California’s extensive expanse has great ambitions. The company intends to launch a commercial space station, Haven-2, to low Earth orbit by 2028, which would allow astronauts to remain in space after the International Space Station (ISS) retires in 2030. It is trying to rethink NASA’s plans to develop commercial space stations with low orbit with partner organizations – but the most ambitious goals are the extensive space for what will eventually go into space: a station that has its own artificial gravity.
“We know that we can live in invalidity for about a year, and in conditions that are not basic. But perhaps the gravity of the moon or Mars will be enough to live comfortably throughout life. The only way to find out is to build an artificial gravity station, which is our long-term goal,” says Max Hoot, CEO of Wholl.
The massive space was founded in 2021 by 49-year-old programmer and businessman Jed McCaleb, creator of the peer-to-peer networks Edonkey and Overnet, as well as the early and defunct Crypto Exchange Mt. Gox. The huge space announced in mid-December partnership with SpaceX to launch two ISS missions, which will be milestones in the company’s plan to launch its first space station, Haven-1, later in 2025, will be housed under its private astronaut mission program NASA, under which the space agency wants to promote the development of a space economy in low-Earth orbit.
For a huge one, it is part of a long-term business strategy. “Building a facility that artificially mimics gravity will take 10 to 20 years and an amount of money that we don’t have right now,” Haot admits. “However, in order to win the most important contract in the space station market, which is to replace the ISS, with the resources of our founder, we will deploy four people on [SpaceX] Dragon in 2025. They will stay aboard Haven-1 for two weeks and then return safely, demonstrating to NASA our capabilities before any competitor. “
Room for one more?
Huge space is trying to do, showing its capabilities, is engaged in NASA Trading sites in low earth orbit (CLD) Program, a project the space agency launched in 2021 with a $415 million grant to support the development of private low-Earth orbit stations.
The money was initially allocated to three different projects: one from aerospace and defense company Northrop Grumman, which has since left the program; a joint venture called Starlab; and the orbital reef, from Jeff Bezos’ celestial origin. Huge has no contract with the US space agency, but it aims to outperform its competitors by showing NASA that it can put a space station in space before those others. The agency will choose which station of the project will return in the second half of 2026.
In this way, it borrows hugely from the SpaceX playbook. The huge space has not only attracted some of its employees and hardware and vehicle design from Elon Musk’s company, but is also trying to repeat its approach to the market: to be ready before anyone else, through technologies and processes already qualified and approved in orbit in orbit. “Behind,” says Haot. “What can we do to win? Our response in the second half of 2025 will be the launch of Haven-1. “
Haven-1 will have a habitable volume of 45 cubic meters, a docking port, a corridor with operational resources for the crew’s personal living quarters, a laboratory and an implemented community table created next to a meter-high dome window. Onboard, about 425 kilometers above Earth’s surface, the station will utilize Starlink laser links to communicate with satellites in low Earth orbit, a technology that was first tested on the Polaris Dawn mission in fall 2024.