The International Space Station (ISS), which has been repeatedly occupied for 26 years, is approaching retirement. By 2030, all collaborating house businesses will deliver their astronauts dwelling for the final time, and the station shall be maneuvered so it burns up in Earth’s ambiance. The legacy of this station is unmatched, and its successors (of which a number of are deliberate) may have extraordinarily huge sneakers to fill. However, there isn’t any scarcity of house packages and industrial pursuits seeking to place new house stations in orbit.
Some house businesses, akin to NASA and the Indian House Analysis Group (ISRO), hope to deploy new stations. On the similar time, China goals to broaden its current Tiangong station to double its present dimension whereas Roscosmos not too long ago introduced that it’s going to recycle its current ISS modules to create an area station crewed by Russian cosmonauts and worldwide companions. As for the industrial sector, the businesses hoping to take part, and the ideas they’re proposing are legion!
With a number of house businesses planning on taking the “subsequent nice leap” – going again to the Moon, to Mars, and past – house stations are a part of an incremental strategy to safe these subsequent nice leaps. And the orbital lanes in LEO might be getting a bit crowded because of this.
The First Stations
House stations are a method of creating a permanent human presence in house. First deployed on the finish of the Apollo Period, they represented humanity’s subsequent step in house exploration. Earlier than this, NASA and the Soviet house program have been locked in a state of competitors – the House Race – the place they have been devoted to “getting there first.” This included being the primary to ship a satellite tv for pc (Sputnik) to house, the primary man to house (Yuri Gagarin), and the primary astronauts to land on the Moon (Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin).
However with the success of the Apollo missions, which landed a complete of six lunar modules and twelve astronauts on the lunar floor, the House Race was formally over. It was at this level, in the course of the early to mid-Seventies, that NASA and the Soviets started considering their subsequent strikes. Having reached house many occasions over, they determined to deal with applied sciences that will allow long-duration stays in house. In essence, they shifted from attending to house to staying there.
*The Soviet Salyut-7 (left) and NASA’s Skylab (proper). Credit score: RKK Energia/NASA*
Having ceded the “Race to the Moon,” the Soviets achieved an early lead with the Salyut program. This system ran from 1971 to 1986 and launched 4 crewed scientific analysis stations and two crewed army stations that operated underneath the guise of this system (Almaz stations). The Salyut stations performed analysis on the challenges of long-term spaceflight, in addition to quite a lot of scientific experiments.
The stations additionally set a number of spaceflight information, together with mission period, extravehicular actions (EVAs), and the primary crew handover in house. Salyut established a legacy for modular house stations and represented a essential step from single-module and docking-port stations to extra complicated ones. This is able to be realized with the Soviet-Russian Mir house station (Russian for “peace”), which remained in operation from 1986 till it was deorbited in 2001.
This station was made up of seven modules, together with the Salyut-derived Mir core module*, the Kvant-1 and -2 modules (the place scientific analysis was performed), Kristall (microgravity manufacturing), Spektr (Earth-related research), Priroda (Earth-sensing), and the docking module. Mir additionally established a precedent for worldwide cooperation in house by the Interkosmos, Euromir, and Shuttle–Mir* packages.
In the meantime, the U.S. responded with its personal single-module station, Skylab, which was occupied between 1973 and 1974 however remained in orbit till 1979. The station was created from the third stage of a repurposed Saturn V rocket and deployed as a payload by the identical rocket. Skylab was America’s first long-duration house station, containing an orbital workshop, a photo voltaic laboratory, and an Earth observatory, and was the positioning of a whole bunch of experiments.
Whereas NASA hoped to create its personal Space Station Freedom to succeed Skylab, and Roscosmos hoped to succeed Mir with Mir-2, these have been cancelled in 1993 in favor of participation within the ISS. By 1998, NASA and Roscosmos had positioned the foundational parts of the ISS in orbit, and expeditions commenced by 2000. Since then, NASA, Roscosmos, the Canadian House Company (CSA), the European House Company (ESA), and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Company (JAXA) have added modules and parts which have enhanced the Station’s capabilities.
*Picture of House Shuttle Atlantis related to Russia’s Mir House Station by the crew of Mir-19 on July 4th, 1995. Credit score: NASA*
ISS Retiring
Initially, the ISS was supposed for a 15-year mission, and NASA deliberate to deorbit the station by 2016. However the mission has been repeatedly prolonged as a result of important analysis it allows and the worldwide assist its acquired. This culminated within the Space Frontier Act of 2018 in July 2018 and the Leading Human Spaceflight Act a couple of months later, each of which prolonged ISS operations till 2030.
In August 2022, Congress handed related provisions within the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act, which President Biden signed into regulation. Whereas Russian officers have introduced that they’ll withdraw from the ISS after 2024 (later pushed to 2025), Russian cosmonauts have continued to take part in joint missions with NASA and different house businesses. As of the publication of this text, no last departure date has been formalized.
Sadly, the continued occupation implies that the oldest modules within the ISS are greater than 20 years outdated. This has led to every kind of upkeep points through the years, to not point out health-related considerations. When it comes to the previous, the modules have skilled structural fatigue, persistent air leaks, and degrading {hardware}, with upkeep prices hovering round $1 billion yearly. In September 2019, the Zvezda Service Module started experiencing higher-than-normal air leaks, which have persevered regardless of a number of repairs.
When it comes to the latter, greater than 25 years of steady occupation by astronauts and cosmonauts have left the station stuffed with microorganisms that would pose well being dangers. In 2019, NASA shared the outcomes of a complete examine of the microorganisms and fungi current on the ISS, which discovered various populations of each that “might embody opportunistic pathogens.” In a 2022 interview with Russia’s state-owned RIA Novosti information company, the Director of the Institute of Biomedical Issues on the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Oleg Orlov, addressed these dangers:
An evaluation of the outcomes of microbiological monitoring of the habitat of the ISS RS modules, carried out throughout the framework of the full-time medical management operations, signifies that the state of the ISS habitat is deteriorating. It’s an goal course of. Generalized outcomes present that in 65% of the analyzed samples of the newest expeditions, microorganisms have been present in portions exceeding regulatory necessities.
Among the many representatives of bacterial flora remoted from the habitat of the ISS, species which might be of medical significance and are able to inflicting allergic reactions and a few sorts of smooth tissue and higher respiratory tract illnesses have been recognized.
With the ISS slouching towards retirement and house businesses expressing doubts about additional extensions, consideration is shifting to what’s going to change this venerable workhorse and analysis platform in house.
The Lunar Gateway
Within the close to future, NASA hopes to deploy the Lunar Gateway in orbit across the Moon. This station is a collaborative undertaking between NASA, the European House Company (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Company (JAXA), and the Canadian House Company (CSA). This house station was conceived by idea research performed between 2012 and 2018, and was initially designated the Deep House Habitat (DSH). By 2015, it was authorized as a part of NASA’s NextSTEP (House Applied sciences for Exploration Partnerships) research and commenced receiving funding for growth.
In 2018, the Worldwide House Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) recognized the Gateway as important to lunar exploration, missions to Mars, and past. The modular design consists of a core composed of the Energy and Propulsion Factor (PPE) and the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO). These modules will launch no before 2027, adopted by the European System Offering Refueling, Infrastructure and Telecommunications (ESPRIT), the Lunar Worldwide Habitation Module (Lunar I-HAB Module), the Canadarm3 robotic manipulator arms, and the Crew and Science Airlock Module.
The station may even be paired with reusable floor parts, collectively referred to as the “Artemis Base Camp,” which have been introduced in 2020 as a part of NASA’s Lunar Floor Sustainability Idea. The bottom will embody a Lunar Terrain Automobile (LTV) to move crew members across the touchdown zone, a pressurized Liveable Mobility Platform (HMP) for longer journeys throughout the floor, and a lunar Basis Floor Habitat (FSH) that can home as much as 4 crew members throughout shorter floor stays.
On Could 2nd, 2025, the second Trump administration launched its FT 2026 finances request, which proposed canceling the Lunar Gateway program. Nonetheless, the finances, signed into regulation on July 4th, allotted $2.6 billion to the Gateway, requiring $750 million to be spent between 2026 and 2028. Equally, discussions have arisen about repurposing the Lunar Gateway for different missions.
This contains now-Administrator Jared Isaacman’s coverage blueprint, “Challenge Athena,” through which he explored repurposing modules or propulsion-related {hardware} for a nuclear-powered tug automobile. Nonetheless, neither Isaacman nor NASA has introduced any such plans.
Tiangong
The development of China’s Tiangong (‘Heavenly Palace”) modular house station started with the deployment of the Tianhe (“Concord of the Heavens”) core module in April 2021, and completed the next yr with the deployment of the Wentian (“Quest for the Heavens”) and Mengtian (“Dreaming of the Heavens”) laboratory modules. The station is predicated on expertise gained from its predecessors, Tiangong-1 (2011-2016) and Tiangong-2 (2016-2019), and has been repeatedly occupied by taikonauts since June fifth, 2022.
As of 2026, a complete of 30 taikonauts have launched to Tiangong (Shenzhou-10 to -22), serving in crews of three for durations of about six months – although the station can accommodate as much as six taikonauts throughout mission handovers. In response to the China Manned House Company (CMSA), the station has performed analysis into spacecraft rendezvous, everlasting human operations in orbit, long-term autonomous spaceflight, bioregenerative life assist techniques (BRLSS), and autonomous cargo and gasoline provide.
On October 4th, 2023, the Chinese language Academy of House Expertise (CAST) introduced that three new modules shall be added, successfully doubling its dimension and crew capability. Chinese language state media have additionally acknowledged that the station will foster worldwide cooperation by accommodating crews from “a number of international locations,” which can embody ESA members. That is in step with plans to make Tiangong a successor to the ISS.
The deliberate enlargement may even prolong the mission’s period to 2037, 10 years longer than beforehand introduced. The analysis actions which might be deliberate will embody additional research into long-duration stays in house, house medication, agriculture, technological improvements, and assessments involving the Mengzhou spacecraft – Shenzhou’s alternative, which is designed to move six or seven taikonauts to orbit or the Moon.
On this respect, Tiangong may even play a task in China’s plans to assemble the Worldwide Lunar Analysis Station (ILRS) in collaboration with Roscosmos. Talking of which…
Russian Orbital Station
In recent times, Russia has introduced related plans to construct a successor station to the ISS. Nonetheless, in December 2025, the Director of the Institute of Biomedical Issues of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Greg Orlov, introduced that Russia would proceed utilizing the modules that make up the Russian Orbital Phase of the ISS after 2030, which might henceforth be referred to as the Russian Orbital Station (ROS), or *Rossiyskaya orbital’naya stantsiya*.
This represents a serious change from what Russian officers have acknowledged in recent times, which was their intent to create a brand new station to succeed the ISS. Plans for a Russian house station started in earnest in 2009 with the proposed Orbital Piloted Meeting and Experiment Advanced (OPSEK). This plan referred to as for a station that would come with the six modules that make up the Russian Orbital Phase, but it surely was deserted in 2017 in favor of sustaining participation within the ISS program.
*Artist’s idea for the Russian Orbital Station (ROS). Credit score: Roscosmos*
The plans have been revived after 2021, when Roscosmos introduced it could terminate its involvement within the ISS by 2024, citing considerations in regards to the situation of its growing old modules. At this level, the OPSEK idea was renamed the Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS), which might not embody Russia’s ISS modules. The up to date plan included launching the 4 core modules between 2027 and 2030, together with the scientific and vitality module, the Common Node (UNM), the Gateway (SM), and the Base Module (BM). By 2035, as much as three extra modules have been to be added, with the opportunity of a personal habitat for house tourism.
Nonetheless, attributable to finances constraints arising from sanctions and the termination of worldwide agreements (attributable to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022), Russian planners returned to the concept of reusing its ISS modules. Per this new plan, Russia will separate its modules from the ISS as soon as this system is accomplished in 2030, forming the core of the ROS, with different modules to comply with. Nonetheless, given the age of the modules and related well being considerations (which Orlov addressed as recently as 2022), there may be vital doubt that this plan will stay in place for lengthy.
Bharatiya Antariksh
In 2019, the Indian House Analysis Group (ISRO) introduced that it could construct the Bharatiya Antriksh Station (BAS) in orbit by 2035. In response to repeated ISRO statements, the station will construct on the company’s plans to start sending crewed missions to orbit (Gaganyaan). As then-ISRO chief Sreedhara Somanath acknowledged in October 2023:
Our Gaganyaan program is in direction of a human house flight functionality to house, and as soon as that occurs, we can take a look at house station constructing in subsequent modules. The timeline for this house station undertaking spans the following 20 to 25 years. We shall be positively taking a look at manned exploration, a human spaceflight for an extended period, house train there in our agenda.
Just like China, India views this station as integral to its plans of turning into a serious energy in house exploration, science, and analysis within the coming decade. This can embody finishing the Ganganyaan program and conducting a crewed Moon touchdown by the yr 2040. The event of the BAS is scheduled to start with the launch of the primary module (BAS-1), together with photo voltaic panels and a docking port suitable with ISS, in 2028.
*Artist’s impression of India’s proposed Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS). Credit score: IBEF*
The BAS will function a five-module configuration consisting of the Base Module (BAS-1), the Core-Docking Module (BAS-2), the Science analysis Module (BAS-3), the Laboratory Module (BAS-4), and the Frequent Working Module (BAS-5). The station will measure 27 by 20 meters (88.5 by 65.5 ft), orbit at an altitude of 400-450 km (250-280 mi), and home a crew of three to 4. The ISRO has additionally acknowledged that the station shall be accessible by all main house businesses, together with NASA, Roscosmos, the ESA, and JAXA.
And these are simply the plans proposed by the world’s main or rising house businesses. Keep tuned for half II, the place we are going to handle the various ideas being explored by industrial house firms.
