After the International Space Station (ISS) operated by the United States and Russia, China completed the “Tiangong” space station this year. Under these circumstances, a private Japanese company said it would build a commercial space station. Looking to 2030, when the ISS is retired, the race to build a space station should intensify.
Japanese space company DigitalBlast announced on the 12th of this month that it will open a “…
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After the International Space Station (ISS) operated by the United States and Russia, China completed the “Tiangong” space station this year. Under these circumstances, a private Japanese company said it would build a commercial space station. Looking to 2030, when the ISS is retired, the race to build a space station should intensify.
On the 12th of this month, Japan’s space company DigitalBlast launched a “private space station (CSS)” equipped with astronaut housing facilities and scientific experiment facilities at an altitude of 400-500km. ) announced that it will operate on Looking ahead to the post-ISS era, the plan is to launch the first module in 2030. Japan’s space station will be in the form of combining three types of modules. “Housing/Core Module” with accommodation for crew and communication equipment, “Science Module” for scientific experiments on mineral resources and agricultural products, and “Entertainment Module” providing virtual reality (VR) services to ground users. the space station will be built with three modules. The total cost is estimated at between 300 billion yen and 500 billion yen. Digital Blast also announced plans for In-Space Manufacturing (ISM), which uses 3D printers in space to manufacture products. There is also the idea of opening a commercial service so that people can enjoy virtual reality or the Metaverse (virtual three-dimensional space in a computer) from the ground using the space station.
Unlike rockets and spacecraft, space stations are structures that reside in space, so not only do they take a long time to build, they’re also expensive to operate. However, the fact that space-advanced countries are actively promoting space stations is a stepping stone to prepare for the pre-emptive competition for space resources that is likely to take place in the future. The Orion probe, which completed its lunar orbit and returned safely to Earth on 11 this month, marks the success of the first phase of NASA’s Artemis project. In the second phase, a manned spacecraft will travel to and from lunar orbit in 2024, and in the third phase in 2025, the plan is to complete the Gateway space station, which will orbit the moon.
Private companies are entering the market one after another in anticipation of commercial use of the space station, such as tourism and commerce. The US space company Axiom Space plans to operate its own space station as early as 2027. Prior to that, it announced that it would like to dock the commercial space station “Axiom Station” with the ISS in 2024, and also join the space study. The idea is to present the world’s first entertainment studio in space, a multipurpose performance hall. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin plans to build a space station called Orbital Reef by the end of the 2020s. Lockheed Martin plans to launch its Starlab space station in 2027, which could serve as a space for scientific experiments and industrial production. The companies that undertook the construction of the space station are also developing space vehicles that will transport people and cargo from Earth to the station. Boeing successfully docked a transport spacecraft in a module on the International Space Station in May this year. Previously, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon has successfully sent personnel to the space station. The space taxi race to and from the space station has already begun.
Journalist Kwak Soo-geun
Chosun Ilbo / Chosun Ilbo Japanese version
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