Extreme Tech by Ryan Whitwam October 4, 2023
Building a space station is expensive, and it's an uncertain business model. The International Space Station (ISS) has served as humanity's foothold in space for more than 20 years, but its days are numbered. As NASA turns its attention to the Moon, the agency has fostered plans to build a privately operated station in low-Earth orbit. However, that's easier said than done. Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman have been working to design orbiting facilities, but both companies are reportedly reevaluating those plans.
Northrop Grumman has seen reasonable success with its Cygnus cargo spacecraft. While it doesn't have the flashiness of the SpaceX Dragon, Cygnus has completed 18 of its 19 orbital missions without incident, and the one failure was due to a faulty rocket engine on the launch vehicle. The firm hoped to leverage that success to build a modular station with similar engineering and technology.
Northrop Grumman's change in direction started making the rounds during the recent International Astronautical Congress, but the company hasn't made any official announcements. According to Ars Technica, Northrop Grumman has decided to move away from designing its own station and will instead partner with Voyager Space and Airbus on low-Earth orbit plans. Northrop Grumman's contribution to the Voyager station may be limited to Cygnus transportation.
More:
https://www.extremetech.com/aerospace/blue-origin-and-northrop-grumman-reportedly-souring-on-private-space-station
