Airbus and Voyager Space Forge Closer Partnership for New Orbital Platform

Voyager Space, a U.S. space venture company, and Airbus announced on Wednesday their plans to enhance collaboration in the competitive pursuit of constructing a privately-owned iteration of the International Space Station.

In January, the two companies announced plans to provide Airbus design support for Voyager’s Starlab, one of three projects pre-selected by NASA to draw up plans for a potential commercial successor to the ISS.

On Wednesday, they said Airbus would become a core partner in a newly planned project to develop, build and operate an orbital research station, expanding Europe’s role in the project.

The size of the shares and financial details were not disclosed. Voyager Space also declined to discuss financing plans.

Starlab is one of three private concepts designed to replace the aging ISS, an orbiting laboratory the size of a football field that has been continuously manned for more than 22 years.

The original plan for Starlab included an inflatable habitat designed by Lockheed Martin.

But since the decision to go metal, Lockheed’s role has effectively been replaced by Airbus, which built the Columbus module for the ISS.

“Lockheed will probably still have a role somewhere in the supply chain,” Voyager Space CEO Dylan Taylor told reporters. Lockheed remains an important customer for Voyager and Starlab remains US-led, he added.

“There will be donations from Europe, but there will certainly be a lineup and large donations from the United States.”

Voyager, through its subsidiary Nanoracks, won $160 million from NASA in 2021 to support Starlab development under the agency’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development program.

Axiom Space and a team led by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin are developing competing stations under the program.

NASA has planned to retire the ISS in 2030 and rely on private companies to host scientific research in low-Earth orbit, but agency officials have acknowledged that its life may need to be extended as private replacements emerge.

Voyager Space and Airbus have said Starlab will be operational in 2028, but on Wednesday backed away from a specific timeline.

“It will happen before the ISS is decommissioned; we’re very confident about that. Whether it’s late 2027, early 2028 or late 2028, we’re still working out those details,” Taylor said.

Both companies plan to announce the launch supplier in the coming months.