Space Storage, Storage Spaces (Say that 10 times fast!)

Most people living on the world today will never journey to outer space. Even with the most rapid advances in spacecraft technology most of us will be stuck here on good old earth. But don’t think that that doesn’t mean the age for widespread space travel is not upon us. While it might not be happening tomorrow space travel for commercial purposes and even tourism is already in the planning stages. This raises an important question. With outer space being so hostile to human life, how will we survive? What can we bring with us to help us endure the rigours of space travel?

Fortunately for us aspiring Buck Rogers’ scientists have been studying these questions for decades. Starting back at the dawn of the space-age what supplies are necessary and how to store them safely has been an integral question in science of space exploration. What do you may not know is that this science as events into a business. Believe it or not there is now an industry devoted to space supply. Space logistics has gone from being the subject of study to a bustling business With billions of dollars invested in. Savvy business people long ago figured out that not only was space travel, so was the opportunity to make money supplying future space travellers with all they need to survive.

Modern technology has made the preservation of perishable goods and adaptation to harsh conditions of equipment a relatively simple procedure. This does not mean that anyone can prepare supplies for space travel however. Modern space supply chain entrepreneurs have to deal with the key limiting factor of space travel supplies – storage. Space travel, despite what you might seen science-fiction films is a very complex and delicately balanced Blend of science and technology with understandably little room for error. As such spacecraft are necessarily designed first for safety, and second for comfort. And safety requires a lot of equipment. The expense of building spacecraft and delivering those craft into space leaves precious little room for cargo. And since you only want to ship supplies into space as infrequently as possible, miniaturisation and weight optimisation are essential considerations for any business involved in the space logistics industry.

Let’s look at the international space station, a good place to start as it is most assuredly our greatest endeavour and helping people survive in the harsh conditions of space. At any one time there can be as many as seven astronauts living on the international space station and they’ll need to be fed (and watered) and these supply flights can only happen a few times a year. Flights can deliver approximately 3 tons of supplies, which certainly sounds like a lot. But when you consider that the bulk of this weight is fuel and breathable air understand how precious little space available there is for extravagances. Let’s look at the food requirements for six astronauts over six months. It’s hard to believe that even a ton of food could sustain that many people for that long. Companies in the space logistics industry have worked long and hard to figure out how to pack the most nutritional value into the smallest spaces. This again leads to the ultimate question of storage space on international space station is quite limited, with most areas being devoted to the scientific missions It was designed for. So out of necessity food items must be packaged and sized in a way to best utilise this precious storage space.