Space companies propose ways to fill low Earth orbit with commercial habitats
The private space industry is giving NASA some ideas on how to turn low Earth orbit — where the International Space Station circulates above our planet — into an area filled with commercial habitats and platforms for future space travelers. Potentially, these “destinations” could be used as locations for in-space research and manufacturing to turn a profit. But such a commercial utopia in orbit won’t be easy until the cost of launching to space comes down, says NASA.
Today, NASA released short proposals from 12 commercial companies — such as Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and more — on how to create a viable commercial economy in low Earth orbit, or LEO. NASA wanted these ideas from the private space industry in order to figure...