Kent, Washington, USA
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has officially announced plans for his space venture Blue Origin to build its own commercial space station called the Orbital Reef.
The Orbital Reef is set to begin operation in the second half of this decade and will be home to researchers, industrial and commercial customers and international visitors.
The station will be a “mixed-use business park” in space and will host up to 10 people.
Alongside, a company called Genesis is also working to develop a means of allowing astronauts to conduct spacesuit-free spacewalks by putting people into vacuum-sealed pods with robotic arms so they can one day work on the exterior of such a space station.
A company called Redwire is also working on in-space manufacturing in the form of 3D printing, which could one day make it easier to produce new goods in space rather than having to go through the arduous and expensive process of making goods on Earth then launching them to space.
New Glenn, the Blue Origin-built rocket that is expected to be powerful and large enough to haul the biggest portions of the space station to orbit, is not yet operational, and its maiden flight was recently delayed to at least late 2022.
Blue Origin plans to work alongside startup Sierra Space to bring the space station to fruition, and Boeing plans to design a research module on the station, which is expected to be deployed between 2025 and 2030.
Project: Orbital Reef
Designers: Blue Origin, LLC.
Manufacturers: Sierra Space and Boeing
