Axiom Space, in a statement, said it is the leading provider of human spaceflight services.

New Delhi:

The world is already looking to replace the International Space Station (ISS), which is expected to be decommissioned and abandoned by 2031. The ISS has been Earth’s outpost in space for 25 years and has witnessed of a continuous and uninterrupted human presence in low Earth orbit. since the year 2000.

Global partners now consider it obsolete and in need of replacement. Many private companies are trying to build space stations. Axiom Space, the Houston-based private company training Indian astronauts for the 2025 mission to the ISS, is leading the pack and hopes to have the Axiom space station operational before 2031.

So, can Indian rocket technology developed by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) play a role in the future space station?

Axiom Space said in a statement that it is the leading provider of human spaceflight services and developer of human-friendly space infrastructure. We are flying end-to-end missions to the ISS while developing its successor, the Axiom Station, and building next-generation spacesuits for low Earth orbit, the Moon and beyond.

Speaking exclusively to NDTV, Pearly Pandya, director of international government affairs at Axiom Space, who is Indian-American and born in Ahmedabad, said she hopes to see Indian rockets used in such missions in the future, and Axiom is looking for a longer collaboration with India.

Axiom Space says construction of the world’s first commercial space station is underway.

After conducting preliminary and critical design reviews in collaboration with NASA, Axiom partners at Thales Alenia Space have started welding and machining activities for the main structures of the first Axiom Station module.

The first manufactured pieces of flight hardware are beginning to be assembled and the assembled module will soon reach Houston, where it will complete final assembly and integration. Axiom Space is preparing for the launch in 2026 of the first section of its next-generation platform which will operate in low Earth orbit.

To a question about Indian rockets being used for missions to the likely successor to the ISS, which Axiom is building, Ms Pandya said: “I would love to see that. It is important to us that the supply chain is global and diverse. I think India’s possibilities and potential are immense. The successes we have seen with Chandrayaan-3 have demonstrated that India is becoming a space superpower and we are very happy to be part of this story.

On India’s plan to have its own space station, the Bharatiya Antariksha Station, by 2035, Ms Pandya said Axiom would be ready to support the country and would be happy to discuss interoperability, building a module or even working on “space commerce”, in which each station has different capabilities.