ESA and Starlab sign a Letter of Intent related to the post-ISS era

The Letter of Intent was signed on the sidelines of the International Space Summit in Paris and follows a Memorandum of Understanding signed by ESA and Starlab in Seville in 2023.

"Europe is strengthening its autonomy while preparing for the post-ISS era," said ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher. "This cooperation letter provides a basis to explore how future commercial stations could support European science and astronaut missions while considering the potential role of European transportation capabilities. Any next steps will be guided by the decisions of ESA Member States."

The document jointly signed between ESA and Starlab defines the preliminary terms and conditions relating to ESA's potential future use of the Starlab Space Station, including offsetting future ESA astronaut missions as well as European operations and utilisation infrastructure.

The bilaterally signed letter also lays the ground for a possible reservation of payload volume and payload facilities for periods that may be assigned in increments of thirty, sixty, ninety, or one hundred and eighty days.

As stated in the LoI, basic laboratory utilisation of the Starlab facilities on orbit may include: utilisation of Glovebox facilities, cold stowage, ambient stowage, incubation facilities and time, plant habitat utilisation, or other identified orbital lab functions. Starlab Space Station also foresees utilisation of European Cargo and future Crew Transportation Capabilities.

"This LoI represents a new milestone based on years of collaboration between Starlab and the European Space Agency, building upon our earlier Memoranda of Understanding for astronaut and payload services and advancing to a more defined framework based on detailed technical, operational, and commercial assessments. Through this, ESA and Starlab are establishing a clear pathway for future European utilization of low Earth orbit, including crew transportation, astronaut missions, research payloads, and in-space services. Starlab is proud to be a long-term and trusted partner to ESA, committed to ensuring that Europe maintains reliable access to low Earth orbit while enabling world-class science, technology development, and commercial innovation for decades to come." said Marshall Smith, CEO of Starlab Space.

The letter supports ESA's ongoing preparations for the post-ISS era and will facilitate the exchange of information and preparatory studies to assess potential future joint activities.

"With the upcoming de-orbitation of the ISS, it is our duty to anticipate and prepare future solutions to ensure our access to Low Earth Orbit," said Daniel Neuenschwander, Director of Human and Robotic Exploration at ESA. "The document signed today underlines both our commitment to safeguard our ability to pursue in-orbit science and to keep offering flight opportunities to our European astronaut corps, as well as the growing interest of international partners for our ongoing project to develop an autonomous European cargo vehicle."

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The European Space Agency (ESA) provides Europe's gateway to space.

ESA is an intergovernmental organisation, created in 1975, with the mission to shape the development of Europe's space capability and ensure that investment in space delivers benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.

ESA has 23 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia are Associate Members.

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