page_title: Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships
section_title: Habitation systems
hierarchical_section_title: Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships / Phases / Habitation systems
caption_attribution_description: English: The galley in a spacestation
context_page_description: Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships is a NASA program using a public-private partnership model that seeks commercial development of deep space exploration capabilities to support more extensive human space flight missions in the Proving Ground around and beyond cislunar space—the space near Earth that extends just beyond the Moon.
context_section_description: Starting in September 2016 under NextSTEP-2 Appendix A six companies were given approximately 24 months to develop ground prototypes or conduct concept studies for a Deep Space Habitat. Habitation systems provide a safe place for humans to live as humans move beyond Earth, especially in the context of the Moon to Mars. 
  The selected companies were:
  Bigelow Aerospace of Las Vegas
  Boeing of Pasadena, Texas
  Lockheed Martin of Denver
  Orbital ATK of Dulles, Virginia
  Sierra Nevada Corporation's Space Systems of Louisville, Colorado
  NanoRacks of Webster, Texas
  In August 2016 NASA estimated the combined total of all the awards, covering work in 2016 and 2017, would be approximately $65 million, with additional efforts and funding continuing into 2018. Partners were required to contribute at least 30 percent of the cost of the overall proposed effort.
  In January 2018 Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) was granted a contract modification permitting the development of advanced bio-based life support and food production systems at SNC's Madison, Wisconsin offices. The aim is to produce plant-based modules that can recycle drinking water from waste water streams, regenerate oxygen from carbon dioxide, produce fresh food for astronauts, and support radiation protection of the crew while on deep exploration missions, such as missions to Mars.
caption: The galley in a space station
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