Commercial space stations: 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2026 - MIT Technology Review

10 Breakthrough Technologies 2026See the full list Humans have long dreamed of living among the stars, and for two decades hundreds of us have done so aboard the International Space Station (ISS). But a new era is about to begin in which private companies operate orbital outposts—with the promise of much greater access to space than before. The ISS is aging and is expected to be brought down from orbit into the ocean in 2031. To replace it, NASA has awarded more than $500 million to several companies to develop private space stations, while others have built versions on their own.  The first of those, Vast Space from California, plans to launch its Haven-1 space station in early 2027 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, following significant testing this year. If all goes to plan, it will initially support crews of four people staying aboard the bus-size habitat for 10 days. Paying customers will be able to experience life in microgravity and conduct research such as growing plants and testing drugs. On its heels will be Axiom Space’s outpost, the Axiom Station, consisting of five modules (or rooms). It’s designed to look like a boutique hotel and is expected to launch in 2028. Voyager Space aims to launch its version, called Starlab, the same year, and Blue Origin’s Orbital Reef space station plans to follow in 2030. While the cost of a stay aboard any of these outposts has not been released, expect ticket prices in the tens of millions of dollars at first. However, if these private space stations are successful and profitable, they could eventually increase access to space for researchers, national space agencies, and maybe even firms that wish to manufacture products in space. Further afield, these space stations might be the precursor to our living beyond Earth’s orbit. Blue Origin’s founder, Jeff Bezos, has long posited that millions of people will one day live and work in space, while both NASA and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk have been vocal about the aim of living on the moon and Mars. This could be the year that life among the stars becomes a little more achievable. Editor’s note: This story was updated to reflect Vast’s new timeline for Haven-1’s launch, moved from May 2026 to early 2027. hide Keep Reading Most Popular A “QuitGPT” campaign is urging people to cancel their ChatGPT subscriptions Backlash against ICE is fueling a broader movement against AI companies’ ties to President Trump. By Michelle Kimarchive page Moltbook was peak AI theater The viral social network for bots reveals more about our own current mania for AI as it does about the future of agents. By Will Douglas Heavenarchive page Yann LeCun’s new venture is a contrarian bet against large language models   In an exclusive interview, the AI pioneer shares his plans for his new Paris-based company, AMI Labs. By Caiwei Chenarchive page How Pokémon Go is giving delivery robots an inch-perfect view of the world Exclusive: Niantic's AI spinout is training a new world model using 30 billion images of urban landmarks crowdsourced from players. By Will Douglas Heavenarchive page Stay connected Illustration by Rose Wong Get the latest updates from MIT Technology Review Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more. Enter your email Privacy Policy Thank you for submitting your email! Explore more newsletters It looks like something went wrong. We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.