A pathway for Gravitics’ 4m space station module design used to develop manufacturing and assembly methods.
Gravitics
Washington, D.C.-based startup Gravitics has signed a $125 million contract to expand Axiom Space’s planned space station, the latest deal in the burgeoning private market for habitats in orbit.
“Partnering with the station operator who will have hardware in orbit as soon as possible is an exciting development,” Gravitics CEO and founder Colin Doughan told CNBC.
Axiom is one of several companies building private space stations as NASA plans for the International Space Station to end its time in orbit. Already, Axiom has its space station modules manufactured by Italian aerospace contractor Thales Alenia. The Gravitics order adds another “pressurized spacecraft” that will dock with the Axiom station after its scheduled launch in two years.
The deal between Axiom and Gravitics, which was founded in 2021, represents the startup’s most significant to date. Gravitics previously raised a total of $20 million in venture funding as it looks to make its mark as a maker of private space stations.
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The nearly 50-employee company, based in a northern suburb of Seattle, aims to provide space station modules — essentially the building blocks of orbiting habitats — as a plug-and-play product line that can be launched on a variety of rockets , either the ones flying right now, like SpaceX’s Falcon 9, or future behemoths like Blue Origin’s New Glenn.
The space station modules designed by Gravitics range from 3 meters (9 feet) to 8 meters (26 feet) in diameter. The largest module, which the company boasts will have the “largest interior volume in an autonomous spacecraft,” is called StarMax, a name inspired by SpaceX’s towering Starship rocket.
“We started by looking at Starship and saying, ‘Somebody’s going to maximize this payload volume,'” Doughan said.
Currently, NASA’s Commercial LEO Destinations, or CLD, program is awarding development contracts to companies that build space stations in anticipation of the deliberate destruction of the ISS at the end of the decade. Axiom was the first to win a NASA contract to build space station modules, and Gravitics would attach its spacecraft later this decade.
But Gravitics’ deal is not exclusive, Dogan said.
“We’re hoping to be in a lot of teams for it [second phase of CLD]not as primary [bidder] because we have zero interest in features… But I expect you’ll start to see some of the architectures reflect some [of our space station modules] it builds into some of those plans moving forward,” Doughan said.
Gravitics is working on prototypes as well as testing key components, such as the test firing of its propulsion system and prototypes of its pressure test unit. Doughan said Gravitics will fly some of its components to the ISS later this year for testing and plans to launch a subscale spacecraft by 2026.
Testing a propulsion system firing at Gravitics’ facility in Marysville, Washington.
Gravitics
“We’re a very material-rich company, so we’re building at the same time we’re completing the design,” Doughan said.
The company signed an agreement with NASA for new approaches to testing large spacecraft, as well as an early Space Force development contract. The latest contract, Doughan emphasized, represents Gravitics working “with those customers who are ready to buy.”
“The Space Force budget already exceeds NASA’s budget, and it won’t stop,” Dogan said.
The Axiom deal is a catalyst for Gravitics’ growth, Doughan said, as the company plans to double its number of funds in the coming months and launch a new round of fundraising.
