Welcome back! Another week of Earth, Space, & Human Responsibility is upon us.

Today, I would like to introduce to you a new privatized space project in the fold – that of commercial space station Orbital Reef. Orbital Reef is a low Earth orbit (LEO) space station in the works, led by Blue Origin, Sierra Space, Boeing, Redwire Space, Genesis Engineering Solutions, and Arizona State University. The project’s own website introduces Orbital Reef as a “mixed-use business park” in space. The station’s expected architecture includes modules with large windows guaranteeing passengers hard-to-miss views of Earth below.  Within its walls will be space for recreation, general occupancy, work, and medical care. The station will be able to be leased to both researchers and those seeking to run commercial operations that include travel and lodging.

Fig. 1. Orbital Reef. Prospective View Inside Station.

Announced in 2021, Orbital Reef has an anticipated launch date in 2030. This date is important, because it matches with the extended retirement date of the International Space Station (ISS). The first component of the ISS was launched over two decades ago; its aging materials have since taken a beating with thermal cycling and space debris. The ISS is not expected to live past the end of this decade. Its original date of retirement was scheduled for 2025, but the Biden Administration increased its tenure to 2030 this past December. If it can last until then, the ISS will face a scalding death by fire as it reenters our atmosphere and crashing down towards Earth. At this point, then, we are faced with two ethical scenarios: (1) figuring out the safest method for the destruction of large space equipment, and (2) understanding the place that space stations will have in the future of the space industry.

Fig. 2. NASA. Japan’s Kibo Laboratory Module.

The first ethical scenario posed asks us to question the possibilities for destruction earthside as a result of random machinery falling in pieces from the sky. The ISS is the largest piece of space equipment in space to date – it took over 40 missions to build and is almost the length of a football field. On Earth, it would weigh over 900,000 pounds. Upon reentry into the atmosphere, the whole station would not simply burn up in totality. As an object’s size increases, it becomes harder for the atmosphere to completely burn it up. The ISS is certainly large enough to potentially cause a myriad of problem for our planet’s residents. That is why engineers have begun presenting potential plans for the safest reentry procedures possible. At the 2017 International Astronautical Congress, a group presented controlled deorbiting options based on the prior deorbiting of Mir, a Russian space station retired in 2001. Current options involve timed burns lowering the station altitude once per orbit and use of service-model thrusters. The real concern about any plan is ensuring the greatest amount of predictability during reentry. Scientists and engineers are faced with a conundrum of either waiting out the next eight years or coming up with last-minute plans in case a catastrophic failure were to occur onboard the space station before its retirement date.

The second ethical scenario posed follows what happens after the decommission of the ISS. NASA has already announced that the ISS is its last public foray into space stations, effectively handing off the baton to private corporations to begin their own space enterprises. In a special press release from December 2, 2021, the agency revealed three deals in place with American companies to commercialize space via a LEO economy. With the looming decommissioning of the ISS, Blue Origin scored a deal of $130 million (for Orbital Reef), Nanoracks LLC procured a hefty $160 million, and Northrop Grumman signed a deal for $125.6 million. Through our space agency, the government of the United States has essentially signed off on induction of independent space stations.

Fig. 3. Orbital Reef. Prospective Space Station.

With the ISS being a prime example of peaceful cooperation between international communities, its eventual demise spells out a potential end of goodwill between nations like the United States and Russia. Great care must be taken as we move forward with humanity’s colonization beyond the borders of land on Earth. With the United States publicly spelling out its plans for further extension of the American economy in space, the path has been opened up for other nations to follow suit. We are faced with multiple unknowns as we await the final days of the ISS and watch to see which endeavors by various public companies are actually successful in launching prospective space stations.

Thanks for reading!