Airbus Defence and Space (Airbus DS), part of the Europe-based global major aerospace group Airbus, has, at the thirty-eighth Space Symposium at Colorado Springs, in the US State of Colorado, unveiled its design for a new-generation crewed space module, designated LOOP. (The Space Symposium, organised by US non-profit organisation the Space Foundation, is seen as the world’s premier such event.)

LOOP – it is not clear what the name stands for – is a multipurpose orbital module design. It could be deployed in low Earth orbit or Lunar orbit, either singly or in groups of two or more locked together. It could also be combined with other modules from other manufacturers. It could also be used as a module in a crewed spacecraft for missions to Mars.

Airbus DS designed the LOOP because the current International Space Station (ISS) is coming to the end of its life. The ISS was originally designed to have an operational life of 15 years, Airbus DS pointed out. The first ISS module was launched in 1998, the core of the station became operational in 2000, and reached its definitive form in 2011 (although another pressurised module was added as recently as 2021). The ISS is now scheduled to be decommissioned in 2030, and then de-orbited.

LOOP is designed for long-term crewed space operations, exploiting the lessons learnt from decades of crewed spaceflight and experiences derived from the ISS. It is intended to be comfortable and indeed enjoyable to work and live in. It is designed for a crew of four, but could accommodate eight astronauts for a limited time.

The LOOP is designed to be launched into space as a single, completely outfitted unit, on one of the upcoming super-heavy launch rockets. It would thus be operational immediately it entered orbit. It has a diameter of 8 m and a length of about 8 m, giving it an internal volume greater than any other crewed module yet built. It has a rigid outer shell to maximise the protection for the crew from “external influences”. 

Internally, the module has three decks, linked by a central vertical/axial passageway or “tunnel”, as Airbus DS calls it. (In zero gravity, astronauts could just float along the tunnel, from deck to deck). The design includes, arranged around this tunnel, a vertically/axially arranged greenhouse (or perhaps more accurately, series of small greenhouses) in which plants could be grown.

In the Airbus DS reference layout, the ‘uppermost’ of the three decks is the Habitation Deck. This includes a compact gymnasium. The middle level is the Science Deck, which contains the experimental facilities, including a secure ‘glovebox’ unit in which samples which need to be kept pure, or are potentially toxic, can be safely handled. The Science Deck also hosts the airlock to allow astronauts to undertake space walks (more formally known as ‘extravehicular activities’ or EVAs). The third deck level hosts something that has hitherto only been found in science fiction: a centrifuge. The purpose of the centrifuge is to generate artificial gravity and so reduce the very real stresses put on human bodies by weightlessness.  

However, a client doesn’t have to accept this layout and can have it modified to meet their requirements. Indeed, they could just order the module structure and outfit it internally to their own needs and desires.