Author Topic: Axiom Space LLC  (Read 189219 times)

Offline Eric Hedman

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Re: Axiom Space LLC
« Reply #60 on: 09/28/2017 08:24 pm »
I know this is not all final, but I don't see any radiators on this design.  Am I missing something?  Other than that, this looks pretty cool.
I am not a spokesperson for Axiom but I believe that the structure perpendicular to the solar array is a radiator.
Image courtesy of Axiom Inc.
From that view it is a little clearer to me.  I think you are correct.  Thanks.

Offline Space Ghost 1962

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Re: Axiom Space LLC
« Reply #61 on: 09/28/2017 09:30 pm »
I asked the question about the heritage of the airlock -
Attached is a bottom view of the Axion commercial station showing more detail of the airlock.
Image courtesy of Axiom.

Direct response for Axiom:

All the elements seen on our updated renderings will be new items with the exception of the cupola as shown. That may be new as well, however for the time being we’ve opted to show it as adopted from ISS.
Best,
XXXX
Not to be unkind ... but ...

Isn't the point here 1) use of  mostly 'new" versions of "old" ISS components meant to mean that the "reuse" of ISS benefit is mostly in the "design value"? And that 2) the limited expand-ability of a "truss-less", radial design limits scope of application of such station(s) to that of a fraction of existing ISS capabilities? Specifically 3) the power / radiator / thermal control module (looks like the proposed (but never deployed) Russian ISS side power module) could only supply about 15% of existing ISS power systems, which is insufficient for materials / semiconductor use?

And with 1), doesn't the operation of the ISS "inform" on the failings of such modules design/servicing/support, such that a very different design might be necessary to support a cost effective commercial station?

And that perhaps the most valuable, salvageable asset of the on orbit ISS might be the difficult, costly to reorbit truss segments, which can be used to anchor/stabilize/dampen movements/torques/vibrations, impacting 2).

How much does this reduce the "marketability" of a follow-on station's prospective tenants? Especially with 3)?

The ISS already struggles with limited use based on its design, not to mention infrequent access via vehicles?

Offline whitelancer64

Re: Axiom Space LLC
« Reply #62 on: 09/28/2017 09:47 pm »
I asked the question about the heritage of the airlock -
Attached is a bottom view of the Axion commercial station showing more detail of the airlock.
Image courtesy of Axiom.

Direct response for Axiom:

All the elements seen on our updated renderings will be new items with the exception of the cupola as shown. That may be new as well, however for the time being we’ve opted to show it as adopted from ISS.
Best,
XXXX
Not to be unkind ... but ...

Isn't the point here 1) use of  mostly 'new" versions of "old" ISS components meant to mean that the "reuse" of ISS benefit is mostly in the "design value"? And that 2) the limited expand-ability of a "truss-less", radial design limits scope of application of such station(s) to that of a fraction of existing ISS capabilities? Specifically 3) the power / radiator / thermal control module (looks like the proposed (but never deployed) Russian ISS side power module) could only supply about 15% of existing ISS power systems, which is insufficient for materials / semiconductor use?

And with 1), doesn't the operation of the ISS "inform" on the failings of such modules design/servicing/support, such that a very different design might be necessary to support a cost effective commercial station?

And that perhaps the most valuable, salvageable asset of the on orbit ISS might be the difficult, costly to reorbit truss segments, which can be used to anchor/stabilize/dampen movements/torques/vibrations, impacting 2).

How much does this reduce the "marketability" of a follow-on station's prospective tenants? Especially with 3)?

The ISS already struggles with limited use based on its design, not to mention infrequent access via vehicles?

The truss on the ISS is connected to exactly one module (the Destiny lab), so it's not the reason why the structure of the ISS could be built with many modules. The truss doesn't dampen vibrations, either. If they need more power then they'd probably just connect another node with another power module.
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Offline BrightLight

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Re: Axiom Space LLC
« Reply #63 on: 09/28/2017 10:12 pm »
I asked the question about the heritage of the airlock -
Attached is a bottom view of the Axion commercial station showing more detail of the airlock.
Image courtesy of Axiom.

Direct response for Axiom:

All the elements seen on our updated renderings will be new items with the exception of the cupola as shown. That may be new as well, however for the time being we’ve opted to show it as adopted from ISS.
Best,
XXXX
Not to be unkind ... but ...

Isn't the point here 1) use of  mostly 'new" versions of "old" ISS components meant to mean that the "reuse" of ISS benefit is mostly in the "design value"? The rest of the response was edited.
A bit of work was done by MSFC on the use of ISS modules for the DSG - the major finding at the time was that they are workable but need to be re-thought as to the disposition of the racks and possibly the ISPRS rack design was space-inefficient, another finding was that in 2013-2015 time period, no plans were to produce more modules from Alenia.  My understanding of the human spaceflight certification process is that flight heritage has a strong positive effect - so using flight-proven hardware can reduce pre-flight costs associated with said certification.

Offline BrightLight

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Re: Axiom Space LLC
« Reply #64 on: 11/21/2017 08:27 pm »
3D model of the Axium space station, use Internet Explorer to rotate, zoom and translate.

https://sketchfab.com/models/45cb595ccdd8406ebd040d97c58e354a/embed?

Offline rockets4life97

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Re: Axiom Space LLC
« Reply #65 on: 04/26/2018 02:57 pm »
Any word on whether Axiom has booked a FH since the successful demo flight?

Offline brickmack

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Re: Axiom Space LLC
« Reply #66 on: 04/28/2018 03:43 pm »
I don't see anywhere else this has been mentioned, but apparently Axiom outsourced the design of their station to Intuitive Machines. Their website currently shows a picture of it, and I found a cached version from february showing an older configuration https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:kQUSbC2cqa8J:https://www.intuitivemachines.com/space-systems%3Flightbox%3DdataItem-j0v5a9x72+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-b-1-ab . I then found this court document which says Axiom is a division of the defendant's [Intuitive Machines] parent company, which is apparently called Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies. Never heard of them.

Offline yg1968

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Re: Axiom Space LLC
« Reply #67 on: 06/09/2018 10:54 pm »

Offline rory

Re: Axiom Space LLC
« Reply #68 on: 06/10/2018 12:09 am »
Article in the NY Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/09/style/pigs-in-spaaaaaace.html

This article is quite good and surprisingly comprehensive, once you get past the Style section writing and vague bias against space tourism/rich people.

New information on pricing and customer commitments:

Quote
Axiom’s station can house eight passengers, including a professional astronaut. Each will pay $55 million for the adventure, which includes 15 weeks of training, much of it at the Johnson Space Center, a 10-minute drive from Axiom’s headquarters, and possibly a trip on one of Elon Musk’s SpaceX rockets. Thus far, three entities have signed up for on-the-ground training, which starts at $1 million, Mr. Suffredini said, though he declined to name them. The inaugural trip will be only $50 million. “It’s a bargain!” “ he said.
Quote
“If you just go visit and come back, you’re not pioneering,” he said. “You’ve got to pioneer.”

Pioneers include countries who have yet to send someone to space (a German organization seeking to get that country’s first female astronaut in orbit is in talks with Axiom), material-science researchers, and biologists trying to understand how the human body adapts outside earth’s atmosphere. Also, maybe, Tupperware.


Some praise from their VC:

Quote
“We’ve met their engineers, we’ve seen their plans, we hired domain experts that grilled them and did a deeper dive,” said Lisa Rich, a founder of Hemisphere Ventures and an early Axiom investor. “Everything came up with ‘This is a big go sign, we’ve got to get in on this.’”

“At the Johnson Space Center, when Mike walks down the hall, they’re all practically saluting him,” Ms. Rich said. “He’s a legend in his own right.”

Sounds like they're spending big money on planning luxury customer-experience details (and milking the PR out of it):

Quote
Axiom hired Philippe Starck, the French designer who has lent panache to everything from high-end hotel rooms to mass-market baby monitors, to outfit the interior of its cabins. Mr. Starck lined the walls with a padded, quilted, cream-colored, suede-like fabric and hundreds of tiny LED lights that glow in varying hues depending on the time of day and where the space station is floating in relation to the earth.
Quote
The Axiom station will still have hand holds, but thanks to Mr. Starck (who Mr. Suffredini hadn’t heard of before Axiom’s branding consultant suggested they hire him) they will be plated in gold or wrapped in buttery leather, like the steering wheel of a Mercedes.
Quote
Axiom is also in talks with a high-end European fashion house it also declined to name about custom-designing leisure suits travelers can wear once they dock. “They will be tailored to each person and can be customized with their own logo, if they want,” Ms. Rein said “It’s a very special keepsake and part of their luxury experience.”

I wonder if they could monetize via a partnership with that fashion house for a version of those leisure suits to sell to the public who just saw their favorite celebrities wearing them in Instagrams from space.

Offline BrightLight

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Re: Axiom Space LLC
« Reply #69 on: 08/13/2018 12:56 am »
From the Axiom web site, new station design with more modules, an MPLM-like logistics module and both industrial and commercial capabilities. Note the new solar array and viewing "cupula" (Earth Observatory). The bottom image is a mock-up of an interior module.  Their new airlock is imaged as a jpg from the Axiom website. Also an image capture from the Axiom website of the Earth Observatory bulkhead and hatch (station facing). Bottom view screen capture of the station with the large earth observatory.

Articles include:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/roll-up-for-axioms-55-million-space-holiday-zdbpzrjjb
http://thespacereview.com/article/3516/1
« Last Edit: 08/13/2018 01:31 am by BrightLight »

Offline Beittil

Re: Axiom Space LLC
« Reply #70 on: 08/15/2018 09:32 am »
Looks smooth, I really hope they can get off the ground :) More business for SpaceX & Boeing to if they do!

Offline Chasm

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Re: Axiom Space LLC
« Reply #71 on: 08/16/2018 01:50 am »
Look who now has the "Biggest windows in space."  ;D

Interesting™ I wonder if they'll ever fly that way.

Offline john smith 19

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Re: Axiom Space LLC
« Reply #72 on: 08/16/2018 06:40 am »
Looks smooth, I really hope they can get off the ground :) More business for SpaceX & Boeing to if they do!
It's long been believed that if you lower the cost of space access te market will expand significantly.

For that to happen you actually have to have new customers for that capacity.

These look like the first new customers (after Bigelow) to look as if they can grow the baseline traffic on a regular basis (

Lots of designs can put a payload in LEO, but so far repeat business can been pretty much confined to
ISS build
ISS resupply
Commsat constellation launch (IE Iridium, Globalstar, Orbcomm, the only 3 who actually made it to orbit)
And for serious growth you need something that wants down mass as well.

It's repeat business that starts to really encourage reuse and turnaround to a schedule, the issues that made Shuttle such an anti pattern for RLV architecture at the system level.
MCT ITS BFR SS. The worlds first Methane fueled FFSC engined CFRP SS structure A380 sized aerospaceplane tail sitter capable of Earth & Mars atmospheric flight.First flight to Mars by end of 2022 TBC. T&C apply. Trust nothing. Run your own #s "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof" R. Simberg."Competitve" means cheaper ¬cheap SCramjet proposed 1956. First +ve thrust 2004. US R&D spend to date > $10Bn. #deployed designs. Zero.

Offline Asteroza

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Re: Axiom Space LLC
« Reply #73 on: 08/17/2018 06:49 am »
Looks smooth, I really hope they can get off the ground :) More business for SpaceX & Boeing to if they do!
It's long been believed that if you lower the cost of space access te market will expand significantly.

For that to happen you actually have to have new customers for that capacity.

These look like the first new customers (after Bigelow) to look as if they can grow the baseline traffic on a regular basis (

Lots of designs can put a payload in LEO, but so far repeat business can been pretty much confined to
ISS build
ISS resupply
Commsat constellation launch (IE Iridium, Globalstar, Orbcomm, the only 3 who actually made it to orbit)
And for serious growth you need something that wants down mass as well.

It's repeat business that starts to really encourage reuse and turnaround to a schedule, the issues that made Shuttle such an anti pattern for RLV architecture at the system level.

It looks like right now the only downmass required business that makes obvious sense in ZBLAN fiber optic production, as a closing business case.

Offline john smith 19

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Re: Axiom Space LLC
« Reply #74 on: 08/18/2018 09:16 am »
Looks smooth, I really hope they can get off the ground :) More business for SpaceX & Boeing to if they do!
It's long been believed that if you lower the cost of space access te market will expand significantly.

For that to happen you actually have to have new customers for that capacity.

These look like the first new customers (after Bigelow) to look as if they can grow the baseline traffic on a regular basis (

Lots of designs can put a payload in LEO, but so far repeat business can been pretty much confined to
ISS build
ISS resupply
Commsat constellation launch (IE Iridium, Globalstar, Orbcomm, the only 3 who actually made it to orbit)
And for serious growth you need something that wants down mass as well.

It's repeat business that starts to really encourage reuse and turnaround to a schedule, the issues that made Shuttle such an anti pattern for RLV architecture at the system level.

It looks like right now the only downmass required business that makes obvious sense in ZBLAN fiber optic production, as a closing business case.
If  we really want a thriving space economy in space (or off Earth for that matter) going down has to become as (relatively) easy as going up.

It has to happen because you can't have an economy without people, so a highly reliable way to do down mass is going to be needed sooner or later. So far it's been later.  :(
MCT ITS BFR SS. The worlds first Methane fueled FFSC engined CFRP SS structure A380 sized aerospaceplane tail sitter capable of Earth & Mars atmospheric flight.First flight to Mars by end of 2022 TBC. T&C apply. Trust nothing. Run your own #s "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof" R. Simberg."Competitve" means cheaper ¬cheap SCramjet proposed 1956. First +ve thrust 2004. US R&D spend to date > $10Bn. #deployed designs. Zero.

Offline Ronsmytheiii

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Re: Axiom Space LLC
« Reply #75 on: 02/02/2019 09:15 am »
Quote
HOUSTON and ODENSE, Denmark, Nov. 26, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Commercial space station developer Axiom Space (Axiom) and Danish Aerospace Company (DAC), creator of astronauts' wearables and other health monitoring devices, announced a collaboration to develop and test next-generation human performance monitoring and exercise technology for use in space.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/axiom-space-and-danish-aerospace-company-to-collaborate-on-astronauts-next-gen-health-monitoring-technology-300754923.html

Offline rockets4life97

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Re: Axiom Space LLC
« Reply #76 on: 05/29/2019 01:10 am »
Bump. Axiom space shows up in the recently released NASA document summary of proposals to commercialize LEO.

Offline yg1968

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Re: Axiom Space LLC
« Reply #77 on: 06/09/2019 08:16 pm »
« Last Edit: 06/09/2019 08:20 pm by yg1968 »

Offline rockets4life97

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Re: Axiom Space LLC
« Reply #78 on: 06/09/2019 08:57 pm »
"agreements for multiple flights"

so, SpaceX (like Bigelow) or Boeing?

Offline GWH

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Re: Axiom Space LLC
« Reply #79 on: 09/16/2019 03:52 pm »
Bump for updates & media in light of recent talks about that other space station company.

I missed this interview on Main Engine Cutoff with Dr. Mike Baine of Axiom:
https://mainenginecutoff.com/podcast/120
Mike presented a lot of really good information on their considerations in building a commercial LEO Station
- His background (Project Morhpeus & Intuitive Machines)
- Ongoing ISS costs and design methods to reduce
- Looking to utilize a lot of off the shelf hardware for avionics
- Why they went with aluminum: speed, cost, existing knowledge and tooling
- Plan to start building on ISS before going independent
- The giant Earth Observation module
- Each module to have its own independent power, life support, propulsion systems. No reliance on ISS from day 1
- Their views of the 6 customer segments they are targeting (doesn't include lotteries, reality TV, Disney or any other hair brained concepts).
- Once they have an ISS module the plan is for dedicated crew &/or cargo flights
- Day to day operations (maintenance & utilization) will be independent of the ISS crew unless NASA wants to arrange the use of Axiom facilities by ISS crew
- They are confident their business case closes
- They don't want NASA funding to develop their hardware, they want demand from NASA for their services so they can worry about working hard to get things done
- Overall gives a sense that they are very serious about developing a station with customers and operational viability in mind

Axiom testing their window materials on board the ISS:
http://www.parabolicarc.com/2019/05/15/axiom-space-tests-key-space-station-acrylic-sample-iss-alpha-spaces-misse-facility/

A glance at their career page shows they are hiring for many senior engineering positions: https://axiomspace.com/careers/

Each one of their customer segments on their website features its own page with a decent amount of detail: https://axiomspace.com/
« Last Edit: 09/16/2019 04:05 pm by GWH »

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