An artist’s rendering of the Starlab space station in low Earth orbit.
Voyager Space / Star Lab Space LLC
A contract written in the stars.
Private broadcaster Starlab plans to fly a Starship rocket to reach orbit later this decade, both spacecraft being developed by the companies announced Wednesday.
Starlab – being built by Voyager Space and Airbus through a joint venture with the following partners: Northrop Grumman and hilton – will be launched in a single mission on SpaceX’s giant rocket.
Starlab represents one of the earliest commercial customers to order a Starship launch from SpaceX. The companies did not disclose the amount of the launch agreement.
The station is one of several currently under development by American companies as NASA prepares to retire the International Space Station in 2030.
Sign up here to receive CNBC’s Space Investing Newsletter weekly.
Voyager and Airbus aim to have Star Labs in service as early as 2028. Her four-year development and construction schedule for the space station gives SpaceX time to advance the development of her Starship, from demonstration flights to launches of customer spacecraft.
SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft, powered by a powerful Super Heavy rocket, will lift off on an uncrewed test flight from the company’s Boca Chica launch pad near Brownsville, Texas, on November 18, 2023.
Joe Skipper | Reuters
The Star Labs module is designed to be about 26 feet in diameter, or about twice the diameter of the ISS module, which limits the number of rockets that can support a space station launch in a single mission.
Voyager Chairman and CEO Dylan Taylor believes launching Starlab all at once on Starship is “the right way to de-risk the program.”
“That would eliminate the need for dangerous in-orbit assembly and multiple launches,” Taylor told CNBC.
Star Labs previously received funding under NASA’s Commercial LEO Destinations Program, and Voyager and Airbus are undergoing design review with NASA.
Both companies are focused on designing habitats for the microgravity research market in space, and StarLab is designed to provide continuous support for a crew of four and last as long as 30 years in orbit. There is.