• The Orbital Reef team, led by partners Sierra Space and Blue Origin, successfully completed the system definition review (SDR) with NASA for the Orbital Reef commercial space station, allowing it to move to the design phase of the project.

• The SDR, which is an important milestone to establish the functional baseline for the Orbital Reef system, demonstrated that the architecture of the space station is workable and attainable and confirmed that it is on schedule to go forward into the design phase.

• The station is expected to be operational by 2027 and will serve research, industrial, international, and commercial customers. Other entities in the Orbital Reef team include Amazon Supply Chain, Amazon Web Services, Arizona State University, Boeing, Genesis Engineering Solutions, and Redwire Space. 

<ul><li> AnalystQuickTake: In December 2021, NASA awarded over USD 415 million to Blue Origin (USD 130 million), Nanoracks (USD 160 million), and Northrop Grumman (USD 126 million) to develop privately owned and operated commercial space stations in order to tap private companies to enable a smooth transition from the International Space Station (ISS), which is potentially expected to shut down at the end of this decade. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin will support Orbital Reef through large-diameter modules and use its New Glenn heavy-lift rocket to launch components into orbit, while Sierra Space will build expandable Large Integrated Flexible Environment (LIFE) modules and may also operate flights to the space station. Boeing would also operate spaceflights in addition to overseeing operations and maintenance. Jeff Bezos’ Amazon also partnered to provide supply-chain logistics and Amazon Web Services.