Blueprint
Blueprint
Orbital Reef in LEO
Blue Origin, Boeing, Redwire Space and Sierra Space have announced plans for a private space station, Orbital Reef. Orbital Reef would act as a commercial business park in low Earth orbit (LEO) and is planned to be operational by the end of the decade. The station would be able to host up to ten astronauts at one time, to conduct microgravity research, filming or as a space hotel. The outpost will be constructed using Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket launches, with crews flown to the station using Boeing Starliner capsules or potentially Sierra Space’s Dreamchaser spacecraft.
Transport to and from Orbital Reef would be provided by Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner crew capsule or potentially by Sierra Space’s Dreamchaser reusable spaceplane. An orbital inclination of 51.6° to the equator at 500km will take it over launch sites in the US, Kazakhstan, India and South America.
Another partner, Genesis Engineering Solutions, will develop the Single Person Spacecraft, allowing astronauts and space tourists to carry out EVAs in a shirt-sleeve environment.
Artist’s rendering of Orbital Reef showing three core modules with large windows, as well as six additional modules, including inflatable ones. In its fully built-up configuration it will contain 90% of the living space of the ISS.