Starlab design as of December 2025

The commercial space station Starlab has gotten another customer. A Japanese space-based computer company, DigitalBlast, on July 25, 2026 signed an agreement that allocates it space on Starlab once it is launched and operational.

Based on the press release, it is very difficult to determine exactly what DigitalBlast intends to do with this allocation. It appears the company’s function will be to act as a go-between allowing others use of its equipment.

DigitalBlast will serve as a user-integration partner for R&D that puts the space environment to practical use, and will work to build itself into one of the gateways through which companies and research institutions in Japan and the wider Asia region can access orbit.

The release also says DigitalBlast is developing something called “Orbital Data Center Construction Technology” under a program created by Japan’s space agency JAXA and the ten year $6.6 billion Space Strategic Fund the government gave it in 2023 to encourage private enterprise.

Either way, this deal once again shows that there is market interest in using these commercial stations, outside of NASA funding.

My updated ranking of the five American space stations presently under development:

• Haven-1 and Haven-2, being built by Vast, with no NASA funds. The company plans to launch its single module Haven-1 demo station in 2027 for a three-year period during which it will be occupied by at least four 2-week-long manned missions, one of which will include a French astronaut. It planned manned mission to ISS in ’28 will also include both a French and Czech astronaut. It has also made preliminary deals with Lithuania, Colombia, Uzbekistan, Japan, the Czech Republic, and the Maldives for possible astronaut flights to Haven-1, as well as four biomedical companies. It has raised more than a billion in cash for this work, and has already tested an unmanned small demo module in orbit.
• Starlab, being built by a consortium led by Voyager Space, Airbus, and Northrop Grumman, with extensive partnership agreements with the European Space Agency, Mitsubishi, and others. Though no construction has yet begun on its NASA-approved design, it has raised $383 million in a public stock offering, the $217.5 million provided by NASA, and an unstated amount from private capital, probably in the range of about $250 million. It has also begun signing up station customers, as well as a number of companies to build the station’s hardware. It also plans a mission to ISS in ’28.
• Axiom, being built by Axiom, has launched four tourist flights to ISS. A fifth mission is now planned for ’27. The company has now raised $625 million in private investment capital. Thales Alenia in Europe has been building its first two modules, with the first scheduled to launch in 2028. The company has also now established a subsidiary in Europe as well as signed Redwire to build that module’s solar panels.
• Thunderbird, proposed by the startup Max Space. It is building a smaller demo test station to launch in ’27 on a Falcon 9 rocket, and has begun work on its manufacturing facility at Kennedy in Florida. Its management includes one former NASA astronaut and one former member of the Bigelow space station team that built the first private orbiting inflatable modules, Genesis-1, Genesis-2, and BEAM (still operating on ISS).
• Orbital Reef, being built by a consortium led by Blue Origin and Sierra Space. This station appears dead in the water. Blue Origin has built almost nothing, and while Sierra Space has successfully tested its inflatable modules, including a full scale version, its reputation is soured by its failure in getting its Dream Chaser cargo mini-shuttle launched to ISS.