Nichols Martin
Blue Origin and Sierra Space will jointly create a new space station that will operate in low Earth orbit to foster development and human space exploration.
The Orbital Reef station is envisioned to support research, industrial, international and commercial pursuits to expand the scope of markets applicable to space, Blue Origin said Monday.
The future space facility, which is expected to begin operation in the second half of the decade, will offer space transportation, logistics, equipment accommodation, habitation and operational support required by customers for their programs.
Boeing, Genesis Engineering Solutions, Arizona State University and Redwire Space will also support Orbital Reef, which is scheduled to open within the decade’s second half.
Janet Kavandi, president of Sierra Space and a former NASA astronaut, said the company will provide the Dream Chaser spaceplane, the LIFE habitat and other technologies to support tourism, research and manufacturing at the future commercial space station.
ASU will lead a consortium of institutions that will offer space expertise to advise on Orbital Reef’s operations from an academic standpoint. The consortium, named the Orbital Reef University Advisory Council, consists of:
- Arizona State University
- Colorado School of Mines
- International Space University
- Oxford University
- Purdue University
- Southwest Research Institute
- Stanford University
- University of Central Florida
- University of Colorado at Boulder
- University of Florida
- University of Michigan
- University of Texas at El Paso
- University of Texas Medical Branch
- Vanderbilt University
