As the ISS approaches retirement, Max Space aims to replace part of its capacity with a cost-efficient, single-launch expandable station.
The International Space Station , long a symbol of global scientific cooperation, is scheduled to be deorbited by 2030. As geopolitical tensions rise, two of its core partners, the US and Russia, are preparing to part ways in low Earth orbit.
For the US, the post-ISS era will be defined by privately built space stations. NASA plans to rely on commercial operators for orbital infrastructure, following the same playbook it used with SpaceX’s Falcon 9. The goal is to maintain and expand a human presence in low Earth orbit without owning the hardware. One of the companies positioning itself for that future is Max Space. The startup is developing expandable space station modules that offer far more interior volume than traditional rigid structures, while remaining compact enough to launch on a single rocket. According to the company, the approach reduces cost, simplifies construction, and improves safety. Longer term, the same technology could be adapted for use on the Moon, Mars, and beyond. “There is a whole industry on Earth dedicated to remodeling spaces and removing walls to release constraints on the use of space,” Max Space CEO Saleem Miyan explained toin an interview. “Expandable habitats have enormous open volume so these constraints are eliminated and the interior becomes endlessly usable and flexible, even during a mission to suit astronaut and customer needs.”When it emerged from stealth in April, 2024, Max Space announced its ambitions of helping other space operators build “stadium-sized” stations. The Florida-based startup’s initial plans were to only provide its modules for other firms. However, the company altered its strategy when NASA announced a revised approach to its Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations program in August. With the end of the ISS era fast approaching, the space agency revealed it would award multiple Space Act Agreements to fund new space stations. That incentivized Max Space into announcing its own expandable space station. Max Space’s recently announced Thunderbird station features two docking ports, and it was designed to support a crew of four in space. Unlike most traditional space stations, Thunderbird can fly to space on a single medium lift rocket, like SpaceX’s Falcon 9. This is thanks to its “morphic interior structure”, made from a soft, reconfigurable material that allows it to fly in a compact form factor before expanding in space.Despite announcing its own space station, Max Space hasn’t left its highly adaptable, modular design ethos behind. As Miyan told IE, “Our vision at Max Space is to accelerate sustained human presence beyond Earth with advanced space real estate. That includes space stations in Low Earth Orbit that change the economics of in-space manufacturing and pharmaceuticals, data centers for example, so they rapidly become industrial scale.” This adaptability also extends to planetary exploration. According to Miyan, “the expandable habitats seamlessly adapt to surface habitats on the Moon and Mars enabling sustained presence, as well as in-transit vehicles, so that humanity can flourish among the stars. The habitats can be deployed in deep space as a string of pearls to create many thousands of m3 as Vernher von Braun envisioned in the 1940s.”By launching its station and modules on a single rocket flight, Max Space drastically reduces costs when compared with other stations. Once in orbit, the Thunderbird station uses the firm’s expandable module technology to increase its volume to 350 cubic meters. That is roughly a third of the ISS’s volume. As a point of reference, the ISS required more than 40 assembly flights before it could fully begin operations. According to Miyan, the company’s modules are simpler and faster to build than traditional rigid structures. This, alongside simplified launch and assembly, equates to a much more cost-effective space station.“Max Space expandable habitats are significantly less costly than traditional rigid habitats per m3 of pressurized volume,” Miyan told IE. “A 350m3 space station can launch on a standard Falcon 9 rocket, not only because the materials it is made of are lighter than a standard rigid module. It is also because its folded nature on launch allows it to fit compactly inside a fairing of a smaller, and thus less expensive rocket than a rigid structure of the same volume would require.” An inflatable station might bring a balloon to mind, but Thunderbird isn’t likely to deflate once it’s in space. As Miyan explained, “the Max Space expandable habitats are designed to a safety factor of 5 versus 2 for metallic pressure vessels. Some of the safety features include the structure itself. It is 18 inches thick, which includes multiple gas barriers and micrometeoroid orbital debris protective layers with Kevlar and Vectran that outperform conventional metals like aluminum and titanium.” Ultimately, “the habitat is tested to extremes far exceeding NASA standards, such as thermal, compression, vibration, and vacuum testing,” he said.To support the design of its station, Max Space hired former NASA astronaut Nicole Stott as its lead astronaut. During her time as an astronaut, Stott logged 104 days in space across two missions. She performed a spacewalk from the Space Shuttle on STS-128 and was the first to capture a free-flying HTV cargo vehicle with the ISS’s robotic arm. She was also part of the last crew to return from the ISS via Space Shuttle on the STS-133 mission. Stott served as a guide for Max Space’s expandable module design. As she explained to IE in a separate interview, her aim was to improve on the ISS astronaut experience. “When you look at videos of the ISS you’ll notice how cluttered it is with wires and equipment all over the place – this is a result of having to compromise over time just to keep the program going,” Stott told IE. “Onboard the ISS, we move racks and payloads around inside routinely, and while it’s not difficult, it is cumbersome and time-consuming,” she continued. “Thunderbird is incredibly spacious and designed with flexibility and reconfigurability in mind from the get-go. Simple things like building in, with ease, the ability for the crew to get to the back of a payload easily to unplug it so it can be moved. Channels for the wires and utility lines to go so they aren’t a snag hazard or inconveniently running through the habitable volume.”As Max Space’s modules also include a lot of interior volume, the company didn’t want astronauts floating out of reach of a handle and getting stuck in the floaty environment of space. In space stations, “you spend a lot of time with your feet hooked under things to keep yourself in place, so soft straps for foot and hand restraints in the right places are important,” Stott said, “as well as the ability to easily relocate them as needed. Having the facility for similar activities grouped in locations so that work can be done efficiently. We were able to rethink all of this with our design and purposefully build in the necessary accommodations for the humans – for both work and life.” “The ISS is an extraordinary achievement. It has greatly advanced our knowledge of living and working in space, and brought about a huge body of scientific knowledge,” Stott continued. “Thunderbird takes this to the next level because of its expandable design, lower cost, and the enormous volume available on orbit.” In the near term, Max Space is looking to validate its technology in space. The startup is aiming to launch a small prototype of Thunderbird aboard a SpaceX rideshare mission scheduled for early 2027. If that flight test succeeds, it will then look to launch a full-sized station into orbit. This would see Max Space become one of the first firms to operate a potential successor to the ISS. According to Max Space, customers are showing interest in its highly customizable space station design. Beyond NASA’s CLD program, the company believes it could serve customers looking to perform science aboard a reconfigurable station once the ISS is deorbited in 2030. “In space there is no up or down, and of necessity, the interiors are constrained and narrow,” Miyan told IE. “Max Space interiors are spacious and reconfigurable as needed.” Once it is operating in space, the company then intends to look far beyond Earth’s orbit. According to Miyan, “commercial space stations like Thunderbird are crucial to further leveraging the unique opportunities of microgravity research and commercial operations in low Earth orbit, which in itself plays a crucial role in enabling future deep space exploration.” “Thunderbird is a first deliberate step in Max Space’s plan to build in, from the start, the capabilities to support life in space – for both orbital and surface exploration and habitation, near and far.”Chris Young is a journalist, copywriter, blogger and tech geek at heart who’s reported on the likes of the Mobile World Congress, written for Lifehack, The Culture Trip, Flydoscope and some of the world’s biggest tech companies, including NEC and Thales, about robots, satellites and other world-changing innovations.SpaceSpace
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