ORLANDO, Fla., March 1 (UPI) -- A Kentucky space firm that conducts science experiments on the International Space Station has plans to launch its own miniature, automated orbital research platform in about two years.
Lexington-based Space Tango has small research containers, or CubeLabs, on the space station. Bustling business and growing need for such experiments in microgravity led the company to plan its own space station, founder and CEO Twyman Clements said.
"As the scale of our business grows across a number of uses, having a dedicated spacecraft for manufacturing is the way to go," Clements said in an interview Friday.
He declined to say how much the company would spend on the project or how much each spacecraft might cost.
Founded in 2014 by Clements, an aerospace engineer, Space Tango installed its first small laboratory on the ISS in 2016 and a second in 2017.
Space Tango is among a growing number of firms that manufacture high-tech fiber optics, medical equipment and human tissue in the microgravity of space, mostly with advanced 3D printing.
Such orbital methods produce more delicate structures than on the surface, where gravity can create imperfections.
The space station, named ST-42, would be little more than a capsule with solar panels for electrical power and a heat shield. The interior could be reconfigured depending on what each mission required, Clements said.
The spacecraft has been in the design phase for about two years. Space Tango is trying to decide what type of propulsion ST-42 would have, he said.
"We're not necessarily interested in using hydrazine, which is common for in-space propulsion," he said, adding that hydrazine is a toxic and explosive chemical used to fuel many satellites but the company may seek a more environmentally friendly alternative.
Space Tango hasn't chosen a launch provider, but Clements said he has looked at ride-sharing launches with California-based companies SpaceX and Rocket Lab, among others.
Space Tango, which has about 22 employees, plans to launch a test prototype in 2023 that wouldn't have a heat shield, just to test launch and spaceflight, Clements said.
Typical missions would remain in a low-Earth orbit for about two weeks, he said. Plans call for the capsule to splash down near Florida, where Space Tango plans an initial processing facility near Kennedy Space Center.
Such ability to bring a cargo spacecraft back from orbit with sensitive science on board only is possible currently by using SpaceX's cargo Dragon capsules, said Rich Boling, a vice president at Indiana-based space company Techshot, which also houses experiments on the ISS.
Three other cargo vehicles can bring science and supplies to the space station, but they all burn up in the atmosphere upon undocking -- the Russian Progress capsule, Northrop Grumman Cygnus and Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle.
Techshot might like to fly some future experiments on ST-42 if the opportunity arises, Boling said.
"The space station has been the best option so far, and NASA has plans to expand the capability there," Boling said. "But most of those experiments require astronauts. Having an automated, independent orbital platform would be a welcome alternative."
20 years aboard the International Space Station
The International Space Station is photographed by Expedition 56 crew members from a Soyuz spacecraft after undocking on October 4, 2018. NASA astronauts Andrew Feustel and Ricky Arnold and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev executed a fly-around of the orbiting laboratory to take pictures of the space station before returning home after spending 197 days in space. Photo courtesy of NASA/Roscosmos
Guinness World Records announced on October 19, 2020, that NASA astronauts Christina Koch (R) and Jessica Meir, who made history with the first all-female spacewalk on October 18, 2019, are being honored for this achievement with a feature in the Guinness World Records 2021 edition. The historic spacewalk took place at the ISS, where they worked on maintenance and upgrades. While this was Koch's fourth spacewalk, it was Meir's first. Photo by NASA/UPI | License Photo
Expedition 64 NASA astronaut Kate Rubins is seen having her Russian Sokol suit pressure checked as she and fellow crewmates Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos prepare for their Soyuz launch to the ISS on October 14, 2020, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The trio was launched at 1:45 a.m. EDT to begin a six-month mission aboard the ISS. Photo by Andrey Shelepin/GCTC/NASA | License Photo
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is happy to be aboard the ISS after the hatch opening of the Soyuz spacecraft March 28, 2015. Kelly traveled with Expedition 43 Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka on the Soyuz TMA-16M that was launched the day before from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Kelly and Kornienko each spent a year in space and returned to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Photo courtesy of NASA
Astronaut William Shepherd (C), the Expedition 1 mission commander, looks on while Soyuz commander cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko (L) and the flight engineer, cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, apply final touches to his full pressure entry suit as he lies on a couch of a Johnson Space Center trainer on May 12, 2000. Scheduled to come back from his space station stay aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery, the three were participating in a rehearsal of their duties during shuttle descent. Photo courtesy of NASA
Kelly cared for two crops in the Veggie Plant Growth Facility during his year in space. Understanding the most effective ways to grow plants in microgravity is a key piece of the future journey to Mars. Growing plants in space provides crew members with fresh foods to supplement their diets, as well as a positive effect on morale and well-being. Photo courtesy of NASA
Tim Kopra photographed his breakfast floating inside of the Unity module aboard the ISS on April 16, 2016. In a tweet, he remarked "#Breakfast taco on #ISS: refried beans, shredded pork, pepper jack cheese, eggs and salsa on a tortilla. Awesome." Photo courtesy of NASA
Flight controllers at the ISS Mission Control at Johnson Space Center monitor systems aboard the orbiting laboratory during a number of dynamic events for Expedition 44 on August 10, 2015. Screens in the front of the room show the camera views from two spacewalking Russian cosmonauts, while NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren is seen harvesting lettuce from the veggie experiment that would become the first food grown in space to be eaten. Photo by Bill Stafford/NASA
Expedition 61 crew members, from left to right, NASA flight engineers Meir, Andrew Morgan and Koch with Commander Luca Parmitano of ESA unpack fresh fruit and other goodies from a stowage bag delivered aboard Japan's HTV-8 cargo craft on the ISS on October 7, 2019. Photo courtesy of NASA
Kelly corrals the supply of fresh fruit that arrived on the Kounotori 5 H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-5) on August 25, 2015. Visiting cargo ships often carry a small cache of fresh food for crew members aboard the ISS. Photo courtesy of NASA
NASA astronauts Jeff Williams (shown here) and Rubins successfully installed a new international docking adapter on August 19, 2016, during a 5-hour, 58-minute spacewalk. Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi assisted the duo from inside the space station, while all three then cleaned up the Quest airlock, where they stowed their spacesuits and tools. Photo courtesy of NASA
Koch worked in the vacuum of space 265 miles above the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa aboard the ISS on January 15, 2020. She and Meir conducted a spacewalk to install new lithium-ion batteries that store and distribute power collected from solar arrays on the station’s Port-6 truss structure. Photo courtesy of NASA
Astronauts aboard the ISS captured these star trail images as they orbited the Earth at 17,500 mph on October 3, 2016. Photo courtesy of NASA
NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy embarks on a spacewalk outside the ISS on June 16, 2020. Photo courtesy of NASA
Behnken and Cassidy completed the first of two scheduled spacewalks on June 16, 2020, to replace batteries on one of two power channels on the far starboard truss (S6 Truss) of the ISS. Of this image posted by Behnken on Twitter, he said: "Yesterday, @Astro_SEAL snapped this shot from our worksite on @Space_Station – @SpaceX's Crew Dragon and @JAXA_en's HTV in clear view. Not bad for a view while working. …" Photo courtesy of NASA/Twitter | License Photo
Koch (L) and Meir work on their U.S. spacesuits ahead of a spacewalk they conducted to install new lithium-ion batteries that store and distribute power collected from solar arrays on the station’s Port-6 truss structure on the ISS on January 15, 2020. Photo courtesy of NASA
Commander Peggy Whitson works to change the media in a BioCell for the OsteoOmics experiment inside the Microgravity Sciences Glovebox in the Destiny U.S. Laboratory on the ISS on May 3, 2017. Photo courtesy of NASA
Rubins checks a sample for air bubbles before loading it in the biomolecule sequencer in September 2016. Photo courtesy of NASA
Roscosmos cosmonaut and Expedition 63 Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner transfers biological samples into a science freezer for stowage and later analysis aboard the ISS on October 7, 2020. Photo courtesy of NASA
Cassidy (L) and Behnken work on U.S. spacesuits inside the ISS's Quest airlock. The two conduct spacewalks on June 26 and July 1, 2020, to begin the replacement of batteries for one of the power channels on the orbiting laboratory. They replaced aging nickel-hydrogen batteries for one of two power channels on the far starboard truss (S6 Truss) of the station with new lithium-ion batteries that arrived to the station on a Japanese cargo ship. This was the culmination of power upgrade spacewalks that began in January 2017. Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo
