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LEO Economic Development: Supply

UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut and Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi observes a free-flying Astrobee robotic assistant onboard the ISSInternational Space Station.
Media Credit: NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration
LEO Economic Development: Supply
To support the supply side of the LEO economy, the ISS National Lab fosters a vibrant ecosystem of Implementation Partners (IPs)—a mix of seasoned aerospace companies and agile startups. These IPs play a crucial role in transforming terrestrial research into successful spaceflight investigations and expanding capabilities to meet the demands of groundbreaking space-based R&D.
Through an online IP(Abbreviation: IP) Commercial companies that work with the ISS National Lab to provide services related to payload development, including the translation of ground-based science to a space-based platform. Portal, the ISS National Lab connects researchers with IPs that help to translate ground-based experiments into flight-ready payloads. In FY24, nearly 60 percent of ISS National Lab funding went toward IP costs, down from last year’s 80 percent due to a strategic decision to dedicate more funding to the Igniting Innovation solicitation to support high-impact, multiflight R&D.
“Voyager Space has worked closely with the ISS National Lab for more than 10 years to provide access to our commercial hardware and services on the International Space Station. Most recently, we’ve added our Bishop Airlock, the first commercial addition to the ISS, to our portfolio. Together, we are driving innovations that enhance scientific discovery and contribute to the development of a sustainable low Earth orbit(Abbreviation: LEO) The orbit around the Earth that extends up to an altitude of 2,000 km (1,200 miles) from Earth’s surface. The International Space Station’s orbit is in LEO, at an altitude of approximately 250 miles. economy.”
– Tim Kopra, CEO of Nanoracks, now part of Voyager Space
The ISS National Lab collaborated with 33 IPs in FY24 (see a full list in the Implementation Partner directory), which is slightly lower than last year’s 36 due to transitions within the industry. Similarly, the number of Commercial Service Providers (the subset of IPs that own and operate facilities on the ISS or are developing future facilities) now stands at 15, down from 17 last year.
This year, the ISS National Lab debuted the searchable ISS Research Facilities Directory, which is designed to streamline the search for space station R&D capabilities and lists both NASA facilities and the 23 ISS National Lab commercial facilities. In FY24, two ISS National Lab facilities were decommissioned (the Faraday facility and SSIKLOPS facility), and one new facility was added—Airbus U.S. Space and Defense’s ArgUS Multi-Payload Adapter. ArgUS supports multiple smaller payloads in a standard slot on the Bartolomeo platform, enhancing the Earth observation-related research capabilities on station. Notably, nearly 70 percent of ISS National Lab payloads delivered to the space station this year were sourced by Commercial Service Providers, which emphasizes the ISS National Lab’s commitment to providing these partners with customer access to their commercial facilities on station.
“Redwire’s partnership with ISS National Lab and NASA has been critical for enabling us to validate new technologies and business models aboard the ISS. This ongoing support is essential as we continue to leverage the microgravityThe condition of perceived weightlessness created when an object is in free fall, for example when an object is in orbital motion. Microgravity alters many observable phenomena within the physical and life sciences, allowing scientists to study things in ways not possible on Earth. The International Space Station provides access to a persistent microgravity environment. environment to open new markets, conduct cutting-edge research, and make game-changing discoveries that improve life on Earth and beyond.”
– Rich Boling, Redwire Vice President for Corporate Advancement
To foster further collaboration and strengthen supply-side economic development in LEO, the ISS National Lab continues to host biannual IP workshops. These sessions are critical in sharing insights, discussing challenges, and exploring new opportunities with IPs.
Key IP milestones in FY24 include the following:
- Aegis Aerospace was named one of the 2023 Top Workplaces by the Houston Chronicle. Moreover, the Texas Governor recognized the CEO of Aegis as an Executive Committee member of the newly formed Texas Aerospace Research and Space Economy Consortium.
- Axiom successfully launched four astronauts on Axiom Mission 3.
- Barrios Technology secured a Boeing Engineering and Technical Support Services contract to provide software services supporting the ISS and Boeing’s Starliner
- Redwire’s BioFabrication Facility (BFF(Abbreviation: BFF) The BFF is a 3D bioprinter on the ISS capable of printing human tissue from bioinks mixed with living cells. This ISS National Lab commercial facility is owned and operated by Redwire Space.) received the 2023 Popular Science Best of What’s New Award in the health category. Additionally, Redwire broke ground on a new 30,000-square-foot microgravity payload development and space operations facility in Indiana.
- Rhodium Scientific was awarded an NSF Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I grant to develop a space-based biobank for storing microbial species that are optimized and produced in the space environment.
- Space Tango received NASA SBIR Ignite funding for its TangoBox hardware, enhancing CubeLab capabilities for automated space manufacturing and research. Space Tango also secured an NSF SBIR Phase I grant to build a consortium for its high-throughput CubeLab, which carried 588 biological samples from five different research groups on its first mission this year.