Blue Origin Selected as NASA's Private Space Station Developer

[Image source=Blue Origin homepage]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Three companies?Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman, and Nanoracks?have been selected as candidates to develop private space stations to replace the International Space Station (ISS), which is nearing retirement due to aging equipment. In particular, Blue Origin, which recently lost out to SpaceX in the lunar exploration project, is being seen as having gained an opportunity for a comeback.

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced on the 2nd (local time) that it had selected Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman, and Nanoracks as candidates for the Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development (CLD) project and plans to sign initial development contracts totaling $415.6 million (approximately 490.3 billion KRW). Among the contract amounts, Nanoracks received the largest at $160 million, Blue Origin was allocated $130 million, and Northrop Grumman was assigned $125.6 million.

According to CNN, NASA had previously received proposals from 12 companies ranging from startups to aerospace giants by August, and selected three of them. NASA plans to formally sign space station development contracts with at least two of these three companies by 2025.

Blue Origin, which had been outpaced by SpaceX in the recent lunar exploration project competition, is expected to lead the space station project, marking an opportunity for resurgence. Blue Origin is currently planning to establish a space station named "Orbital Reef."

The Orbital Reef project also involves the space defense company Sierra Space. Sierra Space is known to plan the development of a flexible, large-scale integrated environment for the space station, including design, construction, and lift logistics management. Additionally, aerospace company Boeing is participating, expected to handle operations, maintenance, scientific module design, and provide its Starliner crew capsules.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.