Axiom Space announced a $350M capital raise yesterday to advance the development of its commercial space station and new NASA space suits.
The company also confirmed that both pieces of hardware are on track to be ready in time to hit critical NASA deadlines—before the demise of the ISS, and ahead of NASA’s Artemis III mission to the Moon, respectively.
Type One Ventures and Qatar Investment Authority co-led the round, which included participation from 1789 Capital, 4iG (the Hungarian telecom), LuminArx Capital Management, and others. Axiom Space’s cofounder and chairman, Kam Ghaffarian, also participated in the round with an undisclosed investment.
CLD as ice: Axiom Space has a lot on its plate. Just a few weeks ago, NASA awarded the company its fifth private mission to the ISS, which is expected to fly to the orbital lab no earlier than January.
Axiom Space is also continuing to develop and test the two modules it intends to use as a commercial replacement to the ISS.
- The first module is expected to launch no earlier than 2028, where it will dock onto the ISS and await the second module.
- The second module is aiming to launch to orbit slightly less than a year later, where it will loiter on orbit before rendezvousing with the first module and creating a four-crew capable station before the ISS is shut down.
Axiom Space CEO Jonathan Cirtain told reporters yesterday that the bulk of the new funds will be directed toward continuing the development and test campaigns of these two modules. The goal is to win a contract under NASA’s coveted CLD program.
Cirtain explained that Axiom Space has two separate revenue models in mind for the station’s operational life:
- Axiom Station will serve as a training ground for future astronauts, continuing a revenue model that the company has demonstrated through private flights to the ISS.
- The station will also further the R&D capabilities available on the ISS, with options to host not only research and science, but scaled manufacturing programs of pharmaceuticals, silicon wafers, and fiber optics.
Suit up: In the meantime, Axiom Space is also in the midst of the critical design phase of its AxEMU spacesuits, which are expected to be delivered to NASA in 2027.
While the AxEMU suit development is largely funded through a NASA contract the company secured in 2022, Cirtain said that some funds from the latest investment round would be funneled into the company’s development of mission operations capabilities in support of the suit’s future applications in LEO and on the lunar surface.
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It seems Scotland’s two launch startups—Orbex and Skyrora—are playing by Highlander rules: There can only be one.
Orbex announced this week that it was appointing administrators—a first step toward closing the business due to insolvency, with debts reportedly piling as high as £49M (€56.2M). The apparent end of the launcher comes after fundraising and M&A opportunities fell through.
Skyrora is already circling overhead. Yesterday, the launch company expressed interest in investing up to £10M (€11.5M) to buy up select Orbex assets, potentially including the Sutherland Spaceport on the northern coast of Scotland.
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