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"Enduring American Presence in Low Earth Orbit is National Imperative"

Document: staying-in-low-earth-orbit.pdf, four pages. No printed date. The Ignition page lists it as the "Staying in Low Earth Orbit" fact sheet, "Mar 24, 2026, 151.78 KB"; the download is 155,420 bytes, which is 151.78 KB (sources/manifest.csv). Text: sources/text/docs/2026-03-staying-in-low-earth-orbit.txt.

Summary. NASA's plan for the move from the International Space Station to commercial stations. It adds an "Incremental Transition Approach", NASA's "preferred path": a government Core Module attached to the station, commercial modules tested there, and later separation into free flight. It is about low Earth orbit, not the Moon or Mars. Its "phases" and "updated architecture" are the LEO plan's, not the Moon Base's or the Moon to Mars Architecture's.

Key points

  • The station's record (p. 1): "more than 4,000 research investigations", "37 shuttle flights, 160 spacewalks, two decades, and more than $100 billion". Sustaining it took "more than 110 corrective spacewalks since assembly". "A quarter‑century of space station success has depended on constant human intervention and a deep bench of technical expertise. Building and operating a new station will face these same challenges."
  • The problem (pp. 1–2): no "breakthrough products or scalable in‑space manufacturing markets have emerged"; "no independently verifiable evidence that a commercial station funded partially by NASA would be economically viable"; NASA "cannot afford the originally envisioned path of developing two commercial stations and today cannot even afford one".
  • Two approaches (p. 2): "Status‑Quo Commercial Replacement (Insufficient Funding)" and "Incremental Transition Approach (NASA's Preferred Path, Insufficient Funding)".
  • The LEO plan's four phases (pp. 2–3), headed "NASA's Updated Architecture" (the LEO one):
    1. "NASA Core Module": attached to the station, "supplying propulsion, refueling, power, cooling, docking ports, and basic life support"
    2. "Commercial Modules": two, integrated with the Core Module, with station assets transferred
    3. "Separation and Growth": the stations "detach from the International Space Station … supporting continuous crew presence"
    4. "Market‑Driven Expansion": NASA becomes "one customer among many"
  • For industry (pp. 3–4): "Two private astronaut missions per year", "Sale of a commander seat", "Potential joint commercial–NASA crew missions", module competitions, prize awards; an RFI opening 25 March.

Bearing on Moon to Mars

The fact sheet doesn't mention the Moon, Mars or the architecture. Its subject is the one of RT-8 Leverage Low-Earth Orbit, which says what the architecture expects from LEO; the pairing is the wiki's. Its account of the station's upkeep ("more than 110 corrective spacewalks", "constant human intervention") is NASA's own experience of maintaining a crewed outpost, but the fact sheet draws no lesson for the Moon or Mars, and the wiki doesn't either.

RT-8 Leverage Low-Earth Orbit · Ignition page · Ignition release