The International Space Station will be decommissioned in 2030. Commercial space station providers who build what comes next have to answer for what’s about to disappear and prove they’re the ones to fix it. Three questions decide that case.
What’s at stake if continuous access to microgravity research disappears?
For more than two decades, the ISS has been one of the only places where researchers could run experiments in true microgravity, work that’s led to breakthrough cancer treatments, improved GPS technology, and advances in water purification and manufacturing that wouldn’t have been possible on the ground. When the station comes down, that access goes with it, unless something is already built to replace it. The moment we accept a gap, we cede ground scientifically, commercially, and geopolitically that is very hard to recover.
That’s not a hypothetical problem for 2030. It’s a research pipeline that needs infrastructure and a platform now. That should be the mission driving commercial space station design: how best to leverage microgravity to benefit Earth and advance understanding of human longevity in space, without any gap in access.
Starlab fulfills this at launch with full capability, continuous crew presence, and ISS-level functionality from the start. No lengthy, risky buildup.
Who’s equipped to deliver it?
Building a commercial space station isn’t a first attempt for Starlab’s team. It’s led by the same organizations behind two decades of ISS mission operations, including Voyager Technologies, Airbus and Mitsubishi Corporation, working alongside MDA for robotics, Palantir for AI-enabled operations, and Space Applications Services for payload support. Our team has 12 active research facilities currently in orbit, plus Voyager’s Bishop Airlock, and Airbus’ European Service Module is the workhorse providing power, propulsion, and life support for NASA’s Orion spacecraft. That track record is what shortens the distance between a design on paper and a station that works on day one.
What scale is needed to meet the demand?
Starlab is built for four astronauts continuously, up to eight during crew turnover, across roughly 1,560 square feet of floor space spanning six floors, larger than the average American two-bedroom home. It supports 100% of the ISS’s payload capacity. Its internal payload lab holds 13 platforms with room for 130 Middeck Locker Equivalents, plus dedicated space for a glovebox, cold stowage, and optical bench work. It launches in a single Starship flight, which cuts both cost and technical risk compared to assembling a station piece by piece.
That capacity, though, is already spoken for. Starlab’s initial commercial payload space is booked above capacity – by biopharma companies, advanced materials firms and semiconductor manufacturers investing in microgravity research – putting the station in a backlog for its first year-plus of operations. But that’s not a shortage story; it’s evidence the commercial low-Earth-orbit economy is real and growing faster than even a station this size can absorb on day one.
Three questions, three answers: the stakes are real; the Starlab team is built to deliver; and the demand for microgravity access already outstrips what a first-generation platform can hold. Explore Starlab’s full design and capabilities here. But no single company builds a global space economy alone. Next, we’ll look at the network of partners and customers already building this future alongside Starlab.