'Axiom Space' Takes Up Challenge To Build Space Station As ISS Heads For Retirement, Seeks ISRO Technology

The world is already looking to replace the International Space Station (ISS) which is set to be retired and junked by 2031. The ISS has been Earth's outpost in space for the last 25 years and has seen continuous and unbroken human presence in low Earth orbit since the year 2000.

The global partners now see it as becoming obsolete and needs a replacement. Many private enterprises are trying to make space stations. Axiom Space, the Houston-based private company training India's astronauts for the 2025 mission to the ISS, is leading the pack and hopes to have the Axiom Space Station up and running before 2031.

So, can Indian rocket technology developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) play a role in the future space station?

Axiom Space in a statement said it is the leading provider of human spaceflight services and developer of human-rated space infrastructure. We operate end-to-end missions to the ISS while developing its successor, Axiom Station, and building next-generation spacesuits for low-Earth orbit, the Moon and beyond.

Speaking exclusively to NDTV, Pearly Pandya, Director, International Government Business at Axiom Space, who is an Indian-American and was born in Ahmedabad, said she hopes to see Indian rockets used in such missions in the future, and Axiom is looking for a longer collaboration with India.

Axiom space says the construction of the world's first commercial space station is underway.

Following completing preliminary and critical design reviews in collaboration with NASA, Axiom's partners at Thales Alenia Space began welding and machining activities for the primary structures of Axiom Station's first module.

The first pieces of fabricated flight hardware are beginning to come together, and the assembled module will reach Houston soon, where it will complete the final assembly and integration. Axiom Space is preparing for a 2026 launch of the first section of its next-generation platform that will operate in low-Earth orbit.

To a question on Indian rockets being used for missions to the probable successor to the ISS, which Axiom is building, Ms Pandya said, "I would love to see that. For us, it is important that the supply chain is global and diverse. I think the possibilities and the potential that India has is immense. The successes that we have seen with Chandrayaan-3 have demonstrated that India is emerging to be a space superpower and we are very excited to be a part of that story."

On India's plan to have its own space station, Bharatiya Antariksha Station, by 2035, Ms Pandya said Axiom would be ready to support the country and would be happy to discuss interoperability, building a module, or even working on "space trade", wherein each station has different capabilities.