Space is the next frontier of the corporate sector. There is a race now for some corporate entities to get the first manned mission to Mars. However many corporations are looking much closer to home in building space stations and colonies in orbit around the Earth. Already there is much talk of space stations being used by 2020.
Earlier it has been reported that NASA is open to having the International Space Station used by the corporate sector. Modules could be built by companies to add to the space station as it grows into a large community. The possibility of other space stations around it is likely with this opening as well as by private ventures by other companies.
Two of those companies that are looking into the possibility of creating space stations are Bigelow Aerospace and Axiom Space, according to Fox News. The space stations being developed could host a number of people which would range from tourists to astronauts. To make money from it the plan is to rent out the space stations for those who would like to use them.
Bigelow Aerospace's plan is to have a compressed module that would expand once it is in space. In this way, there would be much more room in per unit than the current model being used for the International Space Station. The model is called the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), as Digital Journal reports.
Axiom Space LLC is also planning to have its own space modules up. The company is founded by former NASA ISS manager Mike Suffredini along with Kam Ghaffarian. The space modules of Axiom Space would likely be carried on SpaceX's Falcon Heavy Rocket. Unlike that of Bigelow Aerospace's BEAM, Axiom Space's module would be attached to the International Space Station.
Axiom Space hopes to have their module up by October 2020, while Bigelow Aerospace says that it will have its modules up in 2020 as well. The BEAM will most likely be carried by the United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rocket. Aside from BEAM, Bigelow hopes to have a much larger space module in the B330. However, only two models would be built and it is so big that only the 552 variant of the Atlas V can carry it.
