
Last year, SpaceX made history by becoming the first private sector company to carry NASA astronauts to the
ISS under NASA's Commercial Crew program.
Boeing is also under contract as part of the program, but is still conducting uncrewed tests.
The Commercial Crew and Commercial Resupply programs are largely considered a success for NASA.
Last year, the agency estimated that the Commercial Crew program saved the government between $20 and $30
billion dollars.
Since SpaceX and Boeing each designed their own spacecraft under the contract, NASA had the added
benefit of having a backup in case something should happen with one of the vehicles.
This has proved wise as Boeing has struggled to get its spacecraft certified for human flight.
NASA is now hoping to replicate the success of its Commercial Crew and commercial cargo programs with the
Commercial LEO Destination's project.
As part of the project, NASA's plans to award up to $400 million in total to as many as four companies to
begin development of private space stations.
Covering just part of the developmental costs of the station would be a big money saver for NASA.
The ISS cost $150 billion to build, and the U.S.
picked up the largest chunk of that bill, ahead of its partners Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada.
NASA also spends about $4 billion a year to operate the ISS.
Development of new markets and new technologies is very expensive, and the government is usually
the prime party to make those things happen.
We have done that in LEO, and so we do expect that we will save money moving to this
model.
A number of private companies are already well on their way to launching private space stations.
One of the companies at the forefront of creating a commercial space station is Houston-based Axiom Space.
In fact, back in 2020, NASA awarded the company a $140 million contract to provide at least one
habitable module to attach the International Space Station.
Axiom Space plans on starting out with four modules.
The first two will be crew quarters that will be decked out with infotainment systems and massive
windows overlooking earth.
Some space will also be reserved for research and technology development projects.
The third module will be geared strictly towards research and manufacturing, and the fourth will be a
solar array so that Axiom's modules can separate and operate independently from the ISS when it's eventually
retired.
Prior to that, we'll be getting power from the ISS, but we'll fly up our own solar
arrays on the fourth module.
We'll have our own airlock so that we could do spacewalks.
And then once we separate from the ISS, we have the ability to continue to add to our station really
indefinitely. And we envision being able to add modules that are custom for customers.
We might build an entire module that's specific to a particular customer's manufacturing or research
needs.
Funding for its new space station will also likely come from Axiom's private astronaut missions.
Axiom has a deal with SpaceX to use the company's Crew Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket to fly a total of
four crewed missions to the ISS starting as early as January 2022.
Although Axiom does not make the price of its private missions public, a flight with Axiom is estimated to
cost tens of millions of dollars as NASA pays SpaceX about $55 million per seat to fly its
astronauts to the space station.
But Axiom is confident that it can build a station that's much cheaper than the $150 billion dollars NASA
spent on the ISS.
We think we need about $1.2 billion or so to to build the four modules, and we're on track to do
that.
One of the ways Axiom has been able to bring down the cost of its space station is by utilizing technologies
from other industries.
Our battery technology is very similar to electric vehicle battery technology.
The computer chip in your iPhone, say an iPhone 10 or newer, is very, very similar to the chip that we'll
use as our computer.
Axiom Space plans to launch its first module in 2024 and its fourth module toward the end of 2027.
Sierra Space is another company that's been working on building a commercial space station.
This is just a mock up of how we might divide some of the space.
So we've put up walls here and some basic curtains.
We have some crew quarter examples in here.
Some of these could be used as storage closets, could be used for hygiene rooms, for brushing your teeth,
spending personal time, certainly toilet space as well is required.
Since 2017, Sierra Space has been developing an inflatable structure that it calls the LIFE Habitat.
Originally it was designed to be a habitat that could take four astronauts,
basically from lunar orbit to Mars, essentially designed for a thousand day mission.
Since then, Sierra Space has worked to adapt the design to also function as a habitat for the surface of Mars
or the moon, as well as act as a free-floating commercial station in low earth orbit.
CNBC saw a mockup of the LIFE Habitat at Kennedy Space Center, where it's undergoing testing.
The structure is 1/3 the volume of the International Space Station and spans 27 feet in both diameter and
length. The mockup we visited only had two floors, but the final version will have three.
When we had astronauts in that were evaluating the space and the layout, one of the things they brought up
is you can actually get trapped in the space in here.
So because we're so large, we have to be conscious of the fact that we have to make sure that there's holds
and means that if a crew member is within this large space, that they can actually grab a hold of something
and move themselves to different spaces within the habitat.
The structure is meant to be inflated in space after it's launched.
It was about 40 missions to build the space station.
We can have an operational space station up in two missions.
Our LIFE Habitat, because it expands once we get it on orbit, we can get a lot of volume up there very, very
quickly. So that's a that's a pretty significant savings in both time and money compared to what we did
on space station.
Sierra Space is also developing its own transportation vehicle called the Dream Chaser.
When you talk about the three to four billion dollars a year it costs to operate the space station, one of the
big pieces of it is transportation.
And so that's where our Dream Chaser comes into play.
We have a reusable spacecraft that we can use a minimum of 15 times.
So we're reducing the cost of that.
The launch vehicle pricing is coming down.
We're taking advantage of that.
So you have to reduce the cost of transportation.
And you have to reduce the cost of operations.
Initially, Sierra Space believes its largest market will come from NASA and other countries' space agencies
who want to conduct research in zero gravity.
But down the road, the company hopes to supplement that revenue stream with more commercial activities
like manufacturing in space, tourism and even TV and film production.
Sierra Space says the initial elements of its space station will be in orbit by 2026 or 2027.
The race is on for private sector companies to launch a commercial space station before the
ISS is retired, likely within the decade.
Both Axiom Space and Sierra Space say that they are confident that they can have an operational space
station up and running in time.
Another aerospace company, Nanoracks, plans to have its first private space stations up by 2024.
But instead of building a whole new structure, Nanoracks plans to recycle the spent upper stages of
rockets and transform them into research stations.
But as with any space endeavor, timelines often change.
Just take the Commercial Crew program.
The program's original goal was to send astronauts to the ISS by 2017.
But early funding cuts and a number of failed tests delayed the launch until 2020.
And not having a station finished in time could spell real trouble for NASA.
If we retire the International Space Station without having commercial space stations already, there's going
to be a gap in capabilities,
And NASA's already experienced such a gap.
After the agency ended the shuttle program in 2011, NASA was forced to rely on Russian Soyuz rockets to
launch its astronauts to the International Space Station.
And the U.S. paid Russia a pretty penny.
Over $90 million per seat.
When SpaceX stepped in in 2020, that cost was reduced to $55 million per seat.
One of the things that is slowing down this effort that might contribute to a gap in the space station
capabilities is the lack of funding that Congress has given NASA to kickstart this commercial space station
and commercial lower orbit operations.
In fiscal year 2020 and 2021, NASA requested $150 million for low earth orbit commercial
development, but only received $15 million and $17 million respectively.
In July, the House granted NASA $45 million for commercial leo development, less than half of what the
organization had requested.
Commercial companies can also expect competition from other countries.
This is a race to establish permanent presence in low earth orbit and the moon.
And as of today, China seems to be winning that particular race.
Tonight's launch is the country's first crewed flight in nearly five years, sending three astronauts to the
space station it's building, as it seeks to become a major space faring power by 2030.
Russia is also planning its own space station.
Serving government customers like NASA can be a springboard to kickstart the economy for commercial
companies. But a larger, private market will likely be the key to their longterm success and potentially their
biggest moneymaker.
NASA provides the money, but the money that NASA is providing is is wholly insufficient for us
to do this. So we would not do this or invest in it ourselves if we did not believe in that market.
We really think that manufacturing will be the real game changer.
There's been some really interesting demonstrations on the ISS, where people have flown experiments and
they've developed fiber optic cable that has 100 times transmission length or they've found ways to bio
print perfect retinal implants.
But if it was successful, then what?
There was no place to manufacture it at scale.
And so by building a commercial space station and a commercial destination, we now have the ability
to build things at scale and to manufacture things at scale and to help customers do that, including
building an entire module specifically for a customer to do that kind of manufacturing.
As for NASA, not having to invest in a space station will free up money for other endeavors.
We've had all these years of success on the ISS, and NASA now wants to put our eye toward
moon and Mars and other exploration items and turn over this area of space to the commercial market.