Steve Yurczyk, a former NASA administrator, has launched a startup called Quantum Space, which will build robotic outposts between the Moon and Earth.
A startup led by a former NASA acting administrator has announced plans to develop custom platforms that will use robotic vehicles in space to support a range of functions.
Maryland-based Quantum Space announced on February 3 that it is beginning work on a spacecraft platform that will initially operate at the L-1 Lagrange point between Earth and the Moon and host various payloads. The Lagrangian point L1 of the Earth-Moon system is located on the conventional line between the Earth and the Moon, at a distance of approximately 60 thousand km from the surface of the Moon.
“We’re trying to change the way spacecraft are deployed and operated,” Steve Yurczyk, co-founder, president and CEO of Quantum Space, said in an interview.
“We’re actually a space services company, and those services will be available through a new platform called an outpost, which is sort of a spacecraft designed for maintenance,” it said.
According to him, such an outpost will consist of two components. One of them is a platform for placing payloads using a modular interface. The other is a spacecraft that will deliver cargo to the platform and install it using robotic manipulators.
According to Yurchyk, in this way it will be possible to deliver devices for communication, navigation, remote sensing, space weather sensors, etc.
