VAST Announces the Haven-1 and VAST-1 Missions.MAY 10, 2023LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIASCHEDULED TO BE THE WORLD’S FIRST COMMERCIAL SPACE STATION, HAVEN-1 AND SUBSEQUENT HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT MISSIONS WILL ACCELERATE ACCESS TO SPACE EXPLORATION.LONG BEACH, Calif. — May 10, 2023 — Vast, a pioneer in space habitation technologies, announced today their plans to launch the world’s first commercial space station, called Haven-1. Scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to low-Earth orbit no earlier than August 2025, Haven-1 will initially act as an independent crewed space station prior to being connected as a module to a larger Vast space station currently in development. The mission will be quickly followed by Vast-1, the first human spaceflight mission to Haven-1 on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. The vehicle and its four-person crew will dock with Haven-1 for up to 30 days while orbiting Earth. Vast also secured an option with SpaceX for an additional human spaceflight mission to Haven-1.This represents the first time in history that a commercial space station company has both a contracted launch for its space station and a visiting human spaceflight mission.“Vast is thrilled to embark on this journey of launching the world's first commercial space station, Haven-1, and its first crew, Vast-1,” said Jed McCaleb, CEO of Vast. “We are grateful to SpaceX for this exciting partnership that represents the first steps in Vast’s long-term vision of launching much larger, artificial gravity space stations in Earth orbit and beyond.”“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. “The SpaceX team couldn’t be more excited to launch Vast’s Haven-1 and support their follow-on human spaceflight missions to the orbiting commercial space station.”Vast’s long-term goal is to develop a 100-meter-long multi-module spinning artificial gravity space station launched by SpaceX’s Starship transportation system. In support of this, Vast will explore conducting the world’s first spinning artificial gravity experiment on a commercial space station with Haven-1.Vast is selling up to four crewed seats on the inaugural mission to Haven-1. Expected customers include domestic and international space agencies and private individuals involved in science and philanthropic projects. Visit vastspace.com/reserve for more details.SpaceX will also provide crew training on Falcon 9 and the Dragon spacecraft, emergency preparedness, spacesuit and spacecraft ingress and egress exercises, as well as partial and full mission simulations including docking and undocking with Haven-1 for return to Earth.HAVEN-1 FEATURES:Compatible docking with the SpaceX Dragon spacecraftExtend the on-orbit duration of commercial Dragon spacecraft human spaceflight missions for up to 30 days for four astronautsScience, research, and in-space manufacturing opportunities - 1000 W of power, 24/7 communications, and up to 150 kg of pre-loaded cargo mass in Haven-1. Opportunities for lunar artificial gravity by spinning.Fully independent space station providing life support functions and consumables for the full mission’s duration.Privacy and control of your crew scheduleLarge window dome for viewing and photographyAlways-on internet via onboard Wi-FiRoom to stretch and restVAST-1 - OUR FIRST EXPEDITION TO HAVEN-1Fly to Haven-1 in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft launched by the Falcon 9 rocketFor space agencies and private individualsFly four crew members to Haven-1 for up to 30 daysBe the first crew to visit the world’s first commercial space stationAvailable per seat or as a full, four-person crew missionAdvanced science, research, and in-space manufacturing opportunities
That would make sense but limits the share of Earth surface which is visible for the crew.
We’re excited to work with @Vast to create greater access to space and more opportunities for exploration on the road to making humanity multiplanetary
Sadly, no information on inclination and altitude.
In terms of crew safety, Vast intends to launch the space station into a 500-km orbit at the same inclination as the International Space Station.
The partnership with SpaceX is the key to making this mission happen. Not only will the 3.8-meter-wide Haven-1 module launch inside a Falcon 9 rocket, but part of its life-support systems will also be provided by the Crew Dragon spacecraft when the vehicle is docked.
Quote from: hektor on 05/10/2023 11:09 amSadly, no information on inclination and altitude.Official website says 500 km circular.https://www.vastspace.com/
This suspiciously looks like Dragon XL, but could be different.
Makes sense to have it at ISS inclination, means all of the Dragon flight paths abort/recovery zones etc are the same as for an ISS launch and are already well-established.
MAY 10, 2023SPACEX TO LAUNCH VAST’S COMMERCIAL SPACE STATION AND FIRST HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT MISSIONVast announced today that SpaceX will launch what is expected to be the world’s first commercial space station, known as Vast Haven-1, quickly followed by two human spaceflight missions to said space station. Scheduled to launch on a Falcon 9 rocket to low-Earth orbit no earlier than August 2025. Haven-1 will be a fully-functional independent space station and eventually be connected as a module to a larger Vast space station currently in development.Upon launch of Haven-1, Falcon 9 will launch Vast’s first human spaceflight mission to the commercial space station, Vast-1. Dragon and its four-person crew will dock with Haven-1 for up to 30 days while orbiting Earth. Vast also secured an option for an additional human spaceflight mission to the station aboard a Dragon spacecraft.The Vast-1 crew selection process is underway and the crew will be announced at a future date. Once finalized, SpaceX will provide crew training on Falcon 9 and the Dragon spacecraft, emergency preparedness, spacesuit and spacecraft ingress and egress exercises, as well as partial and full mission simulations including docking and undocking for return to Earth.Vast’s long-term goal is to develop a 100-meter-long multi-module spinning artificial gravity space station launched by SpaceX’s Starship transportation system. In support of this, Vast will explore conducting the world’s first spinning artificial gravity experiment on a commercial space station with Haven-1.This new partnership between Vast and SpaceX will continue to create and accelerate greater accessibility to space and more opportunities for exploration on the road to making humanity multiplanetary.
Quote from: abaddon on 05/10/2023 04:56 pmMakes sense to have it at ISS inclination, means all of the Dragon flight paths abort/recovery zones etc are the same as for an ISS launch and are already well-established.I disagree. The 51.6 degrees inclination of the ISS is specifically to overfly the launch site for Soyuz and Progress, and comes at significant expense in terms of launch capacity, weather restrictions for aborts, days of contunuous solar illumination which would get worse at 500 km, and others. Given all the stuff Vast has to design, designing new abort scenarios is a minor addition.I truly wish Vast luck in their endeavors, but am not adding these flights to the my personal version of the manifest.
I would describe this as cool and interesting, but aspirational, immature, and unlikely.The video clip show Haven-1 firing attitude control thrusters.However, it is not clear how these would be refueled.On the ISS this function is primarily served by Progress vehicles, which bring fuel, and with their constant presence serve to both reboost the ISS and to desaturate the momentum storing devices, which there are Control Moment Gyros (CMGs).With a single docking port Vast needs some alternative way to bring fuel, perhaps transferring something from the trunk of the Dragon to the exterior of Haven-1.A 500 km orbit will reduce the need for reboosting, but will increase the frequency of Collision Avoidance Maneuvers (CAMs).While Dragon can serve this purpose while attached, there has to be some system for doing this in the intervals when it is not, but there is no such system visible. This will increase the need to refuel the thrusters.Not only will there be more CAMs than at the ~415 km altitude of the ISS, but there will be a lot more impacts from small, untrackable debris. They can't leave that "Vistadome" exposed on the end.Haven-1 may need some Whipple shields over much of the exterior, too. The solar panels appear to be fixed with respect to the body of Haven.They might have one degree of freedom, rotation about the hinge, but even Blue Reef went away from that, finally adding a second degree of freedom.Speaking of Blue Reef's solar panels, no thermal radiator is shown. Maybe they can get away with a flush panel like Crew Dragon, but that would go against shielding the exterior and be quite limited.And rotating for simulating "lunar gravity"?The video suggests this rotation would be axial.Let's suppose that's for berths just inside the pressure vessle, which would be at most 2 meters from the axis.w=sqrt(1.625 m/s²/2m)=0.9/secso it would have to rotate in 2*pi/0.9=7.0 sec or almost 9 RPM.Doesn't that seem pretty fast?And wouldn't it be hard to maintain rotation about the axis with the smallest moment of inertial?Meanwhile the power generation would be reduced by a factor of 2*Pi and any thermal radiators might get sunlight on them.Quote from: abaddon on 05/10/2023 04:56 pmMakes sense to have it at ISS inclination, means all of the Dragon flight paths abort/recovery zones etc are the same as for an ISS launch and are already well-established.I disagree. The 51.6 degrees inclination of the ISS is specifically to overfly the launch site for Soyuz and Progress, and comes at significant expense in terms of launch capacity, weather restrictions for aborts, days of contunuous solar illumination which would get worse at 500 km, and others. Given all the stuff Vast has to design, designing new abort scenarios is a minor addition.I truly wish Vast luck in their endeavors, but am not adding these flights to the my personal version of the manifest.
File this under: Never gonna happen
That’s what people said to SpaceX too
Agreed. I don't think what they're trying to do is particularly crazy. The timeline is ambitious, but it looks like they may be trying to leverage a lot of subsystems from SpaceX's Dragon for this first module.
Given their strong funding situation, worst case they miss their NET Aug 2025 date, but I'd be surprised if the Vast team couldn't pull this off.
