Starlab is the name given to the planned LEO

space station A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is therefore a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. An orbital station or an orbital space station i ...

Nanoracks Nanoracks LLC is a private in-space services companywhich builds space hardware and in-space repurposing tools.The company also facilitates experiments and launches of CubeSats to Low Earth Orbit. Nanoracks's main office is in Houston, Tex ...

for commercial space activities uses. The company released preliminary plans in October 2021. The main structure of Starlab consists of a large inflatable habitat to be built by

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...

and a metallic docking node. The station is being designed to support 4 persons in 340 m³ of volume. The station also features a 60 kW power and propulsion element, a large robotic arm for servicing cargo and external payloads. The station is supposed to be operational in 2027. The company has partnered with other companies to realise the project: *

: Nanoracks owns and operates Starlab and GWC Science Park. Nanoracks, a leader in commercial space services, will respond quickly to customer needs and prioritize on-orbit activities; *

Voyager Space Voyager may refer to: Computing and communications * LG Voyager, a mobile phone model manufactured by LG Electronics * NCR Voyager, a computer platform produced by NCR Corporation * Voyager (computer worm), a computer worm affecting Oracle ...

: Voyager, the majority stakeholder in Nanoracks; *

: Lockheed Martin builds spacecraft systems. The company serves as the technical integrator for Starlab and will develop Starlab’s inflatable habitat module. After launch, Lockheed Martin will operate the system under Nanoracks’ leadership. On 2 December 2021, NASA announced it had selected Nanoracks, as one of three companies, to develop designs of space stations and other commercial destinations in space. Nanoracks was awarded $160 million. These Space Act Agreements are the first phase of two with which NASA aims to maintain an uninterrupted U.S. presence in

low-Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never m ...

by transitioning from the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...

to other platforms.

References

Proposed space stations {{USA-stub

See also

References