COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Amazon is getting involved in the digital content industry.
The company, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, has teamed up with the Orbital Reef commercial space station project to provide supply-chain logistics and Amazon Web Services for a private orbital outpost, which is expected to begin in the near future. 2020s. The Orbital Reef project is led by Blue Origin (a company founded by Bezos) and Sierra Space, and is a partnership with Boeing, Redwire Space, Genesis Engineering and Arizona State University.
Amazon’s work on Orbital Reef, which was announced by the company on Tuesday (April 5) at the 37th National Space Symposium here, will focus on logistics using its Distribution and Fulfillment arm. Solutions. And Amazon Web Services will provide networking, footprint and communication solutions for the site’s competition, development and design teams.
“We are excited to partner with the Orbital Reef team to improve the logistics for the airspace,” Brett McMillen, chief planning partner for Amazon Distribution and Fulfillment Solutions, said in a statement. (opens on new page). “Amazon hopes to share our knowledge of the logistics and finishing chain industry to help develop reliable systems that ensure people have the resources they need. Seek, experiment and maintain long -term existence in low Earth orbit. “
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Announced in October 2021, the Orbital Reef commercial space station is a joint project by Blue Origin, Sierra Space, Boeing and others (now, Amazon) to develop an independent space station that can be used. for commercial research purposes. Among those potential uses are professional research and practice, public tourism and media and entertainment programs, his supporters said.
The first Orbital Reef design required a baseline setup to provide 29,311 cubic feet (830 cubic meters) of pressurized volume and could support up to 10 people at a time.
Blue Origin offers large-diameter modules and uses its New Glenn heavy-lift rocket to introduce the pieces into orbit. Boeing will oversee the operations and maintenance of the Orbital Reef, provide some science modules and use its Starliner aircraft to take the astronauts off the field. Boeing has secured a NASA agreement to fly astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) with Starliner as well.
Sierra Space will build Large Integrated Flexible Environment (LIFE) modules that can be expanded to serve as a residence for passengers. Its Dream Chaser spacecraft (which NASA designed for the ISS space shuttle) can fly cargo and crew to Orbital Reef.
Meanwhile, Redwire Space will develop solar lines for the space station and Genesis Engineering Solutions will build a single -person spacecraft for outdoor private “spacewalks”. Arizona State University will lead a 14-university consortium to provide research advice and advocacy.
The first Orbital Reef site is expected to include a core module, LIFE module, science module, Genesis spacecraft and power system, Blue Origin said.
“Orbital Reef is using proven methods to achieve a vibrant industrial ecosystem in low Earth orbit,” said Brent Sherwood, Blue Origin’s chief executive officer of advanced development projects, in a statement. Said, which he thanked the new partners Amazon and AWS. “We’re working with the best in the world to reuse logistics for a shared use business.”
Email Tariq Malik ma [email protected] (opens on new page) or follow him @tariqjmalik (opens on new page). Follow us @Spacedotcom (opens on new page), Facebook (opens on new page) a Instagram (opens on new page).
