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Author
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Topic: [Discuss] Orbital Reef commercial space station
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 52155
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-25-2021 12:17 PM
   
Please use this topic to discuss the Orbital Reef commercial space station being developed by Blue Origin, Sierra Space, Boeing and more. |
SkyMan1958
Member Posts: 1362
From: CA.
Registered: Jan 2011
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posted 10-25-2021 12:18 PM
Looks great, and I wish them well, but given Blue Origin's track record of developing things, I'll believe it when I see it. Let me guess, they and Boeing are going to lobby Congress to fund it? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 52155
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-25-2021 12:19 PM
During a press conference today, it was said that the space station's development and deployment will be 100 percent privately-funded.Janet Kavandi of Sierra Space said they do expect NASA to be an anchor tenant, though. |
SkyMan1958
Member Posts: 1362
From: CA.
Registered: Jan 2011
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posted 10-25-2021 01:18 PM
Truthfully, given Bezos' interest in developing habitats in cislunar space, this would be a better way for him to deploy his money than developing rockets. Obviously the New Glenn will continue to receive funding from him due to its flagship status, but given Bezos' wish to distinguish himself from Musk, LEO and cislunar habitations would be a good place for Bezos to make his mark in space.Given Bezos' wealth he could drop $10 billion on this project and not even really feel it. However, $10 billion in the private sector could really push forward R&D, production and deployment of commercial space stations. One would hope Bezos has learned his lesson from the BE-4 and New Glenn issues, and develop the space station as a stand alone project that he is pushing forward in a New Space manner as opposed to an Old Space manner. Having Boeing on the project does concern me in this respect. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 52155
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-25-2021 01:41 PM
Boeing's contributions are an experiment module — something the company has a lot of experience producing given its work on the International Space Station — and delivering crews to and from Orbital Reef using Starliner (which will be well in use for the ISS before Orbital Reef is ready for its first launch). |
SpaceAholic
Member Posts: 5338
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-25-2021 02:32 PM
According to the video, Boeing will also have an O&M/sustainment role once the station is operational. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 52155
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 03-29-2024 09:49 PM
Orbital Reef and commercial low Earth orbit destinations — upcoming space research opportunitiesby Luis Zea, Liz Warren, Tara Ruttley, Todd Mosher, Laura Kelsey and Erika Wagner As the International Space Station comes to the end of a transformative era of in-space research, NASA’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Destinations (CLD) Program aims to catalyze a new generation of platforms with co-investment from the private sector, preventing a potential gap in research performed in LEO, while building a robust LEO economy. In this paper, we provide insight into the CLD Program focusing on Orbital Reef, describing its operational and technical characteristics as well as new opportunities it may enable.  Achieving about a third of the pressurized volume of the ISS with the launch of a single pressurized module and growing to support hundreds of Middeck Locker Equivalents (MLE) in passive and active payloads internally and externally, Orbital Reef will enable government, academic, and commercial institutions to continue and expand upon research and development (R&D) efforts currently performed on ISS. Additionally, it will enable nascent markets to establish their operations in space, by initiating new lines of research and technology development and the implementation of new ventures and visions. Using Blue Origin’s New Glenn heavy launch system, Sierra Space’s cargo and crew Dream Chaser® vehicles, and Boeing’s Starliner crew vehicle, and expertise from Amazon/Amazon Supply Chain, Arizona State University, Genesis Engineering, and Redwire, Orbital Reef is being designed to address ISS-era transportation logistics challenges. Finally, this manuscript describes some of the expected challenges from the ISS-to-CLD transition, and provides guidance on how researchers in academia and industry can shape the future of commercial destinations and work performed in LEO. | |
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