Read more at source.
Read more at source.
Vast Space was founded in 2021 by 49-year-old programmer and businessman Jed McCaleb, known for his creation of the peer-to-peer networks eDonkey and Overnet, as well as the early and now defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox. The company announced a partnership with SpaceX in mid-December to launch two missions to the ISS, which will serve as milestones in Vast's plan to launch its first space station, Haven-1, later in 2025.
Haven-1 will have a habitable volume of 45 cubic meters, a docking port, a corridor with consumable resources for the crews personal living quarters, a laboratory, and a deployable communal table set up next to a domed window about a meter high. On board, roughly 425 kilometers above Earths surface, the station will use Starlink laser links to communicate with satellites in low Earth orbit, a technology that was first tested during the Polaris Dawn mission in the autumn of 2024.
Vast's long-term business strategy involves building an outpost that artificially mimics gravity, a project that is expected to take between 10 to 20 years. The company hopes to win the most important contract in the space station market, the replacement of ISS, with their founders resources. They plan to launch four people on a SpaceX Dragon in 2025 who will stay aboard Haven-1 for two weeks, then return safely, demonstrating to NASA their capability before any competitor.
Vast Space is aiming to get involved in NASA’s Commercial Destinations in Low Earth Orbit (CLD) program, inaugurated in 2021 with a $415 million grant to support the development of private low-Earth orbit stations. The company aims to outstrip its competitors by showing NASA that it can put a space station into space ahead of others. The agency will choose which project's station to back in the second half of 2026.
We know that in weightlessness we can live a year or so, and in conditions that are not easy. Perhaps, however, lunar or Martian gravity is enough to live comfortably for a lifetime. The only way to find out is to build stations with artificial gravity, which is our long-term goal, says Max Haot, Vast's CEO.
