Space stations are exciting and expensive, as well. While taking the example of the ISS, it is having the size of an international football stadium. The vast size of space station results in high costs; as a result, there is only one existing space station today.
The second problem while building a space station is the transportation work. As the space station is vast by its size, it is not possible to deliver the entire station in one go. Therefore, multiple rockets used to deliver the massive load. For International Space Station, 42 space missions were carried out. The process took around ten years to complete. The innovation from SpaceX would help the mission to complete in a lesser number of flights, but yes not lower than 20.
The New Way
But, there is another way to build a space station, which is more comfortable as compared to the traditional one. Currently, SpaceX is planning to take all the heavy payloads to the orbit by its Falcon Heavy, and then install these in the space. The company is partnering with Maxar Technologies and Nanoracks to implement the highly anticipated work. The company is planning to start a launch by the end of next year.
Nanoracks will send a payload weighing 200 kgs through SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. The most remarkable thing about the development is the space to weight ratio. Nanoracks’ heavy payloads will occupy only half a cubic meter space in Falcon 9 rocket. If the mission becomes successful, it will mark the first instance of such development. The mission is a part of NASA’s program, NextSTEP-2, for building a habitat in outer space. NASA will fund the entire program. Nanoracks revealed that the development would mark the first instance when human beings able to cut the metals in deep space. The company also confirmed the launch date, which scheduled for the Q4 of 2020.
