Starlab Station Tour: Voyager’s Starship-Sized Research Outpost

Starlab, a commercial space station from Voyager Technologies, is designed around a diameter of roughly 7.5 m, compared with the roughly 4 m modules of the International Space Station. Voyager CEO Dylan Taylor says the whole station would launch on a single SpaceX Starship and be operational "literally next day", because it would be built, tested and commissioned on the ground. The plan is to be in orbit around 2029.

Built for one launch

Taylor explains that ISS modules are about 4 m because that is what the fairings of earlier rockets and the Space Shuttle bay could carry. Starlab is instead optimized for Starship's larger fairing and lift capacity, and he says it could potentially fly on New Glenn if the volume were optimized. The finished station would have six floors, too tall for the overhead crane in the Houston building where the mock-up stands. Taylor puts Starlab at about one third of the ISS's total volume but 100% of its research capacity, counted in mid-deck locker equivalents.

Three decks in the mock-up

The lowest level is the operational "back of the house": plumbing, electrical systems, a CO2 scrubber and the crew toilet. The next level up is the research floor, lined with mid-deck locker equivalents, with airlocks as access points. Two docking ports are planned, with an optional third on the back side. The crew quarters level holds sleeping quarters, a galley and social space. Four crew are planned, and the station is designed without spacewalks, relying on robotics from MDA, which Taylor notes built the Canadian arm.

Research use cases

Taylor cites several customers and ideas:

• United Semiconductor has demonstrated growing perfect crystals in microgravity.
• Lambda Vision has demonstrated growing a human iris in space.
• A human meniscus has already been produced on the ISS.
• Keytruda was, in part, developed on the ISS, according to Taylor.
• A quantum clock is planned with Inflexion.

He says Starlab is already about 130% pre-sold on research capacity.

Partners and heritage

Voyager acquired Nanoracks, which has run over 1,400 missions to the ISS. The name came from smaller racks inside the station's main racks. Starlab is a joint venture; Taylor names Airbus, Mitsubishi, MDA and Palantir as equity partners, and Hilton as a partner as well. He expects cargo from SpaceX and probably Cygnus. The structure is to be built in Louisiana by Bovac Inc., with design and test in Alabama and then Florida. Taylor says the orbit is planned around 550 km, and that Starlab passed critical design review with NASA.

Mission control and the Bishop airlock

At Voyager headquarters in Houston, a mission control room directs commercial payloads and talks to NASA astronauts on the ISS; it is described as the template for Starlab. The Bishop airlock, which Voyager built and NASA launched to the station, is a commercial route in and out of the ISS. Taylor says NASA selected Voyager for phase one of CLD to build Starlab.