With the ISS set to splash down, Starship aims to launch an entire commercial space station in one go
Starlab will go up in one single trip The post With the ISS set to splash down, Starship aims to launch an entire commercial space station in one go appeared first on Supercar Blondie.
With the International Space Station (ISS) set to splash back down to Earth in the next few years, Starship is gearing up to launch an entire commercial space station – dubbed Starlab – in one go.
The ISS was launched back in November 1998 and is the largest space station ever built.
It’s spent more than 25 years in operation, but is set to be ‘de-orbited’ after 2030.
When the ISS is gone, several private orbital space stations are planned, including Starlab.
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Starship will launch the Starlab commercial space station in one go
As NASA gears up to de-orbit the ISS, the US space agency will be working alongside several partners who will be launching private orbital habitats.
These include Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Sierra Space, which are working away on a $100 billion space station known as Orbital Reef.
Orbital Reef will be a ‘a ‘mixed-use business park 250 miles above Earth’ and will be used for ‘commerce, research, and tourism’.
And Vast, which is set to launch its Haven-1 commercial space station next year.
Elsewhere, Starlab Space is planning on launching its own space station in 2028, but it won’t be quite as extravagant as some of the others.
The Starlab is made up of two parts: a service module to hold certain power and propulsion elements, and an orbital habit to support humans and their activities.
Starlab Space was created by Voyager Space and Airbus, with Mitsubishi Corporation and MDA Space joining in for the design of the lab.
“Starlab will serve a global customer base of space agencies, researchers, and companies, ensuring a continued human presence in low-Earth orbit and a seamless transition of microgravity science and research from the International Space Station into the new commercial space station era,” its creators said.
The habitat will have a diameter of 26 feet, and there are plans to launch it into space in a single flight in 2028.
It’s thought it will be a SpaceX Starship that will take the Starlab into space.
“Starlab’s single-launch solution continues to demonstrate not only what is possible, but how the future of commercial space is happening now,” Senior Vice President of Commercial Business at SpaceX Tom Ochinero said.
“The SpaceX team is excited for Starship to launch Starlab to support humanity’s continued presence in low-Earth orbit on our way to making life multiplanetary.”
What happens when the ISS is de-orbited?
Last year, NASA announced it had chosen SpaceX to safely bring down the ISS.
The space agency gave SpaceX an ‘allowance’ of $843 million to develop a spacecraft that can de-orbit the ISS, so it can safely crash down into the ocean.
“Selecting a U.S. Deorbit Vehicle for the International Space Station will help NASA and its international partners ensure a safe and responsible transition in low Earth orbit at the end of station operations,” NASA HQ’s associate administrator for Space Operations Mission Directorate, Ken Bowersox, said.
“This decision also supports NASA’s plans for future commercial destinations and allows for the continued use of space near Earth.”
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