Jordan, I know being Angry is your thing, but to me, you're at your best with inspirational videos like this. This really has me looking forward to seeing if Sierra Space can pull it off.
Iss wasn’t the first step, Skylab was. I read the book Homesteading Space and some of the lessons of the Skylab program were forgotten when ISS was designed and we repeated some of the same mistakes since no one back and looked at the old project documents and write ups
I head one of the engineers talking about Skylab and ISS. Skylab was massive inside. It had more living area than the ISS had for years. Last, people who knew Skylad and the ISS said the ISS was like living in a series of interconnected trash cans.
Typical for NASA. A massiv space station is the first it needs towards a space dock. But we didn't get more huge parts put together. Next thing was SpaceLab, the tini thing that fitted into SpaceShuttles fairing. A huge step ... Backwards.
@@MichaelWinter-ss6lx NASA got nuked with the shuttle, long story. It's hard to explain to people in 2024. In '73 the US Congress cut NASA hard. One of the strange things in life is finding out that the "D" party is much more anti-science than the media tells you. Anyway, the DoD came in to rescue NASA but the DoD made a requirement that the Shuttle had to carry up a Keyhole spy satellite. Initially, the shuttle was to be a space plane. Instead we got the DC9 sized craft with 2 out of 5 wrecked and less than 150 flights over 30 years. BTW, NASA could have standardized the Saturn 1B into the Saturn 1C (crew) and 1D (cargo). Basically, an early Falcon 9 system but 40 (!) years earlier. We would have landed on Mars by now.
Sierra Space seems to be building on technology pioneered by Bigelow Aerospace, who first proposed inflatable space modules. Unfortunately, Bigelow laid off all their employees at the start of the pandemic outbreak and Bigelow went out of business. It's nice to see Sierra picking up the torch with such innovative technology.
Bigelow went down the toilet because the owner was literally insane, and plowed a bunch of money into searching for werewolves. I'm not making this up.
Great Video ! Bigelow Aerospace has two test inflatable modules in LEO for a few years ! A third module is docked to the ISS for a few years also ! The BA-330 module was designed to have more volume (330 cubic meters) for the same weight as a tin can NASA module ! A good orbit to support a Commercial Space Station (CSS) is heading East from the KSC (28.5 deg. orbit) that Apollo use to launch to the moon. The Dream Chaser may launch in April 2024 on the ULA Vulcan rocket to the ISS on a Cargo test flight. tjl
That pressure test was really impressive. A +1/4 increase over NASA's recommendation for the test is a pretty damn good safety factor. I swear if I ever can, I'm going to invest in Sierra Space...
Sierra space seems to be the one. But Axiom is practical and proven. Both are exciting for different reasons. Can't wait. There is so much coming up in the next 5 years.
what happens inside the station is amazing but even better is what can be done outside the station , ship building and asteroid mining, we are 20 years behind in our space program
What is wrong with a rotating space station? Microgravity experiments could be done at the center hub. The station depicted in 2001: A Space Odyssey is the way of the future! These non-rotating stations are destined to be de-orbited in just 10 years after deployment. Coils built into a spinning station could create plenty of power by interacting with the Earth's electro-magnetic field, remember the failed experiment using wires extended from the space shuttle years ago- it failed because too much energy was generated- melting the wires! I guess I'll just dream on....
Point is that if you want to build a rotating station that does not make us humans get sick, it does need to be at least 300 meters big, and is therefore not possible to build with our current technology. (Or maybe possible, but to expensive and it will take you many, many years to build.)
If you extract energy from the station's rotation, it will soon stop rotating. You'll then need to spend fuel to keep it rotating. At which point, it's just another, if round-about, way of converting fuel to energy. In Earth orbit, it's much more efficient and sustainable to generate energy from sunlight, via solar cells - as there's already plenty of fuel in the Sun, and it won't need replenishing any time soon...
Axiom is very much building the space station modules themselves, in-house, in Houston. Thales Alenia is only building the PRESSURE VESSELS, the outer shell. That's it. The "module" includes everything else: power, wiring, electronics, control, communications, environmental control & life support systems (air & water recycling, heating, cooling), experiment racks, work spaces, pantry, toilets. Thales Alenis isn't building any of that.
Once this is in full operation, I think it will become easier for the Gateway Spaceport people to get into operation for Sol System construction at every L-point from the Sun. And with heavy-thrust capability, we can literally live all over our Stellar system. Wish I could be here to see that happen, but at 71 I'm making no bets.
Awesome video! I’m glad you mentioned why we need to build these systems. Many people just don’t get it, and videos like this will help educate more people about space.
Why shouldn't private industry move into space? Its always been the best model for progress in any frontier. The explorers and prospecters have often, perhapes most often been private groups. There is a lot of wealth out there. Life changing wealth. We could solve a lot of material deficiencies by bringing in the resources out there. Moving polluting manufacture off planet, importing solar energy and nuclear energy made out there and tranmitted to ground stations. Elements rare here may be plentiful at other planets moons or asteriods. Government is not efficient.
My concern with the inflatable modules is we don't have enough data on the long term exposure to the space environment. Do the materials break down in uv, atomic oxygen, other radiation. Not sure how long the Bigelow modules have been in space.
I think letting others have a chance at it would really boost innovation and that's the goal not how's first or who got there first or what if you can do it THEN DO IT!
I feel like the inflatable solution would be good as a space life raft. In a case of abandoned ship, or if someone gets lost on a space walk, it would be nice to be able to fall back to earth safely instead of floating off into space.
Sierra Space may be able to put up an empty shell with the habitable volume of the ISS in just 3 launches at a low cost, but then to populate that empty shell with all the plumbing, air conditioning/filtering/recycling, temperature control, and other such life support equipment, plus propulsion and station-keeping, energy generation/storage/distribution, and lab/manufacturing equipment, etc., not to mention all the 'furniture' for use by the crew, including sleeping racks, restroom, shower, kitchen/galley, and exercise equipment, etc. - that'll all still take a bunch of additional launches and missions and expenses. Im not too worried about their modules 'popping' when penetrated by micrometeorids - after all, these aren't rubber balloons. Any small holes in them should be patchable with the right equipment. But I do wonder how well these polymer fabrics will stand up to space and solar radiation and the constant cycling of temperature extremes on the external surface. Here on Earth, most plastics don't tend to do well in strong sunlight - and that's barely a weak analogy to the kind of harsh environmrnt they'd have to endure in orbit. So I wonder about the longevity of such modules: will they have to be replaced every 5 or 10 years?
In use, these modules will never hold more than 1 atmosphere of pressure - which is just 14.7 PSI. In practice, they might drop to much less than a full atmosphere; for instance, airliners are allowed to pressurize the cabin to just 11 PSI at cruising altitude. So the fact that their module can sustain ~7× the operating pressure just demonstrates its design safety margin (at least when it's in mint condition, fresh out of the factory.) As for micrometeor impacts, I expect the ones that make it through will simply punch a hole - just as they would in a steel wall. The hole could then be patched with an appropriate repair kit (not too conceptually different from patching a hole in a car tire.)
@@Spherical_CowIm not sure I disagree. When the module failed, it didn't just happen in a small area, the whole thing disintegrated. With a plane for example, it only affects a small area around the hole, not the entire pressure vessel.
@@ronwatkins5775 it disintegrated because the failure mode is fundamentally different. When you ratchet up the pressure to near the overall structural limit, any weakening of the pressure vessel at any point causes the entire vessel to fail. However when the pressure is a factor of 5 or more below that critical threshold, even several localized punctures won't cause the rest of the pressure vessel to disintegrate. Think of car tires as the analogue. Puncturing a tire inflated to its operational pressure doesn't cause the tire to explode. Even multiple punctures won't do that. But, overinflate a tire to its point of structural failure, and even a single small puncture might tear it apart.
Sierra definitely has my preference, being able to get such much more volume in space is much more tailored to progress compared to the more status quo Axiom (which ofcourse still are a good thing). However I do expect that the equipment etc for the modules will also need to be sent up seperately and not stored inside the module, right? If that is the case, it likely will require 2-3 extra launches to fully activate that 3 module station that will have the same volume as the ISS.
if they produce a inflatable dome version of this habitat module then it could be used on mars the biggest issue on mars is not the lack of atmosphere but the radiation . this might be a good solution
Loved this bulletin!! Great job! I just hope that with all the competition to do things in space, that they all use great caution and make sure that these things are safe! I love the fact that there is so much happening, it’s a boys dream come true and I Pray I get to witness it!!
Pretty exciting stuff. Especially that the Sierra Space LIFE module will feature windows. Being a big fan of ALON (transparent aluminum), how cool would it be to use that for the window material? Kudos also to Axiom for their out-of-box engineering also. As far as private industry being involved, it's a GOOD thing. If you want to slow progress and innovation while vastly increasing the cost of something, put a government agency in charge. Thank you for consistently excellent reporting.
NASA has to be the living proof for slow progress and wild cost overruns! Elon Musk quickly proved that to be true and all with an unblemished safety record !
The LIFE modules will normally be inflated to 14.5 PSI, basically sea level pressure. The capacity of handling five times that is great at accounting for micrometeor impacts over the station’s in-service lifetime.
This might sound harsh but what ISS legacy over the last 20 years. What have they studied and learned that has put us any closer to Mars or the Moon? What they have learned, has it made headlines of vital importance to getting to those two places? The ISS in many ways has become a distraction for actually getting someplace physically in space like the Moon or Mars. Wouldn't it be something if we had an ISS around the Moon or Mars? We didn't learn much from Skylab as was stated before in comments in relation to the ISS. It's 50 years plus after we walked on the moon and we haven't been back since, nor have we made much headway in a space station around the moon. Nor pretty much anyone other than astronauts in space. 99.9% of this time since we walked on the moon has been political games in spending with NASS and endless delays and cancellations. The probes were interesting but for the data from those probes to mean anything you have to put it to practical use. Last century was impressive for NASA up until Apollo and we've done squat since. If we let political parties and Congress decide when and if we ever get to the moon, we deserve to lose the moon to China/Russia, Mars too.
using private companies is like the american DoD using private aerospace companies to research and reverse engineer uap tech, so why not do it in space too, dont have to hide as much being way up there. with the books being clean of launches and payloads from nasa and put into private books with private companies......you make the connections
Jordan, I love your channel and the work you do. One thing, and this is just my own opinion, I hope you can find another background music for your space industry content at some point. The what I call Maverick music is starting to get a little long in the tooth. Anyway, keep up the great work and all the best to you!
We have to test it, also we need more , a lot more space stations, surely they are trying to replicate a success on another component "the space station is really expensive let us make 2 o 3 private companies so they bring the cost down" so at least for a temporal space, like a life boat or as exercise open space like a padded room it would be really useful
Great edit and great info. My gf works for Sierra aviation (not the space division) and she loves it there. BTW, that music in the background is too loud dude, was distracting. IMHO
Are we still going to try to work with the Russians in Space? Or are we going to completely disassociate from countries like Russia when it comes to Space after they retire the ISS. I had heard rumors they were thinking about sending the whole thing sailing towards Mars or something. Maybe it could be refurbished later when we colonize Mars.
Wait. Axiom headed to the ISS in 2026, but didn’t the Russians say they’re exiting the ISS in December 2025? And they’re taking their orbital boost capability with them when they go. I’d think THAT would be more important to address before taking on new clients.
Every video I have watched on Sierra shows them blowing up as in exploding one of their blow up modules. I just have a question. Why? Is the space station going to just suddenly increase their air pressure to 4 or 5 atmospheres? I don't think so. Something could perhaps explode in there but has anything ever exploded inside the ISS and what is the over pressure spec on the other conventional modules? I have never seen any over pressure test on any other type of space station module but I suppose they do test the things and the hatch seals as a matter of course on testing. It just gets aggravating seeing nothing but exploding modules from Sierra all the time. I think it starts to make people feel like there is some explosion leak issue or concern with the things. And another thing, LOL. There is an earlier version of this module already attached to the ISS and has been attached for how long now? The people up there in the space station use the thing only to store junk in. This appears to present the idea that they are afraid to go in there for any length of time. If they are that afraid of it they need to detach it and jettison it. In a July 30 presentation at the ISS Research and Development Conference here, Nathan Wells, an instrumentation lead for the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) at NASA, said the module’s on-orbit performance had exceeded expectations and that it had been cleared to remain on the station to 2028.
We need to set a limit on how much these "Commercial" LEO Destinations are subsidized. Every $1 B/yr = 10 +/- Starship mission to the Moon or Mars that we don't get.
Can you do a video on the history of C.O. Bigelow? I know they launched two free flowing inflatable models, but no one talks about them. How long were they up there? How did they preform? How are they different from Sierra Space models? Come on do the story. You know you want to.
I hope they are building more than one at a time incase they have a rud at launch. Also, am I wrong when I suggest the pressure maintained in the hab is only 14-psi? Car tires are 40-psi and some bike tires are 90-psi.
This all looks great, good overview, but we still arent getting a module that has artificial gravity after all these years, you'd think that would be standard at least in part?
Overally artificial gravity isn't that usefull for new LEO space stations. It could be an eventual addition to improve living conditions and longevity of astronauts, but the main thing that would make space stations relevant is industrial application of those station, for which obviously is the zero gravity provided is the main asset (for things like these 3d printed organs etc).
Have some (not necessarily original) ideas I hope don't come off a crazy or impractical or impracticable: Imagine if the Sierra modules can be used as: - collar-connected modules of a vessel going to Mars (would it need to be pre-departure coated for solar protection?; can it meet torsion/twist/deflection/other considerations?) - prepositioning stages around Mars, robotically deployed in orbit as well as used as on/in-ground modules covered in protective material - towed but optionally engined in case the the tether must be cut and if the towed inertia is insufficient to ensure orbital insertion - emergency lifeboats that can be carried uninflated, but be jettisoned as a survival hab module with an accompanying, separate supplies module, on the assumption that any from-Earth rescue would be a year or more out - Gateway-like quarantine modules wholly separated from the modules that don't do hazardous projects Perhaps these modules can be positioned in orbit of Mars and Earth, parked just for transfer to emergency hab. Perhaps they can be there for ANY nation to use in the event of an emergency or abandon station order.
The strength of a module is the strength of the material times the thickness. The inflatable modules are much thinner than metal modules, so the metal modules end up being stronger. Dreamchaser has not carried humans yet.
But the inflatable module also can give way more, allowing for the force of an impact to be more distributed over a large area. Where did you get from that the regular modules have thicker skin?
Angry great to see you again, long time no hear - You stated about the price of the ISS being the most expensive Human Built Object in the UNIVERSE - You do not KNOW THIS - The Universe is " Massive " and humans could have begun elsewhere. Also go Axiom & Orbital Reef.
Companies that are nearly fully funded by government money aren't really "private". They're just the normal America thing of funnelling tax money to wealthy shareholders. Like socialism except the government handouts go to the already very rich rather than ordinary people getting their fair share.
I hope they are going to do a burst test in space first. Or do they plan to build a big vacuum chamber? Dont a lot of material pressure tests typically go to double the required pressure? How will they test for ballistic debris?
Are they testing for what happens when an orbiting bit of trash hits it? Will the bit pass thru one side out the other. Will the impact site self heal quickly?
I'm guessing it's just stock footage but whoever that company is on the end there growing veggies needs to get up to date on the current growlight tech, blurple leds are inefficient and not full spectrum which can lead to plant deficiencies.
Sierra Space LIFE modules are being built to be attached to the Blue Origin spine in the same way that the US portions of the ISS were (are) dependent on the russian segment. There were rumors that a breakup had happened but Blue is still mentioning sierra and orbital reef on their social media and Sierra's press release mentions Blue quite prominently. While we are at it, while the outgoing chief wasn't well loved Blue Origin employees also talk about being treated well and enjoying working for the company they work for.
By selecting Axiom for the development of a private space station. I think NASA has wasted the hundreds of billions of dollars the USA has already spent in space station development and funding over the years. My question is who is funding Axiom now and what expectations do those funding agents have in return for their investment? In the recent AX-2 flight to the space station, two of four astronauts were Saudi government employees sent by Saudi Arabia. This would be the same Saudi government who has realigned itself with China and who has proposed the use if the yuan in lieu of the dollar for purchase of petroleum. Those Saudi astronauts were said to have been given extensive training and exposure to the Axiom program. What information have the Saudi astronauts been given and how much exposure do they have to the technical and theoretical aspects of the program? Will China know what Saudi Arabia knows? Going forward, how much control will the Saudi government have over the operation of this "private" station. Every golfer wants to know. At least this golfer wants to know. As to Bigelow, I understand they quit operations not because of the pandemic but because they were not chosen as the private space station provider. They still have a Bigelow test module attached to the space station that is said to be working pretty well.
Sierra Space is doing great, but it's a shame the same can't be said for Jeff Who's BO. If I were Sierra, I'd be looking to check if their Life 1.0 Module could be carried on other rockets, such as the Falcon 9, Relativity's Terran R, the Rocket Lab Neutron, or Firefly's MLV. As to the cost of the ISS, a lot of that was down to the fact that the NASA launches were made via Space Shuttle, which were hugely expensive, and made only a handful of launches per year.
Someone show Elon a copy of 2001. I’d love us to build a station in the shape of a wheel 😎 Not too far-fetched. Just lots of modules linked end to end.
I love both solutions, I just don't like their reliance on "other" organizations. Specifically , collaboratively speaking. I'd love to see a couple Life 3.0 modules docked together with multiple airlocks for Sierras Space plane, I wonder how compatible the two station implementations are...can an axiom "science station be attached to Life Modules? What I hope happens in both cases is that once the prototypes are proven that both companies go into beast mode and get all spaceXy on making things....not one module , not two...but dozens. Either are a better solution for a Gateway., modules for moon bases , Geostationary Stations.... what have you. Lets get this engine running.
Jordan, I know being Angry is your thing, but to me, you're at your best with inspirational videos like this. This really has me looking forward to seeing if Sierra Space can pull it off.
It’s the contrast that works.
I appreciate that!
"The Agreeable Astronaut" perhaps.
@@TheGrakenverb "The Affable Astronaut"!
@@Docjonel The Jolly Good Astronaut.?
Iss wasn’t the first step, Skylab was. I read the book Homesteading Space and some of the lessons of the Skylab program were forgotten when ISS was designed and we repeated some of the same mistakes since no one back and looked at the old project documents and write ups
I head one of the engineers talking about Skylab and ISS. Skylab was massive inside. It had more living area than the ISS had for years. Last, people who knew Skylad and the ISS said the ISS was like living in a series of interconnected trash cans.
I think the Russians and Salyut(s) would disagree.
Typical for NASA. A massiv space station is the first it needs towards a space dock. But we didn't get more huge parts put together. Next thing was SpaceLab, the tini thing that fitted into SpaceShuttles fairing. A huge step ... Backwards.
@@MichaelWinter-ss6lx NASA got nuked with the shuttle, long story. It's hard to explain to people in 2024. In '73 the US Congress cut NASA hard. One of the strange things in life is finding out that the "D" party is much more anti-science than the media tells you. Anyway, the DoD came in to rescue NASA but the DoD made a requirement that the Shuttle had to carry up a Keyhole spy satellite. Initially, the shuttle was to be a space plane. Instead we got the DC9 sized craft with 2 out of 5 wrecked and less than 150 flights over 30 years. BTW, NASA could have standardized the Saturn 1B into the Saturn 1C (crew) and 1D (cargo). Basically, an early Falcon 9 system but 40 (!) years earlier. We would have landed on Mars by now.
Skylab was a great space station. My father worked on the project in the early 70’s.
Sierra Space is right down the road from me. I'm always keeping an eye open in case they're hiring for something I'm qualified to do in IT.
Sierra is killing it. Dreamchaser, GREAT full scale burst test, just great things!!
Let’s wait until April before calling dreamchaser a success.
I’m foaming at the mouth for a crew rated dreamchaser one day 🙏🏼
Sierra Space seems to be building on technology pioneered by Bigelow Aerospace, who first proposed inflatable space modules.
Unfortunately, Bigelow laid off all their employees at the start of the pandemic outbreak and Bigelow went out of business. It's nice to see Sierra picking up the torch with such innovative technology.
Yup. Towards the end of the video, I give Bigelow credit.
Bigelow has a module connected to the iss. It's used as a storage unit. It hasn't had any problems so far
Bigelow went down the toilet because the owner was literally insane, and plowed a bunch of money into searching for werewolves. I'm not making this up.
@@samfromportadown Hmm… I guess somebody's gotta do it.
The governor there shut down Bigelow. He was pissed and threw his money against him.
Only 3 launches for the Sierra space station is wild. You could make a new ISS every year or even less.
Great Video ! Bigelow Aerospace has two test inflatable modules in LEO for a few years ! A third module is docked to the ISS for a few years also ! The BA-330 module was designed to have more volume (330 cubic meters) for the same weight as a tin can NASA module ! A good orbit to support a Commercial Space Station (CSS) is heading East from the KSC (28.5 deg. orbit) that Apollo use to launch to the moon. The Dream Chaser may launch in April 2024 on the ULA Vulcan rocket to the ISS on a Cargo test flight. tjl
That pressure test was really impressive. A +1/4 increase over NASA's recommendation for the test is a pretty damn good safety factor. I swear if I ever can, I'm going to invest in Sierra Space...
Why the hell are we STILL doing the SAME OLD THING with space stations?!?!?!
Where are we on the bicycle wheel style station?
Gravitics have plans of a station like that!
Sierra space seems to be the one. But Axiom is practical and proven. Both are exciting for different reasons. Can't wait. There is so much coming up in the next 5 years.
Thank you Jordan. It is an exciting time to witness humanities first serious steps into a thriving cis lunar/LEO economy
Exciting!
It is inded!
This would have been a nice outlook video for the two new space stations. Unfortunately the LOUD background music ruins it all again.
I don’t know it’s not that loud I can still make out what he’s saying And get the gist of the Concept of the new space stations
“Ruins” in my opinion is a bit overblown. Didn’t ruin it for me
what happens inside the station is amazing but even better is what can be done outside the station , ship building and asteroid mining, we are 20 years behind in our space program
How long they been talking about inflatable space modules? Von Braun proposed them for use on his space station. Long time ago.
People keep using old PPTs and they keep saying it can be achieved in 2 years
The materials science is clearly ready now.
They have been almost ready for more than 10 years already.
What is wrong with a rotating space station? Microgravity experiments could be done at the center hub. The station depicted in 2001: A Space Odyssey is the way of the future! These non-rotating stations are destined to be de-orbited in just 10 years after deployment. Coils built into a spinning station could create plenty of power by interacting with the Earth's electro-magnetic field, remember the failed experiment using wires extended from the space shuttle years ago- it failed because too much energy was generated- melting the wires! I guess I'll just dream on....
Make the dream come true! Find an investor.
Point is that if you want to build a rotating station that does not make us humans get sick, it does need to be at least 300 meters big, and is therefore not possible to build with our current technology. (Or maybe possible, but to expensive and it will take you many, many years to build.)
If you extract energy from the station's rotation, it will soon stop rotating. You'll then need to spend fuel to keep it rotating. At which point, it's just another, if round-about, way of converting fuel to energy.
In Earth orbit, it's much more efficient and sustainable to generate energy from sunlight, via solar cells - as there's already plenty of fuel in the Sun, and it won't need replenishing any time soon...
This is pretty much the plans of Vast Space's space stations into the 2030s.
Without infrastructure space travel can not succeed, This sort of thing will make starship & other ships like it a reality 👏
THIS is what I want to see. Leave the conspiracy theory crap for lesser channels.
Axiom is very much building the space station modules themselves, in-house, in Houston. Thales Alenia is only building the PRESSURE VESSELS, the outer shell. That's it. The "module" includes everything else: power, wiring, electronics, control, communications, environmental control & life support systems (air & water recycling, heating, cooling), experiment racks, work spaces, pantry, toilets. Thales Alenis isn't building any of that.
Pressure differential - 15 psi . . .
I feel that they should use the expanding system, then once it is in orbit they can add layers to laminate the walls for more strength
I still want the original big wheel design with artificial gravity as proposed by von Braun et al.
Once this is in full operation, I think it will become easier for the Gateway Spaceport people to get into operation for Sol System construction at every L-point from the Sun. And with heavy-thrust capability, we can literally live all over our Stellar system. Wish I could be here to see that happen, but at 71 I'm making no bets.
hope spacex takes them up they will be up there in a few weeks...ULA will take a few years.this channel gets better and better.
SpaceX already got plans of delivering Vast Space's first space station into orbit next year.
Awesome video! I’m glad you mentioned why we need to build these systems. Many people just don’t get it, and videos like this will help educate more people about space.
Why shouldn't private industry move into space? Its always been the best model for progress in any frontier. The explorers and prospecters have often, perhapes most often been private groups. There is a lot of wealth out there. Life changing wealth. We could solve a lot of material deficiencies by bringing in the resources out there. Moving polluting manufacture off planet, importing solar energy and nuclear energy made out there and tranmitted to ground stations. Elements rare here may be plentiful at other planets moons or asteriods. Government is not efficient.
My concern with the inflatable modules is we don't have enough data on the long term exposure to the space environment. Do the materials break down in uv, atomic oxygen, other radiation. Not sure how long the Bigelow modules have been in space.
I think letting others have a chance at it would really boost innovation and that's the goal not how's first or who got there first or what if you can do it THEN DO IT!
I feel like the inflatable solution would be good as a space life raft. In a case of abandoned ship, or if someone gets lost on a space walk, it would be nice to be able to fall back to earth safely instead of floating off into space.
Sierra Space may be able to put up an empty shell with the habitable volume of the ISS in just 3 launches at a low cost, but then to populate that empty shell with all the plumbing, air conditioning/filtering/recycling, temperature control, and other such life support equipment, plus propulsion and station-keeping, energy generation/storage/distribution, and lab/manufacturing equipment, etc., not to mention all the 'furniture' for use by the crew, including sleeping racks, restroom, shower, kitchen/galley, and exercise equipment, etc. - that'll all still take a bunch of additional launches and missions and expenses.
Im not too worried about their modules 'popping' when penetrated by micrometeorids - after all, these aren't rubber balloons. Any small holes in them should be patchable with the right equipment. But I do wonder how well these polymer fabrics will stand up to space and solar radiation and the constant cycling of temperature extremes on the external surface. Here on Earth, most plastics don't tend to do well in strong sunlight - and that's barely a weak analogy to the kind of harsh environmrnt they'd have to endure in orbit. So I wonder about the longevity of such modules: will they have to be replaced every 5 or 10 years?
13:57 Birthing a jellyfish UAP
What about 60psi when a micro-meteoroid impacts it at 17000 mph?
In use, these modules will never hold more than 1 atmosphere of pressure - which is just 14.7 PSI. In practice, they might drop to much less than a full atmosphere; for instance, airliners are allowed to pressurize the cabin to just 11 PSI at cruising altitude.
So the fact that their module can sustain ~7× the operating pressure just demonstrates its design safety margin (at least when it's in mint condition, fresh out of the factory.)
As for micrometeor impacts, I expect the ones that make it through will simply punch a hole - just as they would in a steel wall. The hole could then be patched with an appropriate repair kit (not too conceptually different from patching a hole in a car tire.)
@@Spherical_CowIm not sure I disagree. When the module failed, it didn't just happen in a small area, the whole thing disintegrated. With a plane for example, it only affects a small area around the hole, not the entire pressure vessel.
@@ronwatkins5775 it disintegrated because the failure mode is fundamentally different. When you ratchet up the pressure to near the overall structural limit, any weakening of the pressure vessel at any point causes the entire vessel to fail. However when the pressure is a factor of 5 or more below that critical threshold, even several localized punctures won't cause the rest of the pressure vessel to disintegrate.
Think of car tires as the analogue. Puncturing a tire inflated to its operational pressure doesn't cause the tire to explode. Even multiple punctures won't do that. But, overinflate a tire to its point of structural failure, and even a single small puncture might tear it apart.
The first commercial space station will most likely be Vast Space's HAVEN-1 that will launch next year.
Build a space station into a starship? Fly it up. And plug it in... Fast expansion.
Sierra definitely has my preference, being able to get such much more volume in space is much more tailored to progress compared to the more status quo Axiom (which ofcourse still are a good thing).
However I do expect that the equipment etc for the modules will also need to be sent up seperately and not stored inside the module, right? If that is the case, it likely will require 2-3 extra launches to fully activate that 3 module station that will have the same volume as the ISS.
Thanks for giving us this information.
if they produce a inflatable dome version of this habitat module then it could be used on mars
the biggest issue on mars is not the lack of atmosphere but the radiation . this might be a good solution
Loved this bulletin!! Great job! I just hope that with all the competition to do things in space, that they all use great caution and make sure that these things are safe! I love the fact that there is so much happening, it’s a boys dream come true and I Pray I get to witness it!!
Pretty exciting stuff. Especially that the Sierra Space LIFE module will feature windows. Being a big fan of ALON (transparent aluminum), how cool would it be to use that for the window material? Kudos also to Axiom for their out-of-box engineering also. As far as private industry being involved, it's a GOOD thing. If you want to slow progress and innovation while vastly increasing the cost of something, put a government agency in charge. Thank you for consistently excellent reporting.
"Transparent aluminum"? Is that real (not Star Trek sci-fi)?
NASA has to be the living proof for slow progress and wild cost overruns! Elon Musk quickly proved that to be true and all with an unblemished safety record !
Sierra space station is really cool
14psi difference is in my opinion not " enormous pressure difference ". But hey what do i know.
The LIFE modules will normally be inflated to 14.5 PSI, basically sea level pressure. The capacity of handling five times that is great at accounting for micrometeor impacts over the station’s in-service lifetime.
This might sound harsh but what ISS legacy over the last 20 years. What have they studied and learned that has put us any closer to Mars or the Moon? What they have learned, has it made headlines of vital importance to getting to those two places? The ISS in many ways has become a distraction for actually getting someplace physically in space like the Moon or Mars. Wouldn't it be something if we had an ISS around the Moon or Mars? We didn't learn much from Skylab as was stated before in comments in relation to the ISS. It's 50 years plus after we walked on the moon and we haven't been back since, nor have we made much headway in a space station around the moon. Nor pretty much anyone other than astronauts in space. 99.9% of this time since we walked on the moon has been political games in spending with NASS and endless delays and cancellations. The probes were interesting but for the data from those probes to mean anything you have to put it to practical use. Last century was impressive for NASA up until Apollo and we've done squat since. If we let political parties and Congress decide when and if we ever get to the moon, we deserve to lose the moon to China/Russia, Mars too.
using private companies is like the american DoD using private aerospace companies to research and reverse engineer uap tech, so why not do it in space too, dont have to hide as much being way up there. with the books being clean of launches and payloads from nasa and put into private books with private companies......you make the connections
Jordan, I love your channel and the work you do. One thing, and this is just my own opinion, I hope you can find another background music for your space industry content at some point. The what I call Maverick music is starting to get a little long in the tooth. Anyway, keep up the great work and all the best to you!
it would be awesome if they could tether a bunch of them together and spin them up for G....
What an outstanding video!!
No, they're not almost ready. The OSAM1 project budget has been cut off. Contractors for NASA are laying people off.
Where’s all the Axiom love? Seeing a lot of Sierra Space fans in the comments but I rock my Axiom Hoodie every night lol.
We have to test it, also we need more , a lot more space stations, surely they are trying to replicate a success on another component "the space station is really expensive let us make 2 o 3 private companies so they bring the cost down" so at least for a temporal space, like a life boat or as exercise open space like a padded room it would be really useful
Great edit and great info. My gf works for Sierra aviation (not the space division) and she loves it there. BTW, that music in the background is too loud dude, was distracting. IMHO
I think using balloons is the dumbest idea ever. If I was an astronaut I would not be going into space to reside within a blowup tent.
Are we still going to try to work with the Russians in Space? Or are we going to completely disassociate from countries like Russia when it comes to Space after they retire the ISS. I had heard rumors they were thinking about sending the whole thing sailing towards Mars or something. Maybe it could be refurbished later when we colonize Mars.
Secret NASA Space Program, Solar Warden Space Fleet, Earth Alliance, Galactic Federation.
That was a very informative and enjoyable video!
Wait. Axiom headed to the ISS in 2026, but didn’t the Russians say they’re exiting the ISS in December 2025? And they’re taking their orbital boost capability with them when they go. I’d think THAT would be more important to address before taking on new clients.
A Billion dollar 3D printed space heart replacement organ .. probably a huge market for that, just like the $5 Billion cubicles in a Mars colony. /s
Every video I have watched on Sierra shows them blowing up as in exploding one of their blow up modules. I just have a question. Why? Is the space station going to just suddenly increase their air pressure to 4 or 5 atmospheres? I don't think so. Something could perhaps explode in there but has anything ever exploded inside the ISS and what is the over pressure spec on the other conventional modules?
I have never seen any over pressure test on any other type of space station module but I suppose they do test the things and the hatch seals as a matter of course on testing. It just gets aggravating seeing nothing but exploding modules from Sierra all the time. I think it starts to make people feel like there is some explosion leak issue or concern with the things.
And another thing, LOL. There is an earlier version of this module already attached to the ISS and has been attached for how long now? The people up there in the space station use the thing only to store junk in. This appears to present the idea that they are afraid to go in there for any length of time. If they are that afraid of it they need to detach it and jettison it.
In a July 30 presentation at the ISS Research and Development Conference here, Nathan Wells, an instrumentation lead for the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) at NASA, said the module’s on-orbit performance had exceeded expectations and that it had been cleared to remain on the station to 2028.
I don't understand why people keep saying that they think inflatable might not be safe. To me it looks far safer!
We need to set a limit on how much these "Commercial" LEO Destinations are subsidized. Every $1 B/yr = 10 +/- Starship mission to the Moon or Mars that we don't get.
Well done video....
Can you do a video on the history of C.O. Bigelow? I know they launched two free flowing inflatable models, but no one talks about them. How long were they up there? How did they preform? How are they different from Sierra Space models?
Come on do the story. You know you want to.
I hope they are building more than one at a time incase they have a rud at launch. Also, am I wrong when I suggest the pressure maintained in the hab is only 14-psi? Car tires are 40-psi and some bike tires are 90-psi.
Awsome content.
A very interesting expisode.
This all looks great, good overview, but we still arent getting a module that has artificial gravity after all these years, you'd think that would be standard at least in part?
Overally artificial gravity isn't that usefull for new LEO space stations. It could be an eventual addition to improve living conditions and longevity of astronauts, but the main thing that would make space stations relevant is industrial application of those station, for which obviously is the zero gravity provided is the main asset (for things like these 3d printed organs etc).
Have some (not necessarily original) ideas I hope don't come off a crazy or impractical or impracticable:
Imagine if the Sierra modules can be used as:
- collar-connected modules of a vessel going to Mars (would it need to be pre-departure coated for solar protection?; can it meet torsion/twist/deflection/other considerations?)
- prepositioning stages around Mars, robotically deployed in orbit as well as used as on/in-ground modules covered in protective material
- towed but optionally engined in case the the tether must be cut and if the towed inertia is insufficient to ensure orbital insertion
- emergency lifeboats that can be carried uninflated, but be jettisoned as a survival hab module with an accompanying, separate supplies module, on the assumption that any from-Earth rescue would be a year or more out
- Gateway-like quarantine modules wholly separated from the modules that don't do hazardous projects
Perhaps these modules can be positioned in orbit of Mars and Earth, parked just for transfer to emergency hab. Perhaps they can be there for ANY nation to use in the event of an emergency or abandon station order.
Go Sierra Space
Haven-1 from #VastSpaceStation launches in 2025.
You are very much correct. I'm suprised he didn't mention it. It is the most likely candidate to win the commercial space station race.
The strength of a module is the strength of the material times the thickness. The inflatable modules are much thinner than metal modules, so the metal modules end up being stronger. Dreamchaser has not carried humans yet.
But the inflatable module also can give way more, allowing for the force of an impact to be more distributed over a large area.
Where did you get from that the regular modules have thicker skin?
Angry great to see you again, long time no hear - You stated about the price of the ISS being the most expensive Human Built Object in the UNIVERSE - You do not KNOW THIS - The Universe
is " Massive " and humans could have begun elsewhere. Also go Axiom & Orbital Reef.
Excellent report!
Excellent Reporting
Companies that are nearly fully funded by government money aren't really "private".
They're just the normal America thing of funnelling tax money to wealthy shareholders.
Like socialism except the government handouts go to the already very rich rather than ordinary people getting their fair share.
And who cares? It gets us to space and that should be the main thing.
Would they go with both space stations, as private companies are investing in them ???
Great explanation of the two stations.
I hope they are going to do a burst test in space first. Or do they plan to build a big vacuum chamber? Dont a lot of material pressure tests typically go to double the required pressure?
How will they test for ballistic debris?
There already is a smaller version from Bigelow attached to the ISS for quite a while with good results.
NASA has on a number of occasions ; Gon off the rails as you say . I give you Columbia ! And more !
Are they testing for what happens when an orbiting bit of trash hits it? Will the bit pass thru one side out the other. Will the impact site self heal quickly?
Great content. Thanks AA!
Inflatable modules sound awesome!
Past time for a rotating space station for artificial gravity. These "v1.01" versions of ISS are a waste of time and money
Always love your content but this one was a step above! Loved it!
I'm guessing it's just stock footage but whoever that company is on the end there growing veggies needs to get up to date on the current growlight tech, blurple leds are inefficient and not full spectrum which can lead to plant deficiencies.
:-)) Really?
How they gonna get up there....? Reimagining?
Inflatable modules can easily be put there with today's launch providers.
These won't be ready for years, likely not until the end of the decade at the earliest.
Sierra has been pretty slow.
2:26 o no the massive pressure difference of... 1bar?
Sierra Space LIFE modules are being built to be attached to the Blue Origin spine in the same way that the US portions of the ISS were (are) dependent on the russian segment. There were rumors that a breakup had happened but Blue is still mentioning sierra and orbital reef on their social media and Sierra's press release mentions Blue quite prominently.
While we are at it, while the outgoing chief wasn't well loved Blue Origin employees also talk about being treated well and enjoying working for the company they work for.
So no Elon in your plans ? 😂 Go SpaceX
Good stuff Angry
Whats the weight of a LIFE-Modul?
By selecting Axiom for the development of a private space station. I think NASA has wasted the hundreds of billions of dollars the USA has already spent in space station development and funding over the years. My question is who is funding Axiom now and what expectations do those funding agents have in return for their investment? In the recent AX-2 flight to the space station, two of four astronauts were Saudi government employees sent by Saudi Arabia. This would be the same Saudi government who has realigned itself with China and who has proposed the use if the yuan in lieu of the dollar for purchase of petroleum. Those Saudi astronauts were said to have been given extensive training and exposure to the Axiom program. What information have the Saudi astronauts been given and how much exposure do they have to the technical and theoretical aspects of the program? Will China know what Saudi Arabia knows? Going forward, how much control will the Saudi government have over the operation of this "private" station. Every golfer wants to know. At least this golfer wants to know. As to Bigelow, I understand they quit operations not because of the pandemic but because they were not chosen as the private space station provider. They still have a Bigelow test module attached to the space station that is said to be working pretty well.
great vid jordan. thankyou again.
keep up the good work.
Sierra Space is doing great, but it's a shame the same can't be said for Jeff Who's BO. If I were Sierra, I'd be looking to check if their Life 1.0 Module could be carried on other rockets, such as the Falcon 9, Relativity's Terran R, the Rocket Lab Neutron, or Firefly's MLV.
As to the cost of the ISS, a lot of that was down to the fact that the NASA launches were made via Space Shuttle, which were hugely expensive, and made only a handful of launches per year.
Even a small micrometerorite can take out those inflatable living quarters.
No, they got kevlar armour.
Innovation due to competition works if they are actually competing and not taking turns, or some such other nonsense.
Someone show Elon a copy of 2001. I’d love us to build a station in the shape of a wheel 😎
Not too far-fetched. Just lots of modules linked end to end.
I love both solutions, I just don't like their reliance on "other" organizations. Specifically , collaboratively speaking. I'd love to see a couple Life 3.0 modules docked together with multiple airlocks for Sierras Space plane, I wonder how compatible the two station implementations are...can an axiom "science station be attached to Life Modules? What I hope happens in both cases is that once the prototypes are proven that both companies go into beast mode and get all spaceXy on making things....not one module , not two...but dozens. Either are a better solution for a Gateway., modules for moon bases , Geostationary Stations.... what have you.
Lets get this engine running.
100 years till we get a spin station?
Loved the presentation. Many thanks.