Station statistics | |
---|---|
Crew | Initially 6 (10+ in growth configuration) |
Launch | By 2027 |
Carrier rocket | New Glenn Vulcan Centaur |
Mission status | development |
Pressurized volume | 830 m3 (29,000 cu ft) |
Orbital Reef is an under development low Earth orbit (LEO) space station being designed by Blue Origin and Sierra Nevada Corporation's Sierra Space for commercial space activities and space tourism uses. Blue Origin has referred to it as a "mixed-use business park". [1] The companies released preliminary concepts for the station on 25 October 2021. The station is being designed to support 10 persons in 830 m3 of volume. [2] As of March 2022 [update] , the station was projected to be operational by 2027. [3]
Blue Origin and Sierra Space partnered with several other companies and institutions to submit the 2021 proposal: [4] [5]
On 2 December 2021, NASA announced it had selected Blue Origin as one of three companies to develop concept designs of space stations and other commercial destinations in space. Blue Origin was awarded $130 million. [9]
The contract with Blue was one of three funded Space Act Agreements (SAA) that NASA issued for the first phase of its Commercial LEO Destinations program (CLD). [10] Space Act Agreements provide limited funding for specific milestones to be achieved by the companies, and are distinct from more widely used Federal Acquisition Regulation FAR contracts used in most legacy NASA space programs, where NASA owns responsibility for both the design and the program requirements. The 2021 contract with Blue was just the first phase of two by which NASA is aiming to maintain an uninterrupted U.S. presence in low-Earth orbit by transitioning from the International Space Station to other platforms. [11] [ needs update ]
In June 2023, ISRO chairman S Somanath told the Times of India that Blue Origin is “very keen” on considering using an Indian rocket as a crew capsule to service its proposed space station Orbital Reef in low-Earth orbit as a part of commercial ventures proposed by ISRO before the launch of the planned Indian Space Station . [12]
By October 2023, NASA reported they had paid out only US$24 million of the $130 million contract for completion of specific milestones. Also in early October, issues between Sierra Space and Blue Origin became public, and CNBC reported that the Orbital Reef website had not been updated in over a year, and that no hiring for the project is currently being done, as both companies have other larger space projects that are higher priorities for them. CNBC also reported that the two partners on the project may go their separate ways. [10] However, after talks between the companies, both companies tweeted on their Twitter accounts on 10 October that they were continuing to work with each other on the contract deliverables for Phase 1. [13]
In March 2024, NASA reported that Blue Origin had passed 4 test milestones relating to Orbital Reef. [14]
Orbital Reef’s design is reported to be modular in nature, to provide the greatest amount of customization and compatibility. It will reportedly be designed to accept docking from almost every in operation spacecraft like SpaceX Dragon 2, Soyuz (spacecraft), Dream Chaser, and Boeing Starliner
The initial modules will be the: LIFE, Node, Core, and Research Modules. [15]
The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station assembled and maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies: NASA, Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), CSA (Canada), and their contractors. ISS is the largest space station ever built. Its primary purpose is performing microgravity and space environment experiments.
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time and is therefore a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. An orbital station or an orbital space station is an artificial satellite. Stations must have docking ports to allow other spacecraft to dock to transfer crew and supplies. The purpose of maintaining an orbital outpost varies depending on the program. Space stations have most often been launched for scientific purposes, but military launches have also occurred.
Human spaceflight programs have been conducted, started, or planned by multiple countries and companies. Until the 21st century, human spaceflight programs were sponsored exclusively by governments, through either the military or civilian space agencies. With the launch of the privately funded SpaceShipOne in 2004, a new category of human spaceflight programs – commercial human spaceflight – arrived. By the end of 2022, three countries and one private company (SpaceX) had successfully launched humans to Earth orbit, and two private companies had launched humans on a suborbital trajectory.
Bigelow Aerospace was an American space design and manufacturing company which closed its doors in 2020. It was an aeronautics and outer space technology company which manufactured and developed expandable space station modules. Bigelow Aerospace was founded by Robert Bigelow in 1998, and was based in North Las Vegas, Nevada. It was funded in large part by the profit Bigelow gained through his ownership of the hotel chain, Budget Suites of America.
Dream Chaser is an American reusable lifting-body spaceplane developed by Sierra Space. Originally intended as a crewed vehicle, the Dream Chaser Space System is set to be produced after the Dream Chaser Cargo System cargo variant is operational. The crewed variant is planned to carry up to seven people and cargo to and from low Earth orbit.
The B330 was an inflatable space habitat privately developed by Bigelow Aerospace from 2010 until 2020. The design was evolved from NASA's TransHab habitat concept. B330 was to have 330 cubic meters (12,000 cu ft) of internal volume, hence its numeric designation.
Inflatable habitats or expandable habitats are pressurized tent-like structures capable of supporting life in outer space whose internal volume increases after launch. They have frequently been proposed for use in space applications to provide a greater volume of living space for a given mass.
Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) are a series of flights awarded by NASA for the delivery of cargo and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) on commercially operated spacecraft. The first CRS contracts were signed in 2008 and awarded $1.6 billion to SpaceX for twelve cargo Dragon and $1.9 billion to Orbital Sciences for eight Cygnus flights, covering deliveries to 2016. The Falcon 9 and Antares rockets were also developed under the CRS program to deliver cargo spacecraft to the ISS.
The Boeing Starliner is a class of two partially reusable spacecraft designed to transport crew to the International Space Station (ISS) and other low-Earth-orbit destinations. It is manufactured by Boeing, with the Commercial Crew Program (CCP) of NASA as the anchor customer. The spacecraft consists of a reusable crew capsule and an expendable service module.
Development of the Commercial Crew Program began in the second round of the Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program, which was rescoped from a technology development program for human spaceflight to a competitive development program that would produce the spacecraft to be used in the Commercial Crew Program to provide crew transportation services to and from the International Space Station (ISS). To implement the program NASA awarded a series of competitive fixed-price contracts to private vendors starting in 2011. Operational contracts to fly astronauts were awarded in September 2014 to SpaceX and Boeing, and NASA expected each company to complete development and achieve crew rating in 2017. Each company performed an uncrewed orbital test flight in 2019. SpaceX operational flights started in November 2020.
Liberty was a 2011 launch vehicle concept proposed by Northrop Grumman Space Systems and Airbus Defence and Space for phase 2 of the NASA Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program intended to stimulate development of privately operated crew vehicles to low Earth orbit.
Axiom Space, Inc., also known as Axiom Space, is an American privately funded space infrastructure developer headquartered in Houston, Texas.
The Gateway Logistics Services will be a series of uncrewed spaceflights to the Lunar Gateway space station, with the purpose of providing logistical services to the Gateway. Overseen by NASA's Gateway Logistics Element, the flights will be operated by commercial providers, contracted by the agency in support of crewed expeditions to the Gateway made under the Artemis program. As of March 2023, SpaceX is the only company contracted to provide the services.
The Commercial Crew Program (CCP) provides commercially operated crew transportation service to and from the International Space Station (ISS) under contract to NASA, conducting crew rotations between the expeditions of the International Space Station program. American space manufacturer SpaceX began providing service in 2020, using the Crew Dragon spacecraft, and NASA plans to add Boeing when its Boeing Starliner spacecraft becomes operational no earlier than 2025. NASA has contracted for six operational missions from Boeing and fourteen from SpaceX, ensuring sufficient support for ISS through 2030.
Axiom Orbital Segment or Axiom Segment are the planned modular components of the International Space Station (ISS) designed by Axiom Space for commercial space activities. Axiom Space gained initial NASA approval for the venture in January 2020. Axiom Space was later awarded the contract by NASA on February 28, 2020. This orbital station will be separated from the ISS to become a modular space station, Axiom Station, after the ISS is decommissioned.
Starlab is a planned LEO commercial space station, which is expected to launch no earlier than 2028. It is currently being designed by Starlab Space, a joint venture between Voyager Space and Airbus. It is planned to be launched before the decommissioning of the ISS.
Sierra Space Corporation, commonly referred to as Sierra Space, is a privately held aerospace and space technologies company headquartered in Louisville, Colorado, with additional facilities in Colorado, Wisconsin, Florida, North Carolina and a testing site at the Marshal Space Flight Center in Alabama. The company makes spaceflight hardware for various applications across the industry. It is currently developing the Dream Chaser spaceplane. The spaceplane was selected by NASA to provide services to the International Space Station under NASA's Commercial Resupply Service 2 contract. The company is also in collaboration with Blue Origin to develop components of the Orbital Reef space station.
The Commercial LEO Destinations program is a public/private partnership program of the NASA, to help facilitate the building of private commercial space stations (CSSs) in low Earth orbit.