Sierra Space’s Orbital Reef, oxygen technology platform achieve NASA milestones

LOUISVILLE — Louisville’s Sierra Space Corp. has achieved in recent weeks several important milestones in projects the aerospace spinoff of Sierra Nevada Corp. is undertaking as part of NASA contracts. 

The company’s Orbital Reef project, a commercially developed, owned, and operated space station to be built in low Earth orbit that SSC is creating with Kent, Washington-based partner Blue Origin, has moved through NASA’s system definition review process. A successful SDR “demonstrates to NASA that the space station design is feasible and achievable while validating that the Orbital Reef system is on-track to proceed into the design phase,” SSC said in a news release. 

The station is expected to be operational by 2027, the release said. 

Additionally, SSC has completed a NASA test readiness review for in-development carbothermal reduction technology, which “processes and extracts oxygen from minerals in lunar regolith (soil) for use as astronaut life support and in propellant manufacturing in space. Producing oxygen on the moon is a key component for a sustained presence in space and reduces costs by not having to transport the critical element to space on launch,” according to SSC.

In a release, Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice said, “By providing a source of oxygen on the moon, this technology will ultimately be used to sustain life support and enable rocket refueling, therefore greatly reducing the costs associated with spaceflight beyond low-Earth orbit. As we seek to open affordable access to space for all, today’s progress brings us closer to that possibility through the promise of potential cost-saving and alternative-processing technologies.”

on Facebook on LinkedIn