Good news for the Boeing Space Program
NASA’s announcement of the end of the International Space Station (ISS) and the first approval of the private Orbital Reef station are positive signals for The Boeing Company’s (BA) space business. The NASA Space Agency has published a proposal request for developing a spacecraft that will send the ISS on its last flight. Commercial organizations need to create a device that can lower the orbit of the ISS and eventually direct it along the trajectory of free fall to the area in the South Pacific Ocean.
The task, in general, is not difficult for a modified spacecraft. First, the station must be transferred to an elliptical orbit of 145x200km and then slow down to an orbit with a perigee of 50 km, after which the station will collide with a dense atmosphere and fall into the ocean, breaking apart. The request means that NASA puts an end to the history of the ISS and does not plan to save it. Its place may be the first private space station, Orbital Reef. Simultaneously with the announcement of the request for the ISS vault from orbit, NASA published a message that the Orbital Reef station project had passed a preliminary check by space agency specialists.
They have confirmed the compliance of the Orbital Reef project with the characteristics necessary to fulfill its tasks. Now the station developers can move on. In general, NASA believes that the projects for private commercial stations will be ready by the end of this decade. In particular, the launch of the first Orbital Reef modules for 2027. will eliminate the gap that will remain after the flooding of the ISS. Private companies have enough experience and resources to design, build and launch the station — NASA needed money only at the stage of attracting qualified personnel. At the same time, Orbital Reef will be much more comfortable and spacious than the ISS. Not only specially selected and trained cosmonauts will be able to work and relax at this station.
It is good news for Boeing since the supply of Orbital Reef is planned with the help of the CST-100 Starliner from Boeing and the Dream Chaser shuttle from the private company Sierra Space. Thus, the station is the answer to the question about the usefulness of the Starliner project for Boeing’s business. As a commercial project, Orbital Reef will have much greater application flexibility. It will be a laboratory, a production facility, a tourist complex, and a post for astronomical and other observations and experiments. The station will be less dependent on the distribution of the state budget, and therefore Boeing will have more opportunities to develop competitive space technologies.
