The European Space Agency has signed a new agreement with the developers of the Starlab commercial space station, with the aim of establishing what is has described as sustained access to space for Europe.
In a statement the groups said the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed during the European Space Summit in Seville, Spain, between ESA, Voyager Space and Airbus Defense and Space will initially focus on how ESA could use Starlab for astronaut missions and as a long-term research and commercial platform.
The new agreement also states that the groups will explore how ESA could use Starlab as a part of an “end-to-end” ecosystem that includes European cargo and crew capsules, similar to how SpaceX’s Dragon capsule provides astronaut and cargo transportation to and from the International Space Station.
NASA decided to seed the development of privately-owned stations that it could utilize as an anchor tenant instead of replacing the station with another government-run funded station.NASA had awarded over $400 million total to three private station plans, including Voyager Space’s Starlab in December 2021.
The International Space Station is currently slated to retire in 2030.In a statement, the CEO of Airbus Defence and Space Mike Schoellhorn said the collaboration on the space station would build on a long and successful partnership between ESA and Airbus in developing and operating a wide range of crewed and uncrewed spacecraft.
Philips Babatunde