Huge Area now goals for 2026 launch of Haven-1 house station module after key milestone (photographs)
Huge Area is taking massive steps towards placing the primary industrial house station in orbit.
The California-based startup lately accomplished a serious testing milestone for the qualification vessel of its upcoming Haven-1 station, a benchmark Huge additionally used to reevaluate the launch date for the corporate’s first flight-ready module.
“With the completion of our major construction qualification check and a totally assembled group, we now have higher readability on our construct and launch schedule. Because of this, we’re updating our timeline,” Huge mentioned in a press release.
Haven-1 will journey a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to low-Earth orbit — a mission that was initially slated for this August. Now, Huge expects Haven-1 to launch no sooner than Could 2026.
Even with the delay, it is nonetheless an “bold timeline,” the corporate mentioned. However Huge stays optimistic: “If all goes as deliberate, we may have designed, constructed, and launched the world’s first industrial house station in three years — a tempo by no means earlier than achieved in human spaceflight.”
Huge started manufacturing the Haven-1 qualification article at its Lengthy Seashore headquarters in July 2024 and transported the module to the corporate’s check stand in Mojave, California, final month. There, the module started a sequence of campaigns to qualify the module’s structural integrity. These campaigns are ongoing, however one handed lately was a big hurdle for the module’s continued growth.
Utilizing dry nitrogen, Huge pressurized the module on the check stand twice — the primary for a period of 5 hours, and the second for 48 hours. In keeping with the corporate’s information, Haven-1’s strain sensors confirmed an “indiscernible” leak price, exceeding the vessel’s necessities and falling inside compliance for NASA’s crew-rated spacecraft {qualifications}.
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That final bit is vital. Huge is hoping to win the bid for NASA’s Business LEO Vacation spot (CLD) contract in 2026, and desires to place itself forward of the competitors.
With the Worldwide Area Station (ISS) approaching retirement on the finish of 2030, NASA has been longing for firms to get industrial house stations up and operating. Certainly, practically half a dozen different non-public contenders have voiced plans to assemble their very own LEO locations — particularly, Northrop Grumman, Axiom Area, Nanoracks and Sierra Area.
As these firms tread water whereas they gauge market demand or proceed their station developments within the background, Huge says it is on observe to get Haven-1 to orbit in file time, and has begun actively looking for out prospects and scientists with analysis they need to fly to house.
Within the weeks forward, the check module will likely be submitted to simulated launch pressures utilizing hydraulic actuators on the Mojave check stand, in addition to endure structural load checks whereas below strain.
Even because the qualification article started its check marketing campaign on the finish of final month, Huge was already manufacturing the Haven-1 flight car — the one going to house. Matching the six-month tempo the qualification module took from manufacturing to its checks in Mojave, Huge goals to finish the first construction for the flight module by July of this 12 months. The corporate’s full timeline, from now via the primary crewed mission to Haven-1 is as follows:
| Milestone | Description | Goal Date |
|---|---|---|
| Flight Main Construction | Full manufacturing and testing of the flight major construction | July 2025 |
| Integration | Car integration and checkout, together with subsystem manufacturing and testing | July 2025 – December 2025 |
| Built-in Car Testing | Environmental check marketing campaign (acoustics, vibration, EMI, TVAC) | Jan 2026 – March 2026 |
| Launch Marketing campaign Begin | Pre-launch operations on the launch web site | April 2026 – Could 2026 |
| Launch | Haven-1 launch | NET Could 2026 |
| Automated-Orbit Operations | System commissioning in orbit | Could – June 2026 |
| First Crewed Mission | First crewed mission | NET Finish of June 2026 |
As soon as Haven-1 is operational in orbit, Huge plans to launch a four-person crew to the outpost aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon. That mission will final about two weeks, because the astronauts take a look at the station’s methods and habitability.
Trying forward even additional, Huge has already unveiled its plans for Haven-2, a second module design that may dock with Haven-1 to extend the house station’s capability and capabilities. Huge is presently concentrating on 2028 for the primary Haven-2 launch, with plans to so as to add to the modular station via 2032 to finally exceed the present capabilities of the ISS.
