Capability Map: Six Classes, 12 Destinations

Reading the map

Two Classes Every Destination Needs, Four That Sort Them

Heavy lift and communications are universal; compute, stations, ISRU and nuclear divide the near shore from everything past it.

Read across a row and a class's reach shows: Heavy Lift and Comms & PNT are essential at all 12 destinations. Orbital Compute and Commercial Stations live at Earth orbit and cislunar space. ISRU and Space Nuclear take over from the Moon outward, and from Mars on both are essential - which is why the outer system waits on reactors and ice extraction more than on launch. Modeled

Read down a column and a destination's dependencies show. Earth orbit depends on four classes, and so do Mars and every outer destination - but a different four: lift, communications, ISRU and nuclear. Venus needs only the two universal ones, because nothing is built there. Mercury uses ISRU for polar ice but runs on solar-thermal power, not fission.

Classes by destination

Capability Class by Destination

A reading of which class each destination depends on.

Capability class by destination · ● essential · ○ used · - not needed
Class	Earth Orbit	Cislunar	Moon	Mars	Venus	Mercury	Belt	Jovian	Saturnian	Neptune	Pluto	Interstellar
Heavy Lift	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Comms & PNT	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Orbital Compute	●	○	○	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Commercial Stations	●	○	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
ISRU	-	○	●	●	-	○	●	●	●	●	●	-
Space Nuclear	-	○	○	●	-	-	●	●	●	●	●	○

Holders

Who Holds Each Class, West and China

Each class is linked to its page; leaders as of October 2026.

Who holds each class · status Q4 2026
Class	West	China	Rated
Heavy Lift	SpaceX Falcon and Starship; Blue Origin, ULA, Arianespace, JAXA (several grounded in 2026)	CALT Long March 5, 10 and 10B; LandSpace, CAS Space, SAST	Observed
Comms & PNT	NASA Deep Space Network, ESA ESTRACK, GPS, Galileo; Intuitive Machines lunar relay	Chinese deep space network, Queqiao-1 and -2, BeiDou, Tianlian	Observed
Orbital Compute	SpaceX Starmind, Starcloud, Google Suncatcher, Axiom	Three-Body constellation, Guoxing Aerospace, Orbital Chenguang	Building
Commercial Stations	ISS to 2030; Vast, Axiom, Starlab, Orbital Reef	Tiangong, continuously crewed	Building
ISRU	NASA VIPER, Interlune, Blue Origin, Lunar Outpost	Chang'e-7 and -8, Tianwen-2	Projected
Space Nuclear	NASA LR-1 and SR-1 Freedom, DOE, Antares, Westinghouse	CNSA-Roscosmos lunar reactor 2035	Building

Programs

Programs Are Routes Through the Classes

Artemis, the Chinese stack and Starship each draw on a different set; Workforce binds them all.

Programs routed through the classes · ● depends on · ○ partial · - none
Program	Heavy Lift	Comms & PNT	Orbital Compute	Stations	ISRU	Nuclear
Artemis	●	●	-	○	○	●
Chinese Program Structure	●	●	○	●	○	○
Starship	●	●	●	○	○	-
Workforce	●	●	●	●	●	●

Contested

Deliberately Not Claimed

The load-bearing uncertainties, tagged with the confidence they actually earn.

Modeled

The matrix is a reading, not a measurement. Essential means no destination plan closes without the class; used means it appears in plans but is not on the critical path.

Building

The class list will move. Robotics, on-orbit servicing and launch insurance could each earn a class as the field matures.

Record

Provenance and Data Sources

Confidence: Observed for flown, fielded or measured - Building for hardware and programs in development - Projected for announced plans - Modeled for original analysis
Status date: Q4 2026
Basis: The six class pages and the 12 destination profiles
Weakest link: Matrix entries are editorial judgments