The only archaeologists who have studied how astronauts live on the International Space Station are now volunteering to consult with the builders of the next orbiting outposts. The co-directors of the International Space Station Archaeological Project (ISSAP) have joined forces with an architect to launch Brick Moon, a new consultancy business focused on improving productivity, lowering costs, and supporting crew well-being aboard upcoming space habitats. This week, Brick Moon will make its formal premiere at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Paris, France.
We're incredibly pleased about this, said Justin Walsh, co-founder of Brick Moon and co-director of the ISS Archaeological Project. It is an opportunity for us to move from the basic research of the International Space Station Archaeological Project to applied research in a sense, where we are taking problems presented to us by space habitat designers, mission planners, and the like and answering those questions based on the findings and experiences we've had doing archaeological and other research under the ISSAP label.
The ISS Archaeological Project, founded in 2015 by Walsh and colleague "space archaeologist" Alice Gorman, was the first large-scale space archaeological project and the first to focus on a functioning space station. The initiative examined the trash returned from the International Space Station and, in collaboration with the crew aboard the orbiting laboratory, built "dig sites" to better understand the requirements of the people who have lived on the station for more than 20 years.
According to Walsh, the ISS Archaeological Project is still ongoing, but its findings are now useful to people other than scholars.
We're really churning out the results, he remarked. That was one of the reasons we felt like we had reached a critical mass in terms of the things we've learned and are able to discuss that could really help designers figure out better ways to do what they want to do, more efficient ways to do what they want to do, and possibly less expensive ways to do what they want to do.
Walsh stated, "Our driving goal is to improve life in future space habitats." As social scientists, and our colleague Fred [Scharmen] is an architect, we are attempting to understand what it is like for people to live in space. And we realize that in order to reach our aim, we must collaborate with those who are designing future space homes.
Several firms are developing privately managed space stations in preparation for the decommissioning of the International Space Station between 2024 and 2030. Axiom Space is currently constructing its initial modules, which will be connected to the ISS for testing before becoming a free-flying, autonomous platform under a NASA contract. Separately, Blue Origin and Sierra Space are collaborating to create "Orbital Reef" a "mixed-use business park" in low Earth orbit. Similarly, Nanoracks is collaborating with Lockheed Martin to deploy Starlab, which will house the George Washington Carver (GWC) Science Park. Beyond Earth, NASA is collaborating with Northrop Grumman, Maxar, and international partners to construct the Gateway, a human-tended facility circling the moon.
Walsh stated that he and his colleagues had communicated with every stakeholder in the new space habitat industry. We've talked to almost everyone, but not under the auspices of Brick Moon since Brick Moon is fresh new. We've been discreetly informing them that this is something we're considering, and we're at IAC this week, talking to a lot of those folks about what we can provide and our future plans. They are aware that they do not have the run-up period that the ISS did, alluding to the years of on-orbit development prior to full use.
They need to be ready to go, ready to have consumers in place and be able to service those customers, so they have issues, such as how they will use their spaces appropriately and what sorts of items they will require aboard those space stations to be ready for their clients. That is where we come in. Brick Moon's first lesson is to not be like "The Brick Moon." "The Brick Moon" the new company's namesake, is an 1869 science fiction novella by Edward Everett Hale that contains the first depiction of a fictitious space station. A gigantic brick-built sphere designed as a navigational instrument is unintentionally launched with people on board in the narrative.
Walsh stated, "We just love that story." It actually brings us back to the beginning of time when mankind imagined living in space. Most people, I believe, do not believe that is how long people have been thinking about it.