Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Illustration of Haven-1 space station and docked SpaceX Dragon.
Image credit: Vast

The emergence of private space facilities circling Earth has been boosted by the promise of a just-announced commercial microgravity research and development platform.

This week, Vast announced a partnership with U.S. payload provider Redwire and Yuri, a biotech research group headquartered in Germany.

The Haven-1 lab/platform is projected for launch no earlier than the second half of 2025.

According to Vast, the Haven-1 is slated to be a hub for companies, governments, and other entities to collaborate on science, research, and in-space manufacturing.

NASA contributions

Last year, Vast of Long Beach, California was awarded an unfunded NASA Space Act Agreement under the second Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities (CCSC-2) initiative.

Image credit: Vast

These agreements are crafted to advance commercial space-related efforts through NASA contributions of technical expertise, assessments, lessons learned, technologies, and data. The space agency’s CCSC initiative is dedicated to helping create a robust low Earth orbit economy.

Meanwhile, the space agency is also dealing with an aging International Space Station, headed for “retirement” in 2030 followed by a destructive de-orbiting decision to plow the ISS into ocean waters.

Redwire’s Advanced Space Experiment Processor 4 can host up to four sample processing cassettes (PIL-BOXs) for stem cell, bacteria research, in addition to pharmaceutical output.
Image credit: Redwire

Products and samples

The Haven-1 Lab is to be outfitted with payloads operated by astronaut crews on the orbiting complex. Partners using the Haven-1 can return products and samples from space via a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

Redwire, based in Jacksonville, Florida, owns nine payloads and facilities currently installed on the ISS including the firm’s BioFabrication Facility, which successfully printed the first ever human meniscus and first live human heart tissue in space.

Also, Redwire developed a Pharmaceutical In-space Laboratory – the Bio-crystal Optimization Xperiments (PIL-BOX) — which has flown three flight missions to and from the ISS, showcasing the prospect of how microgravity can lead to innovations in drug development.

Vast’s other payload partner, Yuri, is keen on leveraging microgravity for biotech products, cures, and medical solutions. By utilizing Yuri’s on-orbit version of ScienceTaxi, the potential for low Earth orbit commercial biotech can be advanced, such as advanced space microscopy.

Yuri’s on-orbit version of ScienceTaxi, to carry out biotech research in microgravity.
Image credit: Yuri

Institutional knowledge

“The ISS may be on its way to be retired in 2030, but the institutional knowledge deserves a new platform for future microgravity research and manufacturing innovation,” said Vast CEO, Max Haot in a company statement.

“Our Haven-1 Lab is designed to provide that bridge well before the eventual retirement of ISS. This ensures that as we begin a new era of commercial space stations we can continue and expand upon vital international and commercial science and research in low Earth orbit (LEO),” Haot stated.

Sprawling but aging International Space Station.
Image credit: NASA

Now is the time

Yuri’s co-founder and CEO, Maria Birlem, stated that “now is the time” to showcase market-driven commercial collaboration in low Earth orbit. “Haven-1 is set to be the first Post-ISS scenario, and the entire world stands to benefit, Birlem said.

Mike Gold, Redwire’s Chief Growth Officer, also highlighted the Vast’s Haven-1 Lab partnership, to create “a new and dynamic economy in low Earth orbit.”

“Haven-1 is the first private sector platform that Redwire hardware will launch with,” Gold added, “extending the legacy of the ISS into a new era of commercial platforms.”

For an update on the promise of private space facilities, go to my recent Space.com story – “After ISS: The private space station era is dawning” – at:

https://www.space.com/private-space-stations-commercializing-low-earth-orbit