SpaceX has garnered attention for its ambitious plans to utilize the Starship vehicle for lunar and Martian missions, satellite launches, and even as a high-speed terrestrial transport. However, the company is also exploring another intriguing application for the Starship architecture: repurposing it into a commercial space station. Recognizing the importance of having a research lab in low-Earth orbit once the International Space Station (ISS) is decommissioned in 2030, NASA has partnered with SpaceX to study this concept.
SpaceX teases another application for Starship
In June, NASA announced new collaboration agreements with seven commercial companies, including SpaceX. The Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities (CCSC) program aims to foster private sector development of emerging products and services that could be available to NASA and other customers within the next five to seven years. This is separate from the funded agreements NASA signed earlier in 2021 with Nanoracks, Blue Origin, and Northrop Grumman for their concepts of a commercial space station.
While NASA did not provide funding for the new CCSC effort involving SpaceX’s Starship, the agency plans to offer technical support, including expert assessments, lessons learned, technologies, and data. Additionally, NASA will provide non-financial support to Blue Origin’s crew spacecraft development and Northrop Grumman’s human-tended research platform.
SpaceX’s bid for a funded space station development agreement was not accepted due to concerns about the scalability of the company’s life-support system for long-duration missions and its single docking port plan. Nonetheless, NASA acknowledged the potential of Starship and its significant impact on crew and cargo transportation, as well as the development of the low-Earth orbit economy.
The Starship program, funded by private sources, aims to create a fully reusable rocket with a 33-engine booster called Super Heavy and an upper stage called Starship. SpaceX aims to demonstrate in-orbit refueling, land humans on the Moon through the Artemis program, establish a human settlement on Mars, and provide global point-to-point transportation on Earth.
In terms of the Starship space station concept, details are still emerging. It remains to be seen whether SpaceX intends to convert the entire internal volume of Starship into a pressurized habitat or focus on enhancing the crew cabin for long-duration stays in low-Earth orbit. Nonetheless, NASA recognizes the innovative potential of Starship and believes it could fulfill the agency’s need for a commercial space station post-ISS.
Repurposing rockets into space stations is a familiar idea. NASA previously considered converting the S-IVB upper stage of a Saturn IB rocket into a pressurized workshop but ultimately pursued the “dry workshop” concept that led to Skylab. Similarly, proposals to utilize the space shuttle’s external tank and spent rocket stages as orbiting platforms were explored but have yet to be realized due to cost and complexity.
In the current era, companies like Nanoracks are also actively engaged in developing technologies to convert spent rocket stages into orbiting space stations. Collaborations with Maxar and United Launch Alliance have yielded promising results, including successful microgravity metal-cutting demonstrations.
For SpaceX, the Starship space station concept represents a new frontier in space exploration and commercialization. Though challenges and uncertainties remain, NASA sees the potential of Starship and will continue to support SpaceX’s endeavors, leveraging the expertise and capabilities of the private sector to propel humanity’s presence in space.