Blue Origin’s ‘Orbital Reef’ Space Station Gets Green Light from NASA

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Blue Origin's 'Orbital Reef' Space Station Gets Green Light from NASA - ExtremeTech

NASA is funding the Commercial Low-Earth Orbit Development Program (CLD) to encourage aerospace firms to build new stations, and a proposal from Blue Origin and Sierra Space just got the green light to move forward.

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The International Space Station (ISS) has been a key part of humanity’s presence in space for years, but its useful life is coming to an end. NASA and other stakeholders currently plan to end ISS operations by 2031, but what comes next? NASA is funding the Commercial Low-Earth Orbit Development Program (CLD) to encourage aerospace firms to build new stations, and a proposal from Blue Origin and Sierra Space just got the green light to move forward.

The station, known as Orbital Reef, was submitted to NASA for System Definition Review (SDR) earlier this summer. This report allowed the agency to assess the feasibility of the design, and it’s good news for Blue Origin and Sierra Space — NASA believes the companies have the technology and expertise to successfully build the Orbital Reef. Initial timelines project that construction could begin in 2026, and the station could begin operating as early as 2027.

Whereas space on the ISS was controlled exclusively by partnering space agencies, these new commercial projects will be different. “The microgravity factories and services provided by Orbital Reef have the potential to revolutionize every industry and become a major growth contributor to the U.S. and world economies,” said Tom Vice, CEO of Sierra Space. Other partners in the endeavor include Amazon, Boeing, and Arizona State University.

The Orbital Reef project will have space to house 10 astronauts in a volume comparable to the final ISS configuration. There will be advanced laboratories for microgravity experiments, manufacturing capacity, and yes, accommodations for space tourists. Sierra describes it as a “mixed-use business park” in space. The image at the top is merely an early concept render, and the final design is still subject to change. Having completed the NASA SDR, the companies are now free to move to the design phase.

Space tourism is one of the main focuses of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, which is already flying people up to the edge of space in its New Shepard rocket. Future versions of the rocket could eventually reach low-Earth orbit to rendezvous with the Orbital Reef. Sierra Space is working on a space plane known as Dream Chaser that could also reach the station — you can see a few of them floating around the station in the concept renders. It’s larger than New Shepard with a payload capacity of 12,000 pounds (55,443 kilograms). It’s unclear if that vehicle will be ready any time soon, but Boeing has committed to using Starliner for crew and cargo transportation for Orbital Reef.

 

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Boom! Watch an inflatable space station module explode on video

Sierra Space completed this test to prepare for Orbital Reef, a private space complex to replace the International Space Station.

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Sierra Space completed this test to prepare for Orbital Reef, a private space complex to replace the International Space Station.

Sierra Space deliberately exploded a small prototype for an inflatable astronaut habitat to get ready for spaceflight.


The company conducted what it calls the "ultimate burst pressure test" (UBP) as it progresses along the long road to helping develop a private replacement to the International Space Station (ISS). The inflatable module, called Large Integrated Flexible Environment, or LIFE, will form part of the larger Orbital Reef space station led by Blue Origin. NASA seeks to replace the aging ISS in the 2030s with industry-led private stations, and Orbital Reef is among them.

The recent test was the second in 2022 to explode a Sierra Space module prototype for Orbital Reef, following a similar procedure in July. Simply put, by testing a smaller prototype of the module to its literal limit, engineers can make spaceflight safer for future astronauts.

"This second successful UBP test proves we can demonstrate design, manufacturing and assembly repeatability, all of which are keys areas for certification," Shawn Buckley, Sierra Space's LIFE chief engineer and senior director of engineering, said in an e-mailed statement.

Artist's illustration of Orbital Reef, a private space station project involving Blue Origin, Sierra Space and a number of other partners. (Image credit: Sierra Space/Blue Origin)

The Sierra Space team blew up the module on Nov. 15 inside the flame trench of a Saturn 1 and 1B test stand at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, performing the burst test in the same area where NASA tested rockets for the Apollo moon program of the 1960s and 1970s.

NASA, past spacesuit maker ILC Dover and Sierra Space all worked together on the test. Analysis is ongoing, but early work shows that Sierra Space met its obligations for the test, according to the company.

NASA tasked Sierra Space to blow up two prototype modules, which are smaller than those that will be used on Orbital Reef and had maximum burst pressures of 192 and 204 pounds per square inch (psi), respectively. Both modules easily held up past the safety requirement of 182.4 psi set by NASA in designing Orbital Reef.

A look at the crew living area and galley table on the third floor of Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Large Inflatable Fabric Environment, or LIFE, habitat, part of its Lunar Gateway ground prototype, at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on Aug. 21, 2019. (Image credit: Robert Z. Pearlman/Space.com)

A year ago, NASA awarded $415 million split across three concepts for early private space station development. The money was split almost evenly among the three teams: the Orbital Reef team led by Blue Origin that includes Sierra Space received $130 million, Nanoracks LLC's team $160 million and Northrop Grumman Systems Corp.'s team $125.6 million.

Sierra Space plans to push forward on Orbital Reef development with Blue Origin in 2023 by doing burst tests on full-size prototypes. Sierra Space intends to use its Dream Chaser cargo plane and a future crewed version to bring astronauts and supplies to the private complex.

Inflatable modules are already being tested on the ISS by Bigelow Space. The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, shipped to orbit in 2019; ISS astronauts periodically assess its performance in orbit against solar radiation and the vacuum of space.

 

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Kapow! Inflatable space station module blows to pieces in video explosion

Sierra Space successfully finished its third module test for the Blue Origin-led Orbital Reef private space complex for NASA, on the long road to replace the International Space Station.

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Boom! Sierra Space blows up final inflatable space station module in initial test series (video)

The deliberate explosion capped a month-long test of a module that is being certified for future space missions.

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Boom! Sierra Space blows up final inflatable space station module in initial test series (video)​

The deliberate explosion capped a month-long test of a module that is being certified for future space missions.

Fasten your safety Bat-Belt for another Sierra Space explosion.

Sierra Space finished its fourth (of four) deliberate module explosions in February on the road to certifying the inflatable habitat for an International Space Station (ISS) successor, the Colorado-based company announced(opens in new tab) on Wednesday (March 23). The spectacular video of the explosion is visible above.

A small-scale prototype of Sierra Space's Large Integrated Flexible Environment (LIFE) module was deliberately blown to pieces after spending a month withstanding high pressures well above what will required of the hardware in space. The testing shows the forthcoming full-scale module can likely stand up to pressurizing for more than 60 years, which is four times the expected 15-year lifespan of the Orbital Reef space station led by Blue Origin, Sierra Space representatives said.

"We are obviously simulating pressures well in excess of the norm," Shawn Buckley, Sierra Space chief engineer for LIFE, said in the company statement. "Test after extreme test, we continue to exceed our program requirements."

Sierra Space deliberately blew a fourth prototype space habitat to pieces in February 2023, during a month-long test to prepare for future space missions. (Image credit: Sierra Space)

The month-long accelerated systematic creep test on the one-third scale LIFE module was the first of 2023; more testing is planned in the coming months. Engineers next plan to insert hard structures into the soft pressure shell on a one-third scale module to verify past results, and finally to begin testing on full-scale LIFE habitat prototypes later in 2023.

The Orbital Reef space station is part of a small set of industry-led space station concepts that NASA funded in December 2021, on the road to replacing the aging ISS. NASA has committed to helping operate the ISS until 2030, but how many partners will continue past the current agreement's end of 2024 is an open question; Russia may leave in 2028, for example.

Artist's illustration of Orbital Reef, a private space station project involving Blue Origin, Sierra Space and a number of other partners. (Image credit: Sierra Space/Blue Origin)

Sierra Space's trio of tests before this one included two ultimate burst pressure tests in July and November that subjected test modules to pressure that kept mounting until they blew apart, along with another creep test in December.

All tests were performed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, and Sierra Space plans to keep a presence there. The company also recently announced that it had signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA to "expand its collaborative environment" at Marshall for further LIFE work.

In 2021, NASA provided $415 million to three consortiums for the successor commercial space stations. The Orbital Reef team received $130 million, Nanoracks LLC's team received $160 million and Northrop Grumman's team garnered $125.6 million. Certification of all of these designs is ongoing.

The ISS is also hosting an inflatable module right now. The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, was built by Bigelow Space and arrived at its docking port in 2016. Astronauts do periodic check-ins to see how the module is faring with solar radiation, the space vacuum and other environmental factors.

 

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Redwire and Sierra team up to make drugs in space on inflatable habitat’s first mission

Biological and pharmaceutical research and production is seen as a key customer market for microgravity platforms in space.

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Redwire and Sierra team up to make drugs in space on inflatable habitat’s first mission​

• Redwire is putting a biotech technology testbed on Sierra Space’s first mission with its inflatable space habitat.
• “We go to space not just for science and discovery, but to improve life on Earth,” Mike Gold, Redwire’s chief growth officer, told CNBC.
• Biological and pharmaceutical research and production is seen as a key customer market for microgravity platforms in space.

An ADSEP with blue PIL-BOXs, hardware which will be delivered to Sierra Space for the LIFE habitat pathfinder mission.

Space infrastructure company Redwire is putting a biotech technology test bed on Sierra Space’s first mission with its inflatable space habitat, establishing a new partnership between the two companies to make drugs in orbit.
“It’s an incredible moment for Redwire, an incredible moment for Sierra,” Mike Gold, Redwire’s chief growth officer, told CNBC. “We go to space not just for science and discovery, but to improve life on Earth.”

“I can’t tell you how long I’ve been waiting to say those words. This is the first step in an amazing journey to come,” he added.

Biological and pharmaceutical research and production is seen as a key customer market for microgravity platforms in space. Redwire is not alone in targeting that market, with startups like Varda and Space Forge also working on such test beds.

The idea is to manufacture drugs in space, leveraging the environment to create unique materials, that would be returned for use on Earth.

“Many drugs are based on crystals. In space you can create perfect, or at least different versions of, crystals that can then be leveraged to create new versions of drugs with greater efficacy with the ability to last longer,” Gold said.

An ADSEP facility, primarily supporting regenerative medicine research associated with Redwire’s Bio Fabrication Facility (BFF).
NASA
Redwire will include its ADvanced Space Experiment Processors (ADSEP), which process what it calls PIL-BOXs (Pharmaceutical In-space Laboratory – Bio-crystal Optimization Xperiment), when Sierra flies its LIFE (Large Integrated Flexible Environment) habitat on a demonstration mission, expected in 2026.

Redwire currently has an ADSEP on the International Space Station, which was installed in January, and expects to fly three PIL-BOXs on the upcoming SpaceX CRS-28 cargo mission. It’s previously partnered with Eli Lilly to conduct testing with PIL-BOXs, which were developed through a partnership with NASA.

“The ADSEP is like the Nintendo, and the PIL-BOX is the cartridge you put in it,” Gold said.
The pathfinder mission of a LIFE module will represent the first time it flies in space. Sierra has made steady progress in testing subscale LIFE models, including a test last week at NASA’s Marshall center in Huntsville, Alabama.

An artist’s rendering of a commercial space station in orbit.
Sierra Space

Both Sierra and Redwire are among the five companies developing the Orbital Reef space station, one of several private habitats aiming to be successors to the ISS when it’s expected to be retired at the end of this decade. Orbital Reef is envisioned as a “business park” in space, hosting astronauts for research as well as tourists for exotic excursions.

Gold said this pathfinder LIFE flight will help demonstrate the business case for the larger future station. He also noted that the strategic partnership between the companies includes a road map on revenue and intellectual property sharing that “will become more explicit as we actually go into operations.”

 

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Sierra Space tests inflatable module technology

Sierra Space conducted another test of its inflatable habitat technology, demonstrating that the module exceeds its requirements even with a window.

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Sierra Space tests inflatable module technology​

KIHEI, Hawaii — Sierra Space conducted another test of its inflatable habitat technology, demonstrating that the module exceeds its requirements even with the addition of a window in its fabric structure.

The company announced Sept. 20 that it performed the fifth in a series of tests of subscale versions of its Large Integrated Flexible Environment (LIFE) inflatable module. The burst test, conducted at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in collaboration with ILC Dover in August, increased the pressure of the module until it finally burst.

A key difference from previous tests was the inclusion of a metallic structure called a blanking plate on the exterior of the module. The plate represented a window that would be installed on full-scale versions of the module to see how the structure would affect its strength.

“It was natural in our progression of testing,” said Shawn Buckley, senior director of engineering at Sierra Space, in an interview. Engineering analysis showed how the inclusion of the structure would maintain adequate margins. “But the only true way in soft goods, and soft goods structures, to really verify that data,” he said, “it to take it through an ultimate burst test.”

Even with the inclusion of the metallic plate, the module burst at 20% higher pressure than the previous test, without the plate. “Not only did we infuse the metallic plate into the article, but we found key areas from the previous tests that we want to improve,” he said, resulting in the improved results. The module now has a 33% margin over the certification standard for the full-scale LIFE module.

The next step is to perform similar testing on a full-scale prototype. That will be just the latest in a series of “gates” in the overall testing, Buckley said, that focuses on various layers of the overall LIFE design, including minimizing leaks and testing its resistance to micrometeoroid and orbital debris impacts.

“Over the next 24 months, we’ll move through a series of gates and we’ll start developing our hardware that supports what we just did in this test,” he said. “Flight hardware will come within the next 24 to 36 months.”

Sierra Space is developing LIFE as one of the components of the Orbital Reef commercial space station it is working on with Blue Origin and other companies. Sierra Space has also proposed flying a LIFE module as a standalone pathfinder that could be used for commercial research before Orbital Reef.

The test took place in the flame trench at the test stand at Marshall once used for the Saturn 1 and 1B rockets. The area is ideal for containing debris from the burst test, Buckley said, but it had added other benefits.

“We chose it for pure inspiration,” he said. “If you drive in front of that and then think about the history that has happened in that flame trench, I will tell you I was inspired.”