L‘European Space Agency (ESA), Airbus Defense and Space and Voyager Space signed a trilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the ESA Space Summit in Seville, outlining their collaboration for the Starlab space station in the post-International Space Station era. The Memorandum of Understanding underlines that the parties intend to jointly promote the development of science and technology and explore the potential for collaboration in relation to destinations in low earth orbit (LEO) following the International Space Station.
Collaboration for the development of low Earth orbit: Italy too in space
The collaboration will initially – but not only – focus on exploring opportunities for sustained access to space for Europe through Starlab space station. These could include:
- Access to the Starlab space station for ESA and its Member States, for astronaut missions and long-term research activities, as well as for commercial business development.
- Contributions to research projects on upcoming missions, leveraging European technology in various fields, including (but not limited to) advanced robotics and automation/artificial intelligence, and promoting European scientific priorities, such as health and life sciences .
- Creation of a complete “end-to-end” ecosystem including the Starlab space station as a low-orbit destination and a potential European transport system developed by ESA (cargo and crew), exploiting standardized interfaces in the interest of a policy of open access.
This agreement reflects ESA’s ambition to enable a smooth transition from the International Space Station towards sustained exploitation of human and robotic infrastructure in low orbit after 2030including through commercial services.
The contribution to the development of low Earth orbit
In the past, Airbus has provided ESA with iconic spacecraft such as the International Space Station’s Columbus Module, all five Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATVs) and, most recently, the European Service Module (ESM) for Orion, the European to NASA’s Artemis missions to the Moon.
Italy in space: the future of the space sector is discussed in Seville
In August 2023, Voyager and Airbus first announced an agreement to create a transatlantic joint venture supporting a human presence continues in low-Earth orbit and a seamless transition of microgravity science and research opportunities into the post-International Space Station era. Starlab is also expected to have an affiliated European joint venture to directly serve the European Space Agency and its member states’ space agencies.