Gravitics 4 meter space station module design pathfinder for developing manufacturing and assembly methods.
Gravity
Washington-based startup Gravitics has signed a $125 million contract to expand Axiom Space’s planned space station, the latest deal in the burgeoning private market for orbital habitats.
“It’s an exciting development to partner with the space station operator who is the fastest to put hardware into orbit,” Colin Doughan, CEO and founder of Gravitics, told CNBC.
Axiom is one of several companies building private space stations as NASA plans to have the International Space Station end its time in orbit. Axiom’s space station module has been built by Italian aerospace contractor Thales Alenia. The Gravitics order adds another “pressurized spacecraft” planned to connect to the Axiom space station after launch in two years.
The agreement Axiom signed with Gravitics in 2021 is the startup’s most significant agreement to date. Gravitics has previously raised a total of $20 million in venture capital as it looks to become a private space station manufacturer.
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The nearly 50-employee company, located in a northern suburb of Seattle, aims to offer space station modules — essentially orbital habitat construction modules — as a line of plug-and-play products that can be mounted on a variety of rockets. Launch, whether it’s an aircraft currently flying, like SpaceX’s Falcon 9, or a future behemoth, like Blue Origin’s New Glenn.
Gravitics is designing space station modules with diameters ranging from 3 meters (9 feet) to 8 meters (26 feet). The company claims its largest module, called StarMax, a name inspired by SpaceX’s towering Starship rocket, will have “the largest internal volume of any independent spacecraft.”
“We looked at Starship first and said, ‘Someone is going to maximize the payload capacity,'” Doughan said.
Currently, NASA’s Commercial LEO Destinations (CLD) program has been awarding development contracts to companies building the space station in the event the International Space Station is vandalized by the end of the century. Axiom was the first company to win a NASA contract to build a space station module, and Gravitics will attach its spacecraft later this decade.
But the Gravitics deal is not exclusive, Doughan said.
“We would like to be able to participate in multiple teams for (CLD Phase 2) rather than being the main (bidder) because we have zero interest in operations… but I do expect you will start to see some structure It reflects that some of (our space station mods) have been incorporated into some of these designs moving forward,” Dorn said.
Gravitics has been working on prototypes and testing key parts, such as test-firing prototypes of its propulsion system and pressure-testing modules. Dorn said Gravitics will transport some components to the International Space Station for testing later this year and plans to launch a small spacecraft by 2026.
The propulsion system is being test-fired at the Gravitics facility in Marysville, Washington.
Gravity
“We’re a very hardware-rich company, so we’re building as we complete the design,” Dorn said.
The company signed an agreement with NASA for new ways to test large spacecraft, as well as an early-stage Space Force development contract. Doughan emphasized that the latter contract represents Gravitics “working with customers who are ready to buy.”
“The Space Force budget has exceeded NASA’s budget and that’s not going to stop,” Duane said.
Doughan said the Axiom deal was a catalyst for growth for Gravitics, which plans to double its headcount and launch a new round of funding in the coming months.
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