ORBITAL REEF: A SPACE STATION FOR A NEW ECONOMY IN SPACE (IEEE-CNSV), Mar 8, 2022, virtual, 10:00 pm ET

Ken Shields of Sierra Space Corp. will present a webinar for IEEE-CNSV on March 8, 2022 beginning at 7:00 pm Pacific Time (10:00 pm Eastern) on the Orbital Reef commercial space station concept being developed by Sierra Space and Blue Origin.

More information and a registration link are on the event’s website, which says:

Sierra Space and Blue Origin are equal partners in the creation and operation of Orbital Reef, an end-to-end, independent, free-flying commercial destination in low-Earth orbit.  Such an undertaking has been the dream of many since well before the Space Age began in the 1950s.  Orbital Reef will create a turnkey service for global markets in research, commerce, and human space flight.  Its business model – traditional on Earth but unprecedented in space – lowers barriers for all customers, and promotes competitive development of space applications across a wide array of global interests.  The Sierra Space-Blue Origin team was awarded a $130M initial contract in late 2021 to assist NASA with its development plans for Orbital Reef.

In this presentation, Ken Shields will discuss the myriad of both technical and commercial undertakings necessary to create the massive infrastructure to support this undertaking.  He will detail the Sierra Space Dream Chaser spaceplane, the LIFE Habitat, and the open architecture that uses standard docking and berthing ports to allow all qualified space vehicles to provide cargo, crew, and payload delivery services.  Ken will also discuss the end-to-end services provided such as assistance with system hardware development, and the robotics and crew-tended operations.  All these elements are geared toward providing commercial services by 2027.