Voyager signs SpaceX’s Starship to launch its Starlab space station
Voyager Space, one of three commercial space stations being built in partnership with NASA, has awarded SpaceX the launch contract for putting its Starlab space station into orbit, using that company’s Superheavy/Starship rocket.
The companies did not disclose terms of the agreement or a projected launch date, although a spokesperson for Starlab Space said the company was confident that Starlab would be launched before the decommissioning of the International Space Station, currently scheduled for 2030.
Voyager is building Starlab in a joint partnership with Airbus and Northrop Grumman. The design is relatively simple though large (one main module and a service module), which makes Starship an excellent method for getting it into orbit.
SpaceX now has deals to launch two different space stations using Starship. The second is with the private company Vast, which is building its station completely independent from NASA. Starship also has won launch contracts from two different private citizens, as well as NASA.
It appears that Musk’s instincts were right on the money when he decided to build this rocket, even though when he proposed it there did not seem to be any customers for it.
Hat tip to BtB’s stringer Jay.
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HLLV advocates were always on the outside looking in…Delta II, which I call a glorified sounding rocket (:0) poisoned the well.
Satellite builders have to design for available launchers, and settle on a specific launch capability fairly early in design. The available launchers constrain mass, physical size, deployment process, time to target orbit or trajectory. When there was no Superheavy/Starship launcher, no one would have considered that scenario.
There is at least one use case for it, though. Someone did the math a while back on satellite-based solar power for terrestrial consumption. The amount of mass that would need to be launched for a single satellite was huge. And that still doesn’t make the idea practical until someone demonstrates even a minimal capability.
FYI: first paragraph, “Starlay”.
Ray Van Dune: Fixed. Thanks.
It would be nice to know if Space X is planning a 6 port hub for attaching 6 Starships together,