Axiom Space

A Crew Dragon's about $100 million to save up for you and three of your friends.

Axiom Space will get you to the space station if you want to go.

It's just expensive.

We're seeing a new generation of space stations starting to come along.

NASA moved to Centaur from the exploration upper stage after it lost confidence that stage could meet its timelines, costs, and schedule.

NASA and Axiom Space are also developing a second spacesuit configuration for early missions.

Parsons said it cuts suit mass from a little over 500 pounds to about 250.

Parsons said avionics is currently the item driving the Artemis III schedule.

There's discussion that maybe there's a way that Blue Origin could use their Mark I lander to put humans on the moon and therefore avoid having to test an entirely new lander design.

There is also one other company running in this race for Artemis III and that is Axiom who are providing the lunar spacesuits.

Now they would like to test these suits next year and according to comments at the space symposium Axiom are very much hoping to have tests of their suits happening next year.

But they were primarily talking about testing these on the International Space Station where they have an airlock and they will be able to actually take them out on an EVA.

But having them ready for Artemis 3 would certainly be very nice because then they could actually test operating these suits inside the spacecraft which are landing on the moon.

And again, that's the kind of skill set that you want when you're testing spacesuits and flying spaceships.

I also pointed out in the days leading up to the announcement, Axiom Space announced a collaboration with Prada for the liquid cooling garment on their spacesuit.

And of course, Prada is an Italian company.

Having an Italian astronaut testing that suit definitely fits into that.

The Centaur is a vehicle that is in production, that NASA and ULA know well, and one that is capable of achieving our missions.

NASA and Axiom Space are also developing a second suit configuration for early missions.

Parsons said it cuts suit mass from a little over 500 pounds to about 250 pounds.

Parsons said NASA expects to choose between the two SLS upper stages around next summer, near the time of Artemis III.

NASA has officially released an RFP for Phase 2 of its Commercial LEO Destinations Program, or CLD.

This phase transitions private space station developers such as Axiom Space, VAST, and Starlab, from initial design concepts to firm development, deployment, and operational contracts as NASA prepares for the International Space Station's retirement, a huge opportunity for space tech startups.

And next, we'll plug into energy tech.

Google has signed a major agreement to build a one gigawatt virtual power plant.

A couple of smaller details worth keeping an eye on.

Axiom Space is developing a second, lighter moonwalking suit, a sortie suit, at roughly 113 kilograms, about half the mass of its main suit, which means less for each lander to carry.

And Blue Origin still plans to send its uncrewed Mark I cargo lander, called Endurance, to the moon in 2027.

And here's a counterpoint that landed the same week.