Posted on October 16, 2022
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I think its launch and progression helps explain why companies like SpaceXto speak of the most famous of them, can develop and prosper in this environment so different from that of Europe and, therefore, so buoyant.
I remind you that NewSpace is all of the private companies that appear, disappear and sometimes survive around institutions dedicated to space, much like certain quantum particles in a vacuum appear according to circumstances in the real world. NewSpace exists in Europe as well as in the United States, but in the latter country it is carried by the culture of science fiction as well as by capitalism and it has a real chance of emerging from the virtual world, as proven SpaceX toElon Musk or Blue Origin from Jeff Bezos. The only condition is in fact that the underlying technology holds up, or rather allows it to evolve in space.
Gateway-Spaceport was founded in 2012 in California (Los Angeles) by an experienced airline pilot, John Blincow, seduced by 2001 space odyssey and by the Starship project. On this basis alone, and without all the specific qualifications required, but by surrounding himself with people more qualified than him to make his various concepts credible, he embarked on the project of building stations in space in the shape of rotating torus of the type of that of 2001. The machines and the semi-finished products necessary for this construction would be mounted in orbit by cargo-version starships.
The cost would be reduced to a minimum by the modularity of the elements, the speed of their assembly thanks to this modularity and extensive robotization, and by the modest cost of accessing their supplies into orbit thanks to the Starship because the goal is not only to realize a dream but to make an investment profitable since if John Blincow has the concept in mind, he does not a priori have the money necessary for its realization.
The modular elements would be simple and standardized: beams and spars for the framework, parallelepipedic aluminum plates lined with thermal and anti-radiation insulating layers to form a shell isolating the interior of the torus from space, and contained by the frame. The robots would also be those needed to build the circular or more precisely annular structure (STAR for Structure Truss Assembly Robot) which would receive the modular elements to assemble them and then weld them together, that the sps (single person spacecraft) individual spacecraft, commonly referred to as pod that would take on the shelves of what Blincow calls a material tree, the modules brought by the starship, to deliver them to the STAR. The progress of the construction would be done in circular slices the length of a hull plate, one following the other, the finalization of one slice allowing to undertake the other, like the knitting of a sock. The automation should allow the assembly of an interior torus 224 meters in diameter in a few months. Each station (Voyager) would include two tori linked together by two perpendicular axes, the second, an outer torus, having a diameter of 400 meters. The first assemblies would be made in Earth orbit but later one might install stations elsewhere, for example at the Lagrange points.
As soon as possible, that is to say before the equipment of the interior, the torus would be set in rotation thanks to four tangential propulsion jets, located at the four ends of the two axes. The goal is to obtain a gravity of 0.16 g (Moon, inner torus) to 0.38 g (Mars, outer torus). Gradually higher gravity away from the center, would allow differentiated activities, including those requiring microgravity. Access to the station would be through the center, in a spaceport transverse that can accommodate a starship and of course the heaviest masses.
The energy used for the construction and operation of the whole would be mainly that of the Sun (photovoltaic panels).
Profitability would be ensured by space tourism (stays at 5, 3 or 2 million dollars at the beginning, for a few days on site, compared to the 50 million on average for a stay in the ISS), astronomy (installation possible tori at Lagrange points to serve the observatories that would be placed there) or other scientific activities. The goal would be to lower the price of stays quickly to around 500,000 dollars by economy of scale (number of resorts, flights, customers). A first-generation space station might accommodate 280 customers at the same time (not counting service personnel). Funding would be by appeal to the public, at first a foundation (John Blincow and his friends) then the sale of shares of the Gateway Spaceport LLC (GTC) Company, and lotteries within the framework of which prizes for stay in a station might be won.
The approach and the “program” are as follows:
(1) Creation of the Gateway-Foundation in 2012.
(2) Start-up of a construction company, Orbital-Assembly (2018), “OAC”, dedicated to the mass production of machines, mainly the STAR construction robot, and modular elements.
(3) Construction on the ground of a technology demonstrator, the “DSTAR” (“D” for demonstrator). Its engineering was completed in the summer of 2020, its construction in May 2021, its operating capacity was demonstrated in July 2021. It is capable of building 100 meters of framework in 100 minutes (diameter 2 meters).
(4) Creation of Gatewayspaceport Limited Liablility Ccompany in 2020 and call for public investment.
(5) The next step is the creation of a demonstrator in space, the PSTAR (P for prototype).
(6) Around 2025 (to say “soon”), construction by PSTAR of a Gravity Ring which will be a framework in the form of a ring 60 meters in diameter (and always 2 meters for the interior of the torus). The construction of this gravity ring would be used to reduce the risks associated with the design and manufacture of the first full-size (and habitable) station, Voyager. The builder also hopes to demonstrate to investors that it can control the operational dynamics of its rotating structure and the validity of its construction process (speed and accuracy). John Blincow would like to place this Gravity Ring near the ISS so that astronauts residing there might visit it and perhaps set up a habitat there to observe the effects of rotation on humans.
(7) After demonstrating the reliability of the process, at the end of the 2020s, it should be possible to envisage the construction of a much larger framework which would constitute the framework of the station Voyager, made up of a series of sections 20 meters long and 20 meters in diameter. Construction should only cost a third of that of the ISS (lower launch costs and modularity).
But as you understand, phases (3) and following depend on the completion of the Starship! Or, to put it positively, as John Blincow: « When Starship is ready, we will be ready ».
And I think he’s not the only one thinking regarding it and preparing for it. A variant of the Gateway-Spaceport torus, envisioned by Orbital-Assembly boss Timothy Alatorre, an early associate architect with John Blincow, is a wheel-like framework holding a series of Bigelow modules in which rotation would create gravity artificial.
Newspace companies are part of an ecosystem.
They dialogue, they advance in sometimes wild competition but can also collaborate provided that the partner can contribute something and that the financing is accessible. Everyone orbits (so to speak) around NASA and NASA gladly accepts the innovations proposed, depending of course on what it might get out of them. There is no mutual hostility. John Blincow recognizes the central role of NASA and he is fully aware of the freedom left to him by the system as well as the fact that creating profitable projects is indeed the domain of NewSpace and not of NASA whose domain is primarily science and transport.
We are in the United States, a country where space enthusiasts are numerous and where many of them have money and are ready to risk it if there is hope. As Elon Musk said, « I might either watch it happen or be a part of it » or « when there is a will, there is a way ». As for Gateway Spaceport, the large-scale development will ultimately depend on the success of the first space wheel and therefore on the decision of consumers to use it as well as investors to finance it.
In Europe, NewSpace is faced with more difficulties because private investors who would dare to become immobilized in such projects are rare and have limited means. Institutions, first and foremost the ESA, are only interested in projects they consider serious (and civil servants are generally cautious). In its small NewSpace, which is not very dynamic because it is not very powerful, Europe will therefore lag behind the United States for a long time to come. But the European companies which want to develop, can without any complex go to the United States. They will find all the funding and cooperation they want, if they can demonstrate their technological and financial interest!
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