Space startup Max Space unveiled plans for an inflatable space station that can expand to a whopping 12,300 cubic feet.
The International Space Station was painstakingly assembled segment by segment, launched into orbit by many expensive and logistically complex rockets.
Now there’s intense interest in a radically different model: launching space habitats that can inflate like balloons once they’re in space, creating far more room for astronauts inside — and maximizing the amount of orbital real estate they can claim with just a single launch.
Case in point, the aptly-named startup Max Space recently unveiled plans for its private space habitat, dubbed Thunderbird Station, that can expand to a whopping 12,300 cubic feet — roughly a third of the volume of the ISS — while only requiring a single launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Max Space is tentatively planning to launch the massive inflatable by 2029, giving future space travelers “unprecedented volume usable in all dimensions, per the firm’s website.
While it remains to be seen whether the company will ultimately be successful in its ambitious endeavor — it’s only one of several companies working on inflatable space habitats — it’s an exciting vision for a far roomier and potentially luxurious future in our planet’s orbit.
