Abstract
Skylab, Saljut, MIR, the International Space Station, and Tiangong have been space stations in low-Earth orbit (LEO), allowing access to a microgravity environment for scientific or technology demonstration experiments. Future applications planned for using resources in LEO are commercial (e.g., Axiom Space Station, Bigelow Commercial Space Station) or scientific (e.g., the Chinese Space Station). To analyze all possible needs of potential users, the authors have surveyed needs from a commercial and a scientific perspective, based on which a design has been elaborated allowing for a versatile, flexible and cost-effective platform. The Orbital Hub can serve as a core unit for a larger complex or act on its own. It consists of a base platform, permanently crewed, and a crew-tended Free Flyer facilitating experiments in an unperturbed environment. This chapter presents the design of the Orbital Hub and its capability to be used in combination with other space station concepts or even parts of the ISS, outlining, for example, its complementarity with the Lunar Orbital Platform Gateway and its advantages over larger platforms, such as the ISS. Implications concerning application, LEO resources, costs and key technologies are discussed, showing how a small platform ca be utilized to access those resources efficiently.
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