Endeavour’s flight deck, logs a note regarding operations with Unity in 1998.
Photo: NASA
Robert D. “Bob” Cabana, a former NASA astronaut, NASA Associate Administrator (the agency’s third highest-ranking executive) and Director of Kennedy Space Center, has joined IBX, a firm that invests in and fosters innovation in space-related companies. Founded by engineer and entrepreneur Kam Ghaffirian, IBX supports companies Ghaffirian helped found: Axiom Space, Intuitive Machines, Quantum Space and X-energy along with other ventures. Cabana will serve as a Senior Advisor with the company.
Cabana, who flew on four Shuttle missions, as pilot on STS-41 and STS-53 and mission commander on STS-65 and STS-88, has logged 38 days in space. He is a graduate of the US Naval Academy and served in the US Marines before joining NASA.
“I’m truly excited to join Kam’s innovative team at IBX, supporting the continued advancement of our nation’s space program and pushing the boundaries of technology for a brighter future on Earth and beyond,” said Cabana in a press released issued today by IBX.
Axiom Space
Axiom Space has managed the flights of three groups of astronauts to the International Space Station and has a fourth flight scheduled for later this year. They also have a contract to provide NASA with the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU), a spacesuit that will provide astronauts with advanced capabilities to access, live, and work on and around the Moon.
Photo: Charles Boyer / Florida Media Now
Axiom is also building its first commercial space station segment for Axiom Station. Working with Thales Alenia Space, fabrication is well underway with a planned launch in 2026.
Graphic: Axiom Space
Intuitive Machines
Intuitive Machines just completed their first lunar landing with IM-1, a NASA Commercial Lunar Payload System (CLPS) mission that was the first successful American landing on the Moon’s surface since the end of the Apollo program in 1972.
That mission was partially successful in that it completed the lunar landing, but it also had issues with its lander’s navigation system that resulted in a lander on its side near the south pole of the Moon. Intuitive has another CLPS mission scheduled for later this year using another of its Nova-C landers, and the company has said that it will incorporate lessons learned during IM-1 into its IM-2 mission, which is planned for sometime in Q4 2024. Still, it is fair to call the mission a success, given that it had to overcome several technical hurdles to reach the point where it could land. The Intuitive team got their lander to the lunar surface, a true first in the age of commercial space.
Quantum Space
Quantum Space is a company that plans to provide data services beyond low-Earth orbit, in geosynchronous and cislunar space. It is creating a laser-based system that will be utilized in a modular fleet of spacecraft that will incorporate external payloads and data collection based on its systems.
Grpahic: Quantum Space
The QS-1 spacecraft — Ranger — launch is ostensibly scheduled for late 2024 and will include off-the-shelf processor and navigation electronics provided by Beyond Gravity, a subsidiary of RUAG. According to the company, “Ranger is powered by storable chemical propulsion and can transport rideshare payloads, from cubesats to larger OTV [Orbital Test Vehicles.]”
X-energy
X-energy is a reactor and fuel design engineering company. It is developing a Generation IV high-temperature gas-cooled pebble-bed nuclear reactor design that do not rely on active systems or power to ensure reactor safety. They are also developing a new reactor fuel called TRISO-X that can withstand four times the temperature of current nuclear fuel, but is priced similarly to those older materials.
Based in Rockwell, Maryland, X-energy has received grants from the US Department of Energy to advance X-energy’s reactor development program. In March 2023, X-energy and Dow Inc agreed to develop a grid-scale next-generation Xe-100 nuclear reactor at one of Dow’s sites on the Gulf Coast of the US.
Undoubtedly, Cabana’s experience and expertise will quite an asset to IBX and the companies it is invested in, and also undoubtedly, Cabana will be a busy man, given all of the activities that these companies are taking part in.
