Коммерческая ДОС от Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies (SGT)

[Валерий Жилинский]

Former NASA ISS manager planning commercial space station venture
by Jeff Foust — June 23, 2016

Michael Suffredini, who retired fr om NASA in September 2015 after serving as ISS program manager, now seeks to develop a private space station. Credit: NASA

SEATTLE — A former NASA manager of the International Space Station announced June 22 that he is starting a new venture that eventually plans to develop a private space station.

In a presentation at the NewSpace 2016 conference here, Mike Suffredini, president of the commercial space division of Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies (SGT) who joined the company shortly after retiring from NASA last September, said he has co-founded a new company that initially will seek to install a commercial module on the ISS.

That module would serve as a precursor for a private facility once the ISS is retired. "We intend to work on a low Earth orbit platform to follow the International Space Station," he said.

The new company, named Axiom Space LLC, was incorporated in January in Delaware but is based in Houston. Suffredini serves as its president and Kam Ghaffarian, the president and chief executive of SGT, is the chief executive.

Axiom Space is in discussions with NASA on a Space Act Agreement that would allow for studies of adding a commercial module to the ISS. "What we would like to do is fly a module that begins its life at the International Space Station," Suffredini said in a later interview. "That will help us transition from research and manufacturing and everything else done on ISS on a future platform."

Suffredini said he wants to fly the module "as early as we can," which he estimates to be in 2020 or 2021. The company has an unspecified amount of seed funding, and plans to start discussions with investors in the fall. He said he hopes to have a preliminary design review of the module done by December and a contractor sel ected to build it by January 2017, a schedule he acknowledged was "aggressive."

He declined to name any company under consideration to build the module, but noted that companies both in the U.S. and other nations would be considered. A key requirement, he said, is the ability to build a module quickly that is as large as possible given the mass and payload fairing size constraints of available launch vehicles.

Suffredini, though, appeared to rule out the use of an expandable module like those under development by Bigelow Aerospace. "In order to make money, we have to get to orbit fast," he said. "I think it's going to take a while to build a spacecraft out of inflatable technology."

Once on the station, Axiom Space would use it for commercial purposes, ranging from research to tourism. Suffredini said that it would also be available for use by NASA when the company is not using it, helping the process of transitioning research done on the ISS to future private stations. Research hardware elsewh ere in the station could eventually be moved to this module to allow its continued use after the station's retirement.

Once the ISS reaches the end of its life, currently planned for no earlier than 2024, Axiom Space would remove the module fr om the station. It would then become the core of a new commercial space station with the addition of various modules and hardware, including an airlock, docking node, and power and propulsion equipment.

Suffredini believes that there is a robust market for a commercial space station. A study commissioned by Axiom Space concluded the addressable market for such a station could be as large as $37 billion between 2020 and 2030, combining various commercial and government uses.

Axiom Space's plans, though, could put it into conflict with Bigelow Aerospace. In April, Bigelow announced it had started discussions with NASA about installing one of its B330 expandable modules on the ISS as a precursor to its planned commercial space stations.

Bigelow already has a presence on the ISS with its Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), a demonstration of expandable module technology developed under a NASA contract. BEAM arrived at the station on a commercial cargo flight in April and expanded to its full size in May, and will remain there for up to two years.

Suffredini noted that neither his company nor Bigelow have any deals yet with NASA to install modules. It's also unclear if the station could accommodate both companies' modules. "Ports are a precious resource," he said, referring to docking ports on the ISS. "NASA has to figure out how to deal with that."

http://spacenews.com/former-nasa-iss-manger-planning-commercial-space-station-venture/

Минимально отредактированный гуглоперевод фрагмента:

В презентации на Newspace 2016 года конференции, Майк Саффредини, президент коммерческого космического подразделения tinger Ghaffarian Technologies (SGT), который присоединился к компании после ухода из НАСА в сентябре прошлого года, сказал, что он стал одним из основателей новой компании, которая будет стремятся установить коммерческий модуль на МКС.

В дальнейшем тот модуль будет служить в качестве основы для частной орбитальной станции после завершения полёта МКС. "Мы намерены работать на НОО, чтобы продолжить работу, начатую на Международной космической станции," сказал он.

Новая компания, названная Аксиома Space LLC, была зарегистрирована в январе в штате Делавэр, но базируется в Хьюстоне.

[Валерий Жилинский]

Мне кажется, что план  Майка Саффредини состоит в приватизации МКС после 2024 года. Разумеется, что такой план должен предусматривать реконструкцию станции, но, например, фермы могут использоваться ещё долгие годы. Это позволит использовать МКС для испытания VASIMR и других экспериментов, требующих достаточной электрической мощности

[Max Andriyahov]

Круто! Интересно бы бизнес- план глянуть...

[Валерий Жилинский]

Кстати, из этого сообщения мы узнаём о планах Бигелоу добавить к МКС коммерческий модуль, причём теперь в таких планах Бигелоу не одинок. Европейцы с Айрбас планируют в 2018 пристыковать к МКС внешнюю платформу для космических экспериментов, Бигелоу свой модуль ВА-330, и Суфредини свой. 

Вот и экономическая база проектов прояснилась, предполагается поднять( тридцать семь) миллиардов между 2020 и 2030 годах, то есть по 3,7 миллиарда в год. Это уже деньги, достаточные Бигелоу для его отеля/бизнес центра...
   
Да и не только Бигелоу.

[Валерий Жилинский]

Ещё одна интересная статья на эту тему. В ней есть намёк, что и NanoRacks планировала создать свой коммерческий модуль на МКС, который после 2024 года должен был превратиться в самостоятельную космическую станцию.

FORMER NASA SPACE STATION MANAGER MAKES PLANS FOR COMMERCIAL OUTPOST
Posted on   June 23, 2016 by verx in Science & patent news

An artist's conception shows the potential configuration for a commercial space station. (Credit: Axiom Space via YouTube)

Former space station manager Mike Suffredini says he's working on a plan to send up a commercial space module that could be attached to the International Space Station – and then disattached to become the foundation for a private-sector outpost in orbit.

"We intend to work on a low-Earth-orbit platform to follow the International Space Station," Suffredini said today at the Space Frontier Foundation's NewSpace 2016 conference in Seattle.

Representatives of the new venture, called Axiom Space, are in contact with NASA about the idea, but Suffredini stressed that he's staying at arm's length to comply with the space agency's conflict-of-interest requirements.

Mike Suffredini was NASA's space station program manager from 2005 to 2015. (Credit: Robert Markowitz / NASA)

Suffredini left NASA last September and is now Axiom's president as well as the president of Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies' commercial space division. Axiom is currently structured as an SGT subsidiary, with SGT co-founder Kam Ghaffarian serving as Axiom's CEO, Suffredini said.

Axiom already has seed funding, Suffredini said. If NASA gives the go-ahead, the venture would raise additional money from investors to finance the construction of the module and get it launched to the station in the 2020-2021 time frame.

The venture is on a tight schedule because NASA and its international partners are currently planning to operate the ISS only through 2024, Suffredini told reporters. "It's going to be really hard to make a buck if it ends in '24," he said.

Axiom Space joins at least a couple of other companies that are looking into creating commercial orbital outposts. The others include Bigelow Aerospace, which built the expandable BEAM module that was recently attached to the ISS; and NanoRacks, which recently reached agreement with NASA on a plan to look into repurposing commercial cargo vehicles and building a commercial air lock for the ISS.

NanoRacks is already managing the logistics for some of the shipments to the ISS, particularly for racks of experiments. NanoRacks' managing director, Jeffrey Manber, said he was surprised when he heard about Suffredini's plans.

"He became a strong ally of commercialization, and I thought this was pretty good, until one day he says, 'You know, I'm going out in the world, and I may just compete against you.' So be very careful what you preach to the government officials," Manber joked.

Neither NanoRacks nor Axiom Space anticipate having NASA pay for the development of the commercial facilities, but NASA could conceivably purchase services from the companies, before or after the ISS closes up shop.

Axiom Space still has to nail down many of the details of its plan, Suffredini said: The companies that would build the initial commercial module and launch it have not yet been identified, but he hopes to refine the plan enough for a preliminary design review in December.

The motivation for creating a private-sector platform in low Earth orbit has to do with the potential payoff. Suffredini said Axiom's market study suggests there could be tens of billions of dollars' worth of business opportunities – in the form of space research, space tourism, media and advertising, Earth observation and other orbital endeavors.

Both Suffredini and Manber envision sending up space station components that could be attached to the ISS and used for NASA research or commercial activities as long as the station is operational. At the proper time, the commercial ventures would pull the components off the station and use them for separate orbital platforms.

Suffredini said he hasn't yet discussed Axiom Space's plans with Bigelow Aerospace's billionaire founder, Robert Bigelow. But he said there was almost certainly enough room in Earth orbit for multiple space stations. The scarcest resource may well turn out to be the ports on the ISS that are available for attaching commercial modules during the transition.

"Ports are a precious resource ... and NASA has to figure out how to deal with that," Suffredini said. "They could decide how to deal with it and tell us both to go to hell."

http://us-patent.info/news-and-events/news_science_us_patent/former-nasa-space-station-manager-makes-plans-for-commercial-outpost/

[triage]

Не по теме коммерческой станции, а в ответ на простыню

Мне казалось в этом году NanoRacks хотели не модуль, а в стыковочный узел вставить похожее на шлюз для вывода спутников, типа на японском Кибо.

Про Европейцев
https://airbusdefenceandspace.com/newsroom/news-and-features/airbus-defence-and-space-and-the-european-space-agency-esa-launch-bartolomeo-an-innovative-external-commercial-payload-platform-for-the-iss/ 

Airbus Defence and Space and the European Space Agency (ESA) launch Bartolomeo, an innovative external commercial payload platform for the ISS

 http://www.slideshare.net/DrPerChristianSteiml/bartolomeoasgsr (13 страничная брошюра) 

 https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=40463.0

 http://www.astronautinews.it/2016/06/14/bartolomeo-la-nuova-piattaforma-esterna-europea-la-iss/




 http://www.astronautinews.it/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/379dd18d-49c7-43e0-a71c-34f3dc57d0be-160215134117.pdf