Axiom Space keen to facilitate manufacturing of commercial products in space
Houston/Lucerne - The US aerospace firm Axiom Space intends to build the successor to the International Space Station (ISS), on which its aim is to enable research findings to be directly translated into production. At Axiom Space’s new location in Lucerne, work is focused on the development of data centers in space.
The ISS is set to be replaced by a space station operated by a private company within the next decade. Axiom Space from Houston is one of the suppliers in the running to develop the successor. In an interview with the German-language Swiss newspaper "Neue Zürcher Zeitung"” (NZZ), Axiom Space CEO Jonathan Cirtain outlines his company’s plans.
In his view, building a space station of its own is "essentially just an extension of the capabilities we already have". Axiom Space has conducted visits to the ISS and operates its own mission control center in the vicinity of NASA’s Johnson Space Center. The company aims to launch its space station in orbit by the end of 2029.
Compared with the ISS, the potential successor is intended to be designed in a more pragmatic and aesthetically pleasing manner. However, the most notable innovation is the ability to translate research findings directly into production. "I believe that in a few years, we will actually be manufacturing commercial products", Cirtain comments. Producing even small quantities under weightless conditions is already a worthwhile undertaking for certain pharmaceutical active ingredients, as the CEO and astrophysicist explains further.
Axiom Space recently founded a subsidiary based in Lucerne. The interview touches on the background to the company’s choice of location, with Cirtain explaining that the existing competence in the field of engineering on offer in the region was a major factor. "ETH and EPFL are not far away, and we are already working with the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts", Certain says, adding that: "Swiss aerospace companies such as Beyond Gravity and Swissto12 could also become partners in the future". In Lucerne, the company intends to hire "between 20 and 50 employees to support our efforts to establish the Space Computing division".
