Airbus Pitches Single-Launch Space Station
The Airbus Loop space station would be completely assembled on the ground and launched atop a super-heavy-class booster.
The Airbus Loop space station, with a connected Spartan Space inflatable module and a docked Orion European Service Module.Airbus
The Airbus Loop is designed to fit with the upcoming generation of super-heavy launchers that can launch an entire module in one piece. Thus, the Airbus LOOP is immediately operational once in orbit, ready to host humans and payloads.
The Airbus Loop consists of three levels. In its original design, these are a Habitation Deck, a Science Deck and a Centrifuge that can create gravity conditions for the inhabitants, reducing the stress of weightlessness on the human body.
The decks are connected via the so-called ‘Tunnel’ at the center, which is surrounded by a greenhouse structure at the center of the modules. The separation into different decks allows for an internal ‘safe harbour’ concept.
Loop's crew quarters provide a spot to sleep while tethered to the wall, but don't look for a mint on the pillow at night.
Airbus designers imagine equipping Loop's science deck with a glovebox storage space and an airlock.
The Airbus Loop is designed for a four-person crew, however, could temporarily accommodate up to eight astronauts at a time. It is compatible with all of today’s and tomorrow’s crew and cargo vehicles.
A diameter of eight meters (or roughly 26 feet) and roughly the same length enable an unprecedented volume, giving crews on board ample space. Its rigid outer shell offers maximum protection against any external influences.
Loop's crew habitation deck is built around a central gathering spot that surrounds the station's Tunnel pass-through between decks.
Skylab was also a launch-in-one-piece design, though it didn't work as hoped in practice. The station looks asymmetrical in this photo because one of its two rectangular solar panels tore off during launch. Hopefully that provided a useful lesson for Airbus's Loop engineers to avoid a similar outcome.
This artist's conception of Skylab's layout was the 1972 version of the computer renderings of Loop that Airbus has provided, showing the locations of its various features.
This artist's conception of Skylab's layout was the 1972 version of the computer renderings of Loop that Airbus has provided, showing the locations of its various features.
Seeking to leverage its experience constructing the International Space Station’s Columbus Module and the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) and the Orion European Service Module (ESM) space ferries, Airbus is proposing a space station that can be launched as an already-assembled complete unit.
Airbus calls this Loop, a multi-purpose orbital module that flies into orbit as a ready-to-use space platform. NASA’s Skylab space station was a similar concept, and the reason for both of them is the availability of a booster strong enough to lift a module large enough to be a small space station.
For Skylab, that booster was the Saturn V moon rocket. The Airbus Loop station could fly aboard the SpaceX Super Heavy booster that recently flew its first orbital launch attempt carrying a SpaceX Starship. Loop doesn’t care what body it orbits, so customers can also consider sending it to Lunar orbit or even Mars as an outpost for operations there.
Airbus intends for the Loop to be a blank canvas, onto which customers can paint their own mission requirements. Loop’s modular design means that customers can adapt the deck selection to their individual mission requirements and objectives. That means the ability to choose to replace any or all of the three decks with individually designed options needed for their respective mission objectives.
Customers can even choose a ‘dry’ module or deck of mechanical structure with no outfitting. Then they can equip it with their own infrastructure elements.
Additionally, customers can assemble larger stations just by launching multiple Loops and docking them together in orbit.
To help clients customize Loop to their own needs, Airbus is offering:
Consulting services for the design and engineering of In-Space and Space Transportation Infrastructure as well as Operations
Thermal Control Solutions
Power Generation and Management Systems
Environmental Control and Life Support Systems
Outfitting Elements (e.g. Glovebox, Rack, Cooler/Freezer)
Payload Design, Integration, and Hosting Services
While Loop’s ready-to-use, single-launch concept is similar to that of Skylab, Loop has a larger diameter (26 feet, compared to Skylab’s 21.67 feet), providing additional internal space. There’s even enough room for a long-promised centrifuge to provide occupants with artificial gravity while they are inside. Now we just have to see what organizations step forward to buy Loop modules and what they will do with them. Click through the photo gallery for details.
About the Author(s)
You May Also Like