NASA is financing Blue Origin's private Orbital Reef space station due to the deteriorating status of the International Space Station (ISS), which is expected to retire by 2030.
This was after the space agency awarded a $130 million contract to Jeff Bezos' space business and its partners, Geek Wire said. Two additional teams received NASA money for their design efforts: Nanoracks of Houston will receive $160 million for its Starlab idea, and Northrop Grumman will receive $125.6 million.
According to TechCrunch, NASA's auditing authority, the Office of Audits, stated that the US space agency intends to replace the ISS with a commercial space station after the former is retired.
CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA - AUGUST 31: Storm clouds and a rainbow appear over Jeff Bezos Blue Origin Aerospace Manufacturer building as Hurricane Dorian approaches Florida, on August 31, 2019, in Cape Canaveral, Florida
The old space station is slated to be retired in 2024. Still, NASA is considering extending it for a few years until 2030. By then, NASA will have handed over control of the space station to a private enterprise.
NASA Backs Blue Origin's Orbit Reef Space Station
According to Engadget, NASA expressed support for billionaire Jeff Bezos' spaceflight business, Blue Origin, by adding its commercial space station in low Earth orbit in its Space Act Agreement.
On the other hand, the US space agency will support Blue Origin's Orbital Reef space station as part of the Commercial LEO Development initiative, which aims to assist private enterprises in developing their own space stations.
"With commercial companies now providing transportation to low-Earth orbit in place, we are partnering with U.S. companies to develop the space destinations where people can visit, live, and work, enabling NASA to continue forging a path in space for the benefit of humanity while fostering commercial activity in space," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a news release.
Blue Origin had already taken NASA to court when it was awarded the human landing contract entirely to its competitor, SpaceX. Last November 4, however, Science Times said the Bezos-led business lost the case.
Blue Origin's Orbit Reef Space Station
In a news release, Blue Origin's senior vice president of advanced development programs, Brent Sherwood, said they are pleased that NASA supports the development of Orbital Reef.
According to the Blue Origin SVP, the company's commercial space station is a novel strategy to making Earth orbit more accessible to varied clients and industries. Sherwood also disclosed that the private space station would be used as a "mixed-use space business park" in Earth's orbit.
Blue Origin isn't alone in its quest to build a low-earth orbit commercial space station. The Bezos-led space company is collaborating with Sierra Space on the space station's Large Integrated Flexible Environment (LIFE).
Blue Origin, on the other hand, will be in charge of the private space station's infrastructure and architecture. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' space company, Blue Origin, will also be involved in the station's logistics via its New Glenn heavy launch vehicle.
In addition, Blue Origin is cooperating with Boeing on the Starliner crew capsule and the space station's operations-maintenance-science module.
Finally, Genesis Engineering Solutions has joined the Orbit Reef Space Station project to work on a spaceship that can transport a single person, which will be used by visitors and station staff.
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Check out more news and information on Blue Origin in Science Times.
