Axiom Space

Axiom Space operates missions to the International Space Station (ISS). Axiom Space is also the builder and future owner and operator of Axiom Station, the successor to the ISS.

Created: 2018-11-01

Updated: 2024-03-10

Company - Axiom Space

Founded
Country: 2016; USA

Funding: $505M+

Website: https://axiomspace.com/

Social

Product/Service - Axiom Station, AxStation, Axiom Commercial Segment, Orbital Segment

Classification: Space Stations & Habitats

Category: Commercial Space Station
Commercial ISS Module

Fields: Large Space Structures

Status: Development

First launch: 2026

At the core of Axiom Space’s mission is to enable the development of a diverse and robust commercial economy in low-Earth orbit.

Astronaut Missions

Ax-1, the first all-private astronaut mission to the International Space Station launched at 11:17 AM ET, April 8 and splashed down at 1:06 PM ET, April 25 in 2022.
The Ax-1 astronauts are the first in a new class of pioneers stepping forth to lay the groundwork for Axiom Station and the full realization of low Earth orbit's possibilities. The Ax-1 astronauts conducted extensive research and STEM outreach. Their efforts align with how each philanthropist carries out his work at home, in service to all on Earth and to all who follow them beyond it.

Space Station

Intends to build ISS's privately-owned successor. Plan to attach Axiom module to ISS in 2024 and later detach.

The Axiom Space Station (AxStation) is home base for professional astronauts and private explorers. It is the microgravity laboratory where educators, scientists and researchers conduct life-improving research. It is the in-space industrial park for manufacturing products to be used on the ground and in orbit. It is the ultimate proving ground to mature critical space systems necessary for the exploration and colonization of space. Our vision at Axiom Space is to make living and working in space commonplace as a means to sustained deep space exploration and to improve the quality of life here on Earth.

Planning to launch the first segment of a new commercial space station in just three years, and it will double as an out-of-this-world hotel. The plan is to attach a crew module to the International Space Station by 2024 and then expand from there to create at least two other modules, including a laboratory/manufacturing facility and a panoramic observatory. The company intends to leave all three modules attached to the ISS until it’s retire. The $2 billion project, called “AxStation,” could be built as soon as 2028.

Axiom Space, a leader in human spaceflight and building the world’s first commercial space station, proudly congratulates four of its partners whose proposals were selected by NASA in Focus Area 1A of the NASA Research Announcement (NRA) seeking In Space Production Applications (InSPA) flight demonstrations:

Texas-based Axiom teased the spacesuits in a tweet posted on Nov. 23. While the suits fit into Axiom's own long-term plans of creating private space stations that can host paid research missions, the company also hopes to provide the suits to NASA as the space agency prepares for crewed Artemis program launches to the moon. "In many ways, the spacesuit is just like a space station," Matt Ondler, Axiom's chief technical officer, told Space.com. "It has all the same systems and all the same things you worry about."

NASA’s Commercial Partners Continue Progress on New Space Stations, 2023-12-12.

Building on the strategic partnership that Axiom Space and Mitsui & Co., Ltd. signed in September, and following Mitsui's investment in Axiom Space, the partners have initiated the formation of a joint venture in Japan to accelerate on-orbit services to commercial and government customers. This unique partnership builds on both Axiom's in-space capabilities and Mitsui's global industrial reach.

With the launch of Axiom Space NFTs, community participation will directly impact the future of space exploration allowing participants to engage with each other and in humanity’s greatest endeavor -- taking life as we know it beyond our planet.

In late 2022, Boryung, a South Korean pharmaceutical company, has decided to invest $50 million in U.S. commercial space station developer Axiom Space’s Series C funding round. Boryung will take a 2.28% stake in Axiom by Dec. 30 in exchange for the investment, according to the filing. This follows Boryung’s $10 million investment in Axiom, disclosed in a May 16 regulatory filing, which gave the Korean company a 0.4% stake in the space station developer.

NASA announced 2022 June 1 it awarded contracts to teams led by Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace to develop new spacesuits for both ISS spacewalks and Artemis lunar landing missions through its Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services, or xEVAS, program.

Axiom Astronaut to Conduct Research and Train for International Space Station on Future Virgin Galactic Flight. November 3, 2022, “Virgin Galactic announced an agreement with Axiom Space to support a microgravity research and training mission. The Virgin Galactic spaceflight, tentatively scheduled for 2023, will prepare an Axiom Space astronaut for an upcoming trip to orbit, while conducting microgravity research to supplement the work that astronaut will do on the International Space Station.

Status Comment / Notes

As of late 2023, 1st module Axiom Hab One is planned for 2026. As of early 2023, 1st Axiom Station module was scheduled to launch and attach to the ISS in late 2025.

Link

Product/Service

Classification: Miscellaneous

Category: In-Orbit Computing
Space Data Centre

Fields: Edge Computing
Orbital Data Centre

Status: Development

First launch: 2024

Orbital Data Center

The Houston-based company Axiom Space has entered agreements with Kepler Communications US Inc. and Skyloom Global Corp. to integrate and demonstrate high data rate Optical Intersatellite Links (OISLs) on the first module of Axiom Space’s commercial space station – Axiom Station.
In parallel, the Axiom Space team is building the world’s first scalable, cloud technology-enabled, commercial orbital data center to be hosted on Axiom Station.
The development of this first tranche of orbital data center capability (ODC T1) will support the transformation of low-Earth orbit (LEO) into a global space marketplace by maturing the necessary technologies and infrastructure for large-scale and secure space-based data processing.
The effort with Kepler and Skyloom will enable demonstration of OISLs to allow for data to be transmitted to and from the orbital data center via the Kepler and Skyloom relay constellations. The OISLs will allow for up to 10 gigabits-per-second data throughput and meet Space Development Agency (SDA) interoperability standards.
In preparation for the ODC T1 deployment, Axiom Space plans to install a smaller data processing prototype aboard the International Space Station to conduct testing and demonstrate initial capabilities. The prototype is planned for launch in 2024 and will test applications in artificial intelligence and machine learning, data fusion, and space cybersecurity.
“We will work to validate use cases at a sub scale and, at the same time, obtain flight heritage on the underlying data center hardware,” said Aspiotis. “Having a prototype on the ISS will serve as a building block toward the roughly half-cubic-meter sized data server rack we plan to launch by 2027.”

Axiom Space Plans To Test Orbital-Based Data Center Tech on ISS This Year, 2024-05-10.

Status Comment / Notes

Created: 2024-01-20

Updated: 2024-07-26

Link

Product/Service

Classification: Miscellaneous

Category: Space Suits & Garments

Status: Development

First launch: 2026

Space Suits

NASA selected Axiom Space in September for the first task order to develop suits for Artemis missions, an award valued at $228.5 million. Neither NASA nor Axiom have released details about the suit design. NASA said it received proposals from both companies but did not disclose why it selected Axiom.

Status Comment / Notes

Created: 2024-02-26

Updated: 2024-03-02

News, Research, Projects and Patents

Title	Type	Date	Summary
At the Heart of a Trillion-Dollar Market	Video	2022-11-11
Commercial space station developers seek clarity on regulations	Article	2022-10-14	> Companies working on commercial space stations intended to succeed the International Space Station say they need more clarity from the federal government on who will regulate them and how.
NASA, companies reject concerns over commercial space station development schedules	News	2022-07-31	> Both NASA and the companies selected by the agency to begin development of commercial space stations say they don’t share concerns raised by watchdogs that such stations may not be ready by the time the International Space Station is retired.
Boryung, Axiom Space, and Starburst Aerospace Announce First Annual Care In Space Challenge	Competition	2022-04-18	> Starburst, the world's first and only global aerospace accelerator and advisory firm, today announced that applications have opened for the first annual CIS ("Care in Space") Challenge. The global challenge, led by Boryung in collaboration with Axiom Space and Starburst, will identify and provide commercialization support for emerging technologies and solutions that optimize human health for space travel and habitation and/or are manufactured in space to advance healthcare here on Earth.
Axiom Space and Partners Demonstrate Commitment to Emerging Technologies for In Space Production and Manufacturing in Low-Earth Orbit	News	2022-04-15
Axiom Space: Building the off-Earth economy	News	2022-01-16
Axiom-1 RAKIA - Cow cells orbit Earth for high steaks	News	2022-01-01
Space Manufacturing Could Yield Next Realm of Innovations	Article	2021-09-07
NASA Pushes to Commercialize Near-Earth Space	News	2020-07-08	> The agency’s next step in exploring and commercializing outer space is to get more civilians and companies in on the act (while staying close to Earth).

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