The American billionaire businessman puts his bow for the construction of the world’s first private space station through his company, Blue Origin Jeff Bezos, the second richest man in the world thanks to the profitability of Amazon.
The station with the name Orbital Reef (Orbital Reef) will accommodate up to 10 people in an area of 830 cubic meters – a little smaller than International Space Station (ISS) – operating as space business “park” and as a destination for space tourists. It will be in orbit 500 kilometers above the Earth (a little higher than the ISS) and its occupants, among others, will have the opportunity to see 32 sunrises and sunsets every day.
When is the station expected to be operational?
Blue Origin, founded in 2000 and competing with its Space X. Ίλον Μασκ, will partner with Sierra Space, Boeing, Redwire Space and Genesis Engineer to build the station, as well as Arizona State University. No clear timetable has been set yet, but the station is likely to be operational in the second half of the decade. The aim will be, among other things, to attract business interest from various customers, such as industries and service companies.
As stated by the Vice President of Blue Origin, Brent Sergund“A dynamic business ecosystem will grow in low orbit above the Earth, creating new discoveries, new products, new leisure activities and global interest.” Including, countries without their own space program will be able to access space research, e.g. on microgravity.
Other companies have plans to create new private space stations. Last week, Nanoracks, a space utility, announced that it was working with Lockheed Martin and Voyager Space to build a Starlab station to operate in 2027.
The ISS – a symbol of international transnational space cooperation and especially US-Russia despite other tensions between the two countries – was completed in 2011 and is considered safe until 2028. NASA seems ready after 2030 for this station to be replaced by one or more private stations. At the same time, China is already developing its own autonomous space station.
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