California-based space company Vast announced that its flagship Haven-1, which is expected to be the world’s first commercial space station, will be equipped with SpaceX’s Starlink laser terminal providing Gigabit/s speed, low latency connectivity to its crew users, internal payload racks, external cameras and instruments. SpaceX and Vast plan to launch Haven-1 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in 2025. Vast’s executive team has several former SpaceX members, including CTO Alex Hudson, whose last position was vice president of Avionics at SpaceX.
“If you need to provide high-speed, low-latency, continuous internet connectivity on a space station in orbit in 2025, SpaceX Starlink is the only option,” said Max Haot, Vast’s CEO. “We expect their network and technology leading position to continue and accelerate over time, which is why we are excited to have the chance to partner with SpaceX on deploying their first laser connectivity for a space station.”
The Haven-1 crew will be able to connect their personal devices via Wi-Fi to the Starlink network and have unprecedentedly better internet connectivity on orbit to host outreach video calls and perform experiments and science with full, high-speed internet access. Even during crew rest time, they will be able to use high-speed internet.
We are excited for Vast’s Haven-1 to be the first commercial space station to stay connected with Starlink.
Stephanie Bednarek, SpaceX’s Senior Director of Commercial Sales.
Vast and SpaceX have reached an agreement for SpaceX to provide Starlink connectivity to future Vast platforms beyond Haven-1, including connectivity for Vast’s next space station, which the company plans to bid for in NASA’s upcoming commercial Low Earth Orbit destinations (CLDs) competition.
In May of 2023, Vast announced that SpaceX would be launching Haven-1, followed by two human spaceflight missions to the Haven-1 space station. Since then, Vast and SpaceX have been planning the construction of the first commercial space station. After the first launch, currently foreseen for August 2025, the space startup will sendoff Vast-1, a four-person expedition to the new station that could last up to 30 days. Similar to Haven-1, Vast-1 will launch atop a Falcon 9, and its astronauts will ride on a SpaceX Dragon capsule.
Announcing the Haven-1 and Vast-1 missions to low-Earth orbit. Launched by @SpaceX, Haven-1 is scheduled to be the world’s first commercial space station and will be visited by a crew of four aboard a Dragon spacecraft during Vast-1 → https://t.co/ToxFSiyQJj pic.twitter.com/YSPrM9Krtr
— VΛST (@vast) May 10, 2023
Founded in 2021, Vast Space is building the world’s first low-cost, artificial gravity crewed station so people can live and work in space for long periods of time without the adverse effects of zero-gravity. Vast’s ambitions stand high as the startup wants to develop a 100-meter-long multi-module spinning artificial gravity space station launched by SpaceX’s Starship transportation system. The experiment would be conducted on a commercial space station with Haven-1.
“A commercial rocket launching a commercial spacecraft with commercial astronauts to a commercial space station is the future of low-Earth orbit, and with Vast we’re taking another step toward making that future a reality,” said Tom Ochinero, Senior Vice President of Commercial Business at SpaceX.
Vast is selling up to four crewed seats on the inaugural mission to Haven-1, expecting domestic customers, international space agencies and private individuals involved in science and philanthropic projects. The crew will be trained by SpaceX on Falcon 9 and the Dragon spacecraft. Other training includes emergency preparedness, spacesuit and spacecraft ingress and egress exercises, as well as partial and full mission simulations such as docking and undocking with Haven-1 for return to Earth.
The current laws for commercial space travel vary depending on the country in question. As the private space industry expands and matures, regulatory frameworks are likely to continue evolving to address emerging challenges and opportunities in areas such as space tourism, satellite constellations and resource utilization.
The International Space Station (ISS) currently has broadband internet with a speed of roughly 600 Mbp/s. Haven-1’s capacity would thus exceed the one currently available at the world’s largest space station. With the retirement of the International Space Station (ISS) at the end of 2030, NASA said it wants at least one commercial station to be up and running in low Earth orbit before that date. In 2021, the US space agency awarded a total of $415 million to three private teams led by Blue Origin, Nanoracks and Northrop Grumman. Axiom Space, another business player in the new space race, is also planning to launch several modules to the ISS in the next few years.
The partnership between Vast and SpaceX is expected to create greater accessibility to space and more opportunities for exploration on the road to making humanity multiplanetary.
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