Jeff Bezos plans to build a commercial space station

announced Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin has announced plans to build its own space station. The future space station, called Orbital Reef, begins operations in the second half of this decade, providing a place for researchers, industrial and commercial clients and international partners to visit and work.

Blue Origin is working on the Orbital Reef project in partnership with Sierra Space, a subsidiary of the Sierra Nevada Corporation.

The Dream Chaser, a winged space plane designed to transport cargo to the International Space Station, is Sierra Space’s most famous project.

Dream Chaser is scheduled to begin freight flights in 2022. Blue Origin says Orbital Reef also has additional support, including industry heavyweight Boeing, as well as Genesis Engineering Solutions and Arizona State University.

With an interior nearly as large as the International Space Station, Orbital Reef is capable of accommodating up to 10 people, with separate living and testing areas.

Jeff Bezos’ company claims that Orbital Reef is a mixed-use space business complex that includes several ports and docks for visiting spacecraft and modules, along with several facilities.

Blue Origin is proud that the space station will have an open system architecture that allows a variety of people and customers to use the facility.

The list of potential users included space agencies, media, travel companies, entrepreneurs, investors and technology companies.

Blue Origin says the station provides comprehensive services for anyone who wants to use it, from transportation, space rental, and technology assistance with robotic devices and services.

“Orbital Reef provides the essential infrastructure needed to expand economic activity and open new markets in space as a major commercial destination in low Earth orbit,” Blue Origin wrote in a press release.

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The plant will start operating in the second half of this decade

The company declined to provide details on the cost of the space station, and did not say how much investment partners would make in the project.

The companies said they envision Boeing’s new Starliner spacecraft and Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser to provide human and cargo transportation to Orbital Reef.

The plan is also to launch most of the Orbital Reef units via Blue Origin’s futuristic New Glenn rocket.

NASA offers companies incentives to build space station projects. This year, the agency announced the creation of a new initiative called the Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program.

The program aims to provide space companies with money to help develop space stations that NASA could one day visit. NASA plans to give up to $400 million through space law agreements to fund preliminary studies of these space stations.

The commercial low Earth orbit development program is just one step in NASA’s long-term plan to phase out the government-run International Space Station and move to commercial space stations.

The International Space Station is currently scheduled to continue operating until 2024. NASA was looking to extend the program until 2028.

But the International Space Station costs NASA $4 billion to operate each year. And NASA wants to get rid of that task to focus on human spaceflight efforts through deep space destinations.

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