Commercial space infrastructure firm Voyager Technologies is supporting lunar habitat developer Max Space with a new multi-million dollar investment aimed at accelerating the development of expandable modules for future missions to the Moon.
Companies say that partnership will help in moving forward expandable housing technology toward the operational mission by scaling up production, boosting engineering efforts, and integrating Voyager’s technology systems with the MAX’s habitat infrastructure.
“Extending human presence beyond low earth orbit (LEOs) require infrastructure that is scalable, resilient and purpose-built for durability,” Voyager President and CEO Dylan Taylor said in a statement. March 9 statement. “By combining Voyager’s integrated platform with Max Space’s expandable habitat architecture, we are accelerating the transition from demonstration missions to sustainable lunar capability.”
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of max space expandable housing technology Designed to fold into a tightly packed configuration capable of fitting inside the rocket-like payload fairing spacex‘S hawk 9. Once delivered to orbit, the Moon or another planet, the structure significantly increases its internal living space, providing the dual benefits of lighter launch mass and greater useful volume compared to conventional rigid spacecraft.
“Voyager’s investment is a powerful validation of our expandable habitat thesis and long legacy in orbit. Together we are building habitats that are designed to not only reach Moon But there to stay,” said Salim Mian, co-founder and CEO, Max Space.
The companies did not disclose the true value of the investment.
Denver-based Voyager markets itself as a commercial space infrastructure innovator focused on mission services and technologies for system operations beyond low Earth orbit. The company is also developing a commercial space station in collaboration with Airbus starlabWhich NASA selected as one of several private LEO destinations intended to succeed International Space Station (ISS) after its retirement in the 2030s.
Expandable housing itself is not a new idea. NASA tested this concept in a demonstration in orbit Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), a small inflatable test habitat that was attached to the ISS in 2016 to study the performance of the technology. space.
BEAM was built by Bigelow Aerospace, which had its own plans for larger expandable space stations, but was forced to close its doors due to financial struggles at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. MAX hopes to take this concept even further, creating larger space modules that will support astronauts for deep space missions and long-term tenures on the lunar surface.
Max and Voyager say their joint initiative is a direct response to the recent incident NASA Announcing a new roadmap for its Artemis program and outlining the agency’s efforts to land astronauts on the Moon in 2028. artemis program Its goal is to establish a permanent human presence on the Moon and will require a variety of surface modules to maintain a crew.
The companies hope their partnership will help support future lunar missions, including “reinforcing the shared vision of the Moon as an operational domain, not just a temporary destination, including cislunar mission management, surface logistics, propulsion, power systems and future surface infrastructure,” according to the March 9 statement.
