Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is losing the billionaire space race. Blue Origin employees are unhappy, and their ships are far worse than competitors like SpaceX. However, those issues aren't stopping the Amazon founder from having lofty ambitions like proposed space station Orbital Reef.
Jeff Bezos reveals Orbital Reef space station plans
Revealed in a press release, Blue Origin will be developing a “commercially developed, owned, and operated space station”. Proposed as a low-orbit locale, the Orbital Reef space station won't be your typical space station. While structures like the ISS or the Tiangong Space Station are designed for research, this will be designed for business.
Orbital Reef is pitched as a “mixed-use business park”. This means that very rich folk can take a ride up for business, production or just to get away from the noise of Earth. Of course, with tickets on Bezos’ spaceship costing hundreds of millions of dollars, it'll be a very small market.
The press release reveals a broad-but-limited selection of people that will board the station. It lists “seasoned space agencies, high-tech consortia, sovereign nations without space programs, media and travel companies, funded entrepreneurs and sponsored inventors, and future-minded investors” as potential clients.
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A team of all-star creators?
Major details surrounding the new space station are purposefully kept vague. However, it was revealed that Blue Origin will be enlisting the help of other space companies to build the station. For example, the likes of Sierra Space, Boeing, and Arizona State University are all joining the company.
Orbital Reef is planned to be completed in the second half of this decade. While ticket prices are yet to be decided, interested parties can already reserve places. At the moment, just like everything else Blue Origin promises, it’s all CG renders selling a dream.
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