WASHINGTON — Voyager Space and Airbus Defence and Space have finalized a partnership to develop the Starlab commercial space station, seeking to win customers for it from both sides of the Atlantic.
The companies announced Jan. 9 that they completed the formation of Starlab Space LLC, the joint venture responsible for the design, construction and operation of the station. The companies announced plans to create the joint venture in August.
“This joint venture solidifies our unwavering commitment to reimagining the future of commercial space alongside Voyager, anchoring Starlab to European and American ambitions and pioneering the future of humanity in space,” said Jean-Marc Nasr, head of space systems at Airbus, in a statement.
The companies described the joint venture as a partnership that would leverage both technical and business competencies of the two companies. It is also designed to help win business from both NASA and European customers, like the European Space Agency, as the agencies transition from the International Space Station to commercial facilities like Starlab.
“If you look at the business case for Starlab, you discover very quickly that neither Europe nor the U.S. can do a space station on their own,” said Manfred Jaumann, vice president of low Earth orbit and suborbital programs at Airbus, during a session of the Space Tech Expo Europe conference in Bremen, Germany, in November. “You need partners.”
Voyager, he said, brought to the partnership expertise in commercialization. “The commercialization process in the U.S. is much more advanced” than in Europe, he argued. “They are years ahead of us.”
Airbus, he said, brought to the partnership technical expertise. That includes development of the large habitation module, made of stainless steel, that enables the station to be launched on a single flight of a heavy-lift rocket. “This is a complete game-changer when compared with ISS,” he…
Read the full article here