SpaceX Space Station

Next mega-project after Starship is space habitation

Starship is a towering achievement for SpaceX but far from their final word. They want to send a million people to Mars which suggests a further increase in scale is necessary. In addition they need to discount passenger fares, possibly down to zero, to attract sufficient people, which suggests Mars colonization won’t be profitable. SpaceX has to pay their own way, so seek good commercial applications for any new technologies they develop, Starship being no exception...

Future Needs and Capabilities

Essentially Starship is too small for the epic scale needed for planetary colonization. Hence what’s required is a dedicated space vehicle, able to transport thousands of people, that benefits from economies of scale. This transport vehicle would be so large it could never leave space, only shuttle between worlds, like the Earth, moon and Mars. To save mass it will be constructed in space, and fitted with all the facilities to make it a self-sustaining habitat. Unfortunately, even such a ground-breaking vehicle is unlikely to turn a profit, so SpaceX must find a way to develop this capability for use in a more commercial context.

The International Space Station (ISS) is due to deorbit in 2030, after which NASA wants to transition to using commercial space stations. In 2022 SpaceX bid for a Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations (CLD) contract and continue to cooperate with NASA, showing clear interest in building a commercial space station. Judging by the number of commercial flights on Crew Dragon there’s a considerable market for space agency astronauts, private researchers and space tourists. If SpaceX provides an easy to reach destination, like a low Earth orbit space station, that should attract a multitude of customers and reap substantial return. And once SpaceX can construct large habitats in space, they can use the same techniques to build their dedicated space transport. In fact the commercial profits derived from space station operation could be used to finance construction of the much needed transports.

Space Station Construction

Second generation space station, credit KSW