Category Archives: Spacex

The Cybertrucks delay to 2023, has somewhat marred Elon Musks reputation when it comes to launch dates. However, Teslas announcement of the Semi Trucks arrival before 2022 ends gives us hope that more surprises might be on the way. For the time being, a German automotive designer shares a cool concept he calls the SpaceX Model.

Maximilian Schneider shares an awesome take on what a future hypercar platform from Tesla might look like. As the name implies, this concept fuses a high-performance vehicle with a rocket. Since the Roadsters arrival is still up in the air, well gladly take the SpaceX Model instead.

If only this was the real deal, demand will be through the roof. Now that our expectations are in check, lets find out what this bad boy is all about. From an aesthetic perspective, this machine resembles your typical racer. The marques badge is only visible on the short hood and the SpaceX branding on the front bumper.

The aerodynamic outline of its body is on point, while the cockpit is covered by a heavy-duty canopy akin to that of a fighter jet. Meanwhile, it seems the emission-free ethos of Tesla is no longer applicable here given its configuration. Although the SpaceX Model concept is packing an all-electric drivetrain, there are two massive rocket boosters at the rear and thrusters above each wheel.

Upward-firing units are integrated on the front and rear to aid the vehicles driving dynamics. Furthermore, it should also provide additional downforce to keep the SpaceX Model firmly planted while you push it to the absolute limit. Schneider says there is a street-legal and track-only version. The former can reach speeds of up to 290 mph, while the latter can supposedly hit 327 mph.

Images courtesy of Maximilian Schneider

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The Tesla SpaceX Model Is A Hypercar Concept With Rocket Thrusters And Boosters - Men's Gear

mission will carry another batch of Starlink satellitesSpaceX has scheduled a Falcon 9 rocket launch for Saturday, August 27 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. (SpaceX Image)

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA SpaceX is scheduled a Falcon 9 rocket launch for Sunday, September 4 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Launch is targeted for 10:09 p.m. ET.

The mission will carry more Starlink satellites to space.

Falcon 9 is a reusable, two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of people and payloads into Earth orbit and beyond. Falcon 9 is the worlds first orbital class reusable rocket.

Reusability allows SpaceX to refly the most expensive parts of the rocket, which in turn drives down the cost of space access.

The Falcon 9s first stage booster will land on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

Coverage of the launch can be seen on Space Coast Daily TV.

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SpaceX Scheduled to Launch Falcon 9 Rocket from Cape Canaveral Tonight - SpaceCoastDaily.com

Roscosmos Mission Update

Anna Kikinaisthe only woman in the Russian cosmonaut corps.She will soon go on her first space flight and will do it on the Crew Dragon spacecraft of the American company SpaceX Elon Musk.

What is significant of her flight?

Who is Anna Kikina?

Anna is 37 years old.She was born on August 27, 1984 in Novosibirsk.

In 2005, Anna took courses at the Ministry of Emergency Situations as an instructor in teaching the basics of first aid to the population, she has a lifeguard certificate.

In 2006 she graduated from the Novosibirsk State Academy of Water Transport with a degree in Emergency Protection.In the same place in 2008 she received a second higher education in the specialty Economics and management at the enterprise (transport).According to her first education, Anna Kikinaisa hydraulic engineer, according to her second education, sheisan economist-manager.

For some time before joining the cosmonaut corps, Anna worked as a program director at Radio Siberia Altai LLC.It was there that she learned about the beginning of the selection for the cosmonaut corps.

Before that, I didnt even think about space.More or less understanding what kind of activity this is, having assessed the situation, I decided that this is exactly what I want to do next.I was on fire with the desire for self-realization in this profession,Kikinasaid in one of her interviews.

In 2012, Kikina became a participant in the first open competition for selection to the cosmonaut corps.In total, 43 applications were submitted from women, of which six were invited to the Cosmonaut Training Center for full-time selection.As a result of the selection, only Anna was included in the group of eight cosmonaut candidates (the rest seven were men) who were allowed to train.

From 2012 to 2014, Anna underwent general space training.At this time, she learned to fly an L-39 aircraft, jumped with a parachute, underwent weightlessness training on board the Il-76MDK laboratory aircraft, tests in an isolation chamber, diving training, and survival training in various climatic and geographical zones.

We survive with the equipment that is made specifically for astronauts.The conditions are the same, but the items you use are strictly defined.This is a feature.You learn how to properly deal with the descent vehicle, how to get out of it.To leave or not to leave, to use it in cover or not.Radio communication, access to communication, attracting attention to oneself.You adjust, you get out of the situation.You, for example, have only one machete for the entire crew.There is nothing to dig in the snow, there is no shovel,Anna shared with themedia earlier.

In 2014, by decision of the Interdepartmental Qualification Commission, Anna Kikina was recommended for admission to the position of test cosmonaut of the Roscosmos cosmonaut corps.In 2017, she took part in the SIRIUS international isolation experiment, which simulated a flight to the moon.

Since May 2021, Anna Kikina, together with Sergei Prokopiev and Dmitry Petelin, has been training as a member of the ISS-67 backup crew as a flight engineer for the Soyuz MS-22 manned transport spacecraft and a flight engineer for the International Space Station.

In July 2022, Roscosmos State Corporation and NASA signed an agreement on cross-flights.Within its framework, American astronauts will fly on Russian Soyuz spacecraft, and Russian cosmonauts on American spacecraft.The agreement provides for three exchanges of cosmonauts.

As part of the first of these, NASA astronaut Francisco Rubio entered the crew of the Russian Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, and Anna Kikina was appointed mission specialist for the crew of the Crew Dragon manned spacecraft as part of the Crew 5 mission. Now Kikina is preparing as a member of the ISS-68 expedition.

The launch of the American manned spacecraft Crew Dragon is planned for the Fall 2022 from the spaceport at Cape Canaveral, Florida.In the near future, Anna will travel to the United States for final training before the flight.

What else is interesting about her?

In 2021, Anna Kikina became the ambassador of the clothing collection for Russian athletes at the Tokyo Olympics.

In 2021, the Barbie brand released a doll in the image of Anna Kikina, who inspired the creators with her talents, successes and personal qualities.Astronaut Barbie is presented in two versions of costumes: in a training suit and an Orlan-type space suit.The doll is released in a single version and is not intended for sale.The first Barbie astronaut doll was dedicated in 1965 to the flight of Valentina Tereshkova.

Anna Kikinaisa master of sports in polyathlon (all-around) and rafting.Certified by PADI OWD.Airborne instructor.She has completed more than 150 parachute jumps.

Continued here:

First Cosmonaut to Fly on SpaceX's Crew Dragon: Everything You Wanted to Know About Anna Kikina Parabolic Arc - Parabolic Arc

A SpaceX rocket will heft South Korea's first moon mission into space today, and you can watch the event live.

The Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) mission is scheduled to launch at 7:08 p.m. EDT on Thursday, Aug. 4 (2308 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in coastal Florida. The spacecraft's journey to the moon is expected to take four and a half months.

SpaceX typically broadcasts launches on its YouTube channel (opens in new tab) beginning about 15 to 20 minutes before liftoff occurs. If the launch is successful, the broadcast will run through the landing attempt of the Falcon 9 first stage atop a drone ship in the nearby Atlantic Ocean.

Related: South Korea's moonshot will explore lunar magnetic mysteries and more

KPLO is also named "Danuri," a melding of two Korean words that mean "moon" and "enjoy."

The lunar orbiter includes six payloads that are designed to study the moon's magnetism and search for water. Five were developed by Korean universities and research organizations, and the remaining one is from NASA.

The NASA instrument is ShadowCam, which aims to capture shadowed regions on the moon using high-resolution equipment including a camera, telescope and sensors. It was co-developed by Arizona State University and San Diego-based Malin Space Science Systems. The instrument's optical camera is based on the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) aboard NASA'sLunar Reconnaissance Orbiter(LRO) but is 200 times more sensitive than any camera that has visited the moon to date.

Danuri's prime mission is to orbit the moon for at least a year, searching for key lunar resources like water ice, helium-3, uranium, silicon and aluminum. It also aims to create a topographic map to identify potential lunar landing locations.

South Korea aims to put a robotic lander on the moonby 2030, and to launch a asteroid sample-return mission further into the future. The asteroid mission follows similar efforts by NASA's OSIRIS-REx and Japan's Hayabusa 2 spacecraft.

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SpaceX will launch South Korea's 1st moon mission today: Watch live - Space.com

The servicewhich advertises download speeds of 50 to 200 Mbps and uploads of 10 to 20 Mbps, and touts its absence of data capswas nearing 500,000 users worldwide in June, per a presentation that CEO Musk shared on Twitter. Among the more inspiring users: Ukrainians defending their country from Russian invaders, and rural Americans who would otherwise be bereft of broadband.

Its honestly life-changing for people like my family, emails Christina Deese, a work-from-home office manager in Cusseta, Georgia, who had previously limped along with slower broadband from a geostationary satellite that had more stringent data caps. I can now video conference with my team, my supervisors and participate in company remote functions, which I had to pass on before.

But Starlink has also seemed to struggle with demand since exiting its public beta test. Users have spent months waiting for receiver hardware to ship and reported performance slowdowns. Meanwhile, Starlink has hiked pricesin March, raising its monthly rate from $99 to $110 and bumping its hardware charge from $499 to $599also, moved to diversify its business by lining up a more lucrative customer base.

But while such clients as airlines and cruise lines may do more to cover capital costs in the billions of dollars, they also complicate SpaceXs math as it tries to balance demand with satellite capacity. Which may lead to even more rural would-be customers waiting for a Starlink box to arrive.

Deese, for example, put down a $99 deposit for Starlink in June of 2021 but did not have a Starlink kit shipped until February.

Jack Mangold, a retiree in Collettsville, North Carolina, waited even longer, having placed an order in February of 2021 that shipped this past April. He says service has been reliable but not particularly fast, writing in an email that hes only getting 25 to 50 Mbps downloads.

It can be all over the place if I test several times a day, Mangold said.

That, however, still represents a major improvement over his previous connectivity: an antiquated digital-subscriber-line service from AT&T.

In June, the network-measurement firm Ooklas Speedtest app showed that Starlinks median U.S. downloads in the first quarter of 2022 hit 90.55 Mbpsa big increase from a year ago, when Starlink downloads sat at 65.72 Mbps, but a drop from the prior quarters 104.97 Mbps. (SpaceX did not return an emailed request for comment.)

Ookla also found Starlink offered faster downloads in every other country tested, topping out at 160.08 Mbps in Lithuania. The likeliest explanation: Demand in the U.S. is outpacing demand in other countries. Its that constant race between capacity and consumption, says analyst Roger Entner, founder of Recon Analytics.

Consistency at any one location can be an issue too: The Starlink connection must be handed off from one satellite to another, and nearby obstacles can block the signals. For example, Deese says tree foliage can sometimes interrupt the connection for several seconds.

Peggy Schaffer, executive director of the ConnectMaine Authority, says Starlink users in her state often need a backup connection, such as a smartphones mobile-hotspot function.

Schaffer adds that some rural Mainers have reported an extra complication: The equipment uses more power than most off-the-grid homes with solar can manage.

With all of these obstacles to adoption in mindand with last years infrastructure law providing some $42 billion in federal funds to build out wired broadbandindustry analysts dont expect Starlink to do more than fill in gaps in coverage. For example, the market-research firm GlobalData predicts that low-Earth-orbit satellite broadband wont exceed 1% of the U.S. residential market through 2027, with fiber-optic broadband taking the biggest bite out of cables market share.

But while Starlinks most enthusiastic early adopters could resent that forecast, Musk himself might not. He has stayed uncharacteristically conservative about Starlinks possible reach, saying in June of 2021 that its really meant for sparsely populated regions.

Starlinks recent move to start selling service to recreational vehicles at much higher pricesand without a wait for hardware to shiprisks embittering the customers who need Starlink the most.

They threw a wrench in their whole effort, Entner commented, adding this option is open to queue jumping by people placing orders for Starlink RV service who dont own RVs.

In a June filing with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) urging the agency to deny Starlinks bid to offer service to moving vehicles, ships, and aircraft, Harold Felt, senior vice president of the consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge, griped thatSpaceX has decided to give customers in rural America a back seat to gamers on mountain tops and luxury RVs.

The FCC granted Starlinks request for mobile service anyway, leading to the companys announcement of a $5,000/month maritime service for large boats. Its also signed up Hawaiian Airlines and the small regional-jet carrier JSX to start using Starlink for inflight Wi-Fi, which each airline says will be free to use.

In order to build out its constellation, it seems clear that SpaceX will need multiple revenue streams to cover costs that, according to Musks own prediction, could hit $30 billion. SpaceXs current FCC authorization allows a first-generation deployment of 4,408 satellites, but an August 2021 FCC filing envisages a second-generation system of 29,988 satellites.

That volume of satellites raises concerns over orbital congestion and interference with Earth-based astronomy, but it will also require a bigger rocket: SpaceXs not-yet-flown Starship. That two-stage, fully reusable transport could deploy many more Starlinks per launch than the 60 its Falcon 9 can deliver today.

Falcon 9 isnt going to do it, says Marco Cceres, an analyst with the Teal Group.

SpaceX also needs Starship to loft its version 2.0 Starlink satellites (larger, heavier and higher-capacity successors to the current model).

We need Starship to work and to fly frequently, or Starlink 2 will be stuck on the ground, Musk told Everyday Astronaut host Tim Dodd in a May YouTube interview in which he called those next-gen satellites much more capable.

Unlike those other providers, SpaceX builds its own rockets. And its boss has a motivation beyond money to make them work.

Ultimately, his goal is to get Starlink up, but the bigger goal is to colonize Mars, says Cceres. And for that, he needs Starship.

Read this article:

SpaceX's Starlink has soared, but a course correction may be on the horizon - Fast Company

Enlarge / A Starlink satellite dish.

Starlink

Over a year and a half after tentatively winning $886 million in broadband funding from the government's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), SpaceX is still trying to get paid by the Federal Communications Commission. One problem for Starlinkthough not the only problemis a series of objections from satellite company Viasat, which says Starlink lacks the capacity and speed to meet FCC obligations.

In a new FCC filing, SpaceX denounced Viasat's "misguided campaign" against the Starlink funding. "Viasat is transparently attempting to have the Commission impede competition at all costs to protect its legacy technology," SpaceX told the FCC. The new SpaceX filing was submitted on Friday and posted to the FCC's website Monday, as pointed out by Light Reading.

But SpaceX might have struggled to get its funding even if Viasat never objected. Starlink was tentatively awarded $886 million in December 2020 by the FCC during the final weeks of Chairman Ajit Pai's tenure. Consumer advocacy group Free Press accused Pai of "subsidiz[ing] broadband for the rich," pointing out that Starlink was awarded money in urban areas including locations at or adjacent to major airports.

Starlink service isn't geographically restricted in the same way as wireline networks, but the RDOF and other programs require ISPs to bid on specific census blocks. Starlink won bids covering 642,925 homes and businesses in 35 states.

In addition to rural areas, SpaceX won "the right to serve a large number of very urban areas that the FCC's broken system deemed eligible for awards," Free Press said. A design flaw in the FCC's mapping system made it possible to bid on subsidies in census blocks that were "surrounded on all sides by fiber."

That RDOF auction was apparently mismanaged by Pai, as Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced in July 2021 that the agency must "clean up issues with the program's design originating from its adoption in 2020." The FCC cited "complaints that the program was poised to fund broadband to parking lots and well-served urban areas."

Rosenworcel's office sent letters to dozens of winning bidders, suggesting that they voluntarily give up portions of their funding. SpaceX was one of the auction's biggest winners, and Rosenworcel's FCC asked the company to give up funding in about 6 percent of the 113,900 census blocks where SpaceX tentatively won FCC grants.

The FCC letters to SpaceX and other ISPs pointed to concerns "that certain areas included in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction are already served by one or more service providers that offer 25/3Mbps broadband service or otherwise raise significant concerns about wasteful spending, such as parking lots and international airports."

SpaceX didn't agree to give up any funding and is apparently still trying to get the full amount. While the FCC review of SpaceX's funding is ongoing, the commission has periodically released RDOF money to various other ISPs over the past year. The FCC also recently proposed $4.3 million in fines against 73 ISPs for defaulting on their bids.

Pai's auction also awarded $1.32 billion to a Las Vegas company called LTD Broadband to serve 528,088 locations in 15 states. But LTD subsequently "missed filing deadlines and failed to secure regulatory approvals needed to receive the money," The Wall Street Journal wrote.

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SpaceX and Viasat fight over whether Starlink can meet FCC speed obligations - Ars Technica

Which of your children is most passionate about SpaceX and Mars? Elon Musk was asked. Here's what he replied.

August 03, 2022 / 03:23 PM IST

Elon Musk has spoken time and again about his dream of colonising Mars but do any of his nine children share in his vision of making humanity a multi-planetary species? If the billionaire entrepreneur behind SpaceX is to be believed, his two-year-old son X A-12 does.

On Tuesday, the official Twitter handle of Galaxy Heroes cryptocurrency posed a question to Elon Musk: Which of your children is most passionate about SpaceX and Mars?

Elon Musk has nine children, including X A-12 whom he welcomed in May 2020.

After losing his firstborn son Nevada Alexander Musk, Elon Musk had twins Griffin and Vivian with author Justine Wilson in 2004.

The former couple also has triplet sons Kai, Saxon and Damian, who were born two years later in 2006.

With Grimes, Musk also has a daughter, Exa Dark Siderl Musk, whom they had via surrogacy in December 2021.

Last month, court documents obtained by Business Insider revealed that Musk also had twins with Shivon Zilis, a top executive at Neuralink, in November 2021. After the information was made public, the richest man on earth said he was doing his bit to combat falling birth rates.

"Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis," tweeted Musk. "A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far," he added.

It was also reported last month that Musk spent most of his time talking about Mars and extolled the virtues of boosting birth rates on Earth at a tech conference, skirting around the topic of his deadlocked Twitter deal.

Read more:

Asked which of his kids is most passionate about SpaceX and Mars, Elon Musk said - Moneycontrol

Elon Musks father, Errol Musk, is making headlines again. This time, however, the headlines in question are not focused on reportedlyhaving children with a stepdaughter.

Over the weekend, Errol appeared on Australias The Kyle and Jackie O Show, with the hosts asking him about Elons accomplishments. At around the 1:43 mark in the video below, for example, Errol is asked if he is proud of Elon, to which a no is offered before the question is even finished being asked.

Pushed to clarify whether he is indeed not proud of Elon, Errol pointed to what he described as the larger familys assortment of accomplishments, including those he says precede Elons own.

No. I mean, we are a family that have been doing a lot of things for a long time, he said. Its not as though we suddenly started doing something. So weve all been, you know, as a family all doing things from the very beginning and, um, so, I mean, the kids were traveling with me around the world when they were tiny. Theyve been doing pretty much very interesting things. Weve been down to the Amazon together, for example. Weve been to China, you know, long ago when it was quite difficult to get there.

In Errols opinion, Elonwhose brother Kimbal is a successful restaurateuris not as happy as hed like to be because he believes he is behind schedule.

Also broached during the conversation is the aforementioned stepdaughter development, headlines about which Errol responded to, in part, by saying the following: I was married to her mother for two years in the 90s. She was actually placed in foster care.

If you absolutely must subject yourself to it, the full interview can be heard below.

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Elon Musk's Father on Whether Hes Proud of SpaceX Founder and Tesla CEO: No - Complex

A futuristic 3D-printed space habitat that has been designed to fit inside Elon Musks Starship has been unveiled at a school in Switzerland.

It is the worlds tallest and has been set up at the Institut auf dem Rosenberg, a private international boarding school.

The Rosenberg Space Habitat is a three-storey structure that can house a crew of two.

It was built for analogue missions, or field tests that simulate deep-space missions, and will be used as a research centre for students.

As space agencies plan to build human bases on the Moon and Mars, space habitats will play a crucial role in sheltering astronauts and can be used on Earth for research.

This latest one was designed by Saga Architects, the same company that built a compact shelter that housed two of its own architects for 60 days in Greenland a location used to simulate the harsh lunar conditions.

The Rosenberg Space Habitat is a three-storey structure that can house a crew of two and was built for analogue missions field tests that simulate deep-space missions. Photo: Institut auf dem Rosenberg

Bernhard Gademann, director general of Rosenberg, told The National that the habitat would help in the students education on space subjects.

We have designed it as an experimental lab for students to explore and actively shape the future of humanity on our planet and beyond, Mr Gademann said.

Our aim is to provide future leaders with early exposure to the question of advanced space exploration, allowing our students to approach and solve these complex questions from a collaborative and holistic point of view.

We know that this new era of space exploration will have a critical impact on the future of our planet, from developing technologies to address the pressing challenges of sustainability on Earth, to the prospect of mining of precious resources in space.

The habitat is the worlds tallest 3D-printed polymer structure, measuring seven metres.

The first floor is dedicated to hygiene, lab research and workshop facilities that will include robots.

Work, recreation and entertainment will be carried out on the second floor, while the top floor is designated for privacy and rest.

The structure was designed to fit inside SpaceXs Starship, a rocket Elon Musk is developing to carry humans and cargo to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

It is set to be the worlds most powerful rocket, with its first orbital test flight expected to take place this year.

It is a fully reusable system that includes a booster rocket that will carry the Starship spacecraft to space.

The choice of using the Starship system as a carrier is due to its advanced delivery capabilities, as well as its ingenious and reusable approach that resonates with the Rosenberg commitment to sustainability, said Mr Gademann.

The idea of the Rosenberg Space Habitat was for our team of students to consider all aspects of space travel as closely as possible to the real thing, including the successful transportation and delivery of their habitat to space.

This degree of realism in prototyping helps students to approach problems from a holistic perspective, allowing them to consider the laws of physics but also to prioritise and combine features of the habitat.

He said that this process would help pupils to ask important questions about the needs of humans in space.

Students and researchers will use the habitat to carry out experiments ranging from testing technology to studying human behaviour while in isolation.

Experiments conducted from the RSH will explore human well-being, using facilities to test hardware and software tools and applications, and to develop monitoring tools for remote mission control systems, Mr Gademann said.

Learners will also explore the importance of sensory stimulation in remote living environments with light, sound and scent installations.

Valuable experiential learning projects will enhance skills in systems-thinking by working with automated mechatronics and observing independent communication and deeper learning of artificial intelligence.

Other companies are also building space habitats, including Spartan Space, a French start-up responsible for an inflatable structure called EuroHab.

This year, a prototype of the unit was put on display at the Abu Dhabi University.

EuroHab, which can house up to four astronauts, would be a secondary shelter to the landers that astronauts will live in while on the surface.

This would allow human beings to explore the surface for longer periods.

During the Apollo era, astronauts could explore for a only limited time before the light support system on their suit failed and they would have to return to their lander.

The EuroHab lunar habitat at Abu Dhabi University. Photo: Spartan Space

Updated: July 29, 2022, 6:00 PM

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Futuristic space habitat that fits inside SpaceXs Starship unveiled - The National

If Russia departs ISS "after 2024" -- as it's threatening to do -- NASA will need to act quickly to find a replacement.

Rich Smith| The Motley Fool

Russia plans to leave ISS by 2024. Can it stay in orbit without them?

Russia's withdrawal from the International Space Station would force NASA and partners to find new ways to keep the space station in orbit.

Scott L. Hall, USA TODAY

Russia plans to abandon the International Space Station in 2024.

That was the headline that shocked the space community last week, when Russian news agency TASS quoted new Roscosmos Chief Yuri Borisov saying that Russia will "withdraw from this station after 2024" and attempt to build a new, all-Russian space station instead. But perhaps investors should be looking at this less like a surprise, and more like ... an opportunity?

After all, when the International Space Station (ISS) began operating in 2001, it was expected to remain in operation for about 15 years. It's 2022 now, so obviously that initial plan has been revised. Still, as far back as 2016 (ISS's original "expiration date"), Russia was already making noises about wanting to abandon the project, detach its modules, and use them as the basis for a new, all-Russian station.

Continual negotiation between the U.S., which wants to use ISS to train private companies to build their own stations, and Russia, which up until 2020 was making a good business selling "seats" on Russian rockets, has extended ISS's lease on life first through 2025, then 2028, and most recently all the way out to 2030. But ex-Roscosmos boss Dmitry Rogozin has complained that ISS costs "colossal money" to maintain, and the Russian government has been saying for years it would prefer to spend its money on a wholly owned Russian station, to be named the Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS).

Recap: Russia quitting space station could trigger program 'nightmare'

SpaceX News: SpaceX rocket in latest Starlink launch

Now, with the advent of Russia's war on Ukraine and the arrival of a new "cold war" mentality in the U.S. and Russia, Russia may be ready to call it quits on ISS. (Or it may not. A separate Reuters story that followed the TASS report by mere hours cited other Russian officials saying Russia might stick with ISS through 2028.)

If Russia does jump ship, it isn't necessarily the end of the mission While a multinational effort comprising elements provided by the United States, Russia, Japan, Europe, and Canada (roughly in that order), the bulk of ISS belongs to the U.S. In fact, only about 17% of the space station's mass is "Russian." But the most important part of that 17% is the station's Zvezda ("Star") service module, which is the engine of the station that enables it to maintain its orbit and maneuver around space junk.

If and when Russia abandons ISS -- taking Zvezda with it that's the part that NASA must replace if it wishes to keep ISS in operation through 2030. And this could be an opportunity for companies that can capitalize. If Russia does leave ISS, NASA could be forced to rush out an award to a U.S. company to take over Zvezda's role. Several names suggest themselves as candidates for this role and potential recipients of a NASA contract to build a Zvezda replacement.

What NASA has to say: NASA 'strongly rebukes' pro-Russian separatist flag display on International Space Station

SpaceX is probably the name that leaps first to mind. Elon Musk's pioneering space company has proven itself adept at solving all sorts of space problems, from reusable launch rockets to communications satellites to moon landers. SpaceX is, however, a private company, offering investors little chance to profit from it even if it wins an ISS contract.

For kids: You can buy SpaceX toys and collectibles from Mattel starting next year

Fortunately, two other publicly held space companies are more attractive.

Boeing(NYSE: BA), for example, served as NASA's prime contractor in building ISS in the 1990s and 2000s and probably knows ISS better than anyone else. Boeing also now has a flight-proven, (almost) human-rated spacecraft the Starliner that's capable of reaching ISS and using its engines to course-correct the space station as an ad hoc engine, while working on a more permanent solution.

Another publicly traded space company that would have a good shot at winning a Zvezda replacement contract is Northrop Grumman(NYSE: NOC). Like Boeing's Starliner, Northrop's Cygnus supply ships can reach ISS and in fact, NASA has plans to try using Cygnus's engines to course-correct ISS on a future flight, to test out this option.

Northrop even won a contract to build a habitation module for NASA's planned lunar space station, the Lunar Gateway, basing its design on what else? a Cygnus supply craft. And if NASA thinks Northrop is qualified to build modules for its new space station, it stands to reason Northrop would be first in line to win a contract to build new modules for NASA's old space station as well.

Incoming: Uncontrolled debris from Chinese space rocket could crash on Earth as soon as Saturday

Right now, it's hard to say how serious Russia is about exiting ISS ahead of schedule. But if it does leave, given the ambitious plans several space companies have announced in recent years to build their own space stations but to first practice space station operations and procedures aboard ISS I think there's a good chance NASA will seek an interim solution to keep ISS flying for a few more years.

If that proves to be the case, Boeing and Northrop (and SpaceX) are all prime candidates to benefit from a new ISS contract.

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3 companies that could replace Russia on International Space Station: SpaceX, Boeing, Northrup - USA TODAY