This star is going to the moon

Chapter 453 A vibrant commercial space station where everything thrives
The Harbor One space station does indeed have only one module. Its role is similar to that of the Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2 space laboratories that China once had, and it was only used to verify space station technology.

Harbor One was also used as a test for the later Harbor Two space station.

Of course, due to its technological advantage as a later entrant, Harbor One is much larger and more advanced than Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2.

(Image of Harbour One)
Harbor One, a commercial space station, adopts a single-module design, representing a compact solution for commercial space habitation.

Its single-unit cabin is 4.4 meters in diameter, 10 meters long, and weighs 14 tons. It has a 1.1-meter diameter domed porthole, is equipped with Starlink network, has 80 cubic meters of pressurized space, 45 cubic meters of living space, and can accommodate 4 people.

Its life support system can support four astronauts to live and work in orbit for one month.

It's a bit small for the national space station, considering that both the International Space Station and the Tiangong space station can support personnel to stay for up to 6 months!

However, it is still quite suitable for the initial commercial space station.

Once the Harbor 6 space station is built, the six-month stay period can be restored.

The Harbor Space Station has a strong partnership with SpaceX. In addition to using the Falcon 9 rocket to launch the module, it will also use the Dragon spacecraft to transport supplies and commercial astronauts to and from the space station.

In addition, it will be equipped with a Starlink laser communication system to provide a high-speed and stable internet connection.

This can solve the problem of limited communication on the International Space Station in the past, and support scientific experiments, real-time data transmission and ground communication.

Yes, in addition to Bluestar Space Corporation's "Space Hotel," which is purely a space tourism facility, it will also provide scientific research support.

Its earliest plan was to launch in two or three years, with the goal of becoming the world's first commercially operational space station, ahead of other competitors, and filling the market gap after the International Space Station is decommissioned.

It will participate in NASA's private astronaut mission program, providing opportunities for private clients, research institutions, and international space agencies to travel to the space station, further expanding commercial applications in low Earth orbit.

Therefore, as an independent space habitat module, it has functions such as life support, scientific experiments, and technology testing.

It can serve as a microgravity laboratory, supporting researchers in conducting scientific experiments in multiple fields, including biomedicine, materials science, and technology verification.

The plan aims to attract global users and promote the development of the low Earth orbit economy by opening up access to the space station in cooperation with sovereign governments and international space agencies.

Memoranda of understanding had already been signed with several countries.

However, after Rowun announced the "space hotel," Harbor One changed its promotional slogan and stopped saying that it would be the first commercial space station.

Because the launch time of the first module of the "space hotel" was earlier than their own launch schedule.

However, it still declared that it would be the first commercial space station to support scientific research experiments!
Furthermore, it announced its ultimate goal: to build a commercial space station with artificial gravity by the 1930s, enabling humans to live and work stably in space for a long time and creating a true "space home"!
Another promising commercial space station project is the Orbital Reef space station.

Unlike the new company operating Harbor One, Orbital Reef, one of the several commercial space stations that replaced the International Space Station after its decommissioning, has a much more luxurious corporate structure.

The Orbital Reef project is led by Blue Origin, with Sierra Space in collaboration, and its construction and operation partners also include Amazon and Boeing.

They're all giant companies!

Therefore, their goal is to ensure that the Federation maintains a 100% leadership position in Earth's orbit!

To achieve this goal, the initial configuration of "Orbital Reef" includes a "large flexible environment" habitation module, node modules, a core module, and experimental modules. Customizable modules and scalable configurations are also available.

(Rendering of the Orbital Reef Space Station)

Its pressurized space, reaching 830 cubic meters, can accommodate 10 people and can accommodate visits from almost all active or soon-to-be-in-service spacecraft, including Dragon, Soyuz, Starliner, and DreamChaser.

It is called a "real space hotel" because of its large space and the relatively low construction and operation cost compared to historical space stations.

Because the pressurized space of the International Space Station is more than 900 cubic meters, it took more than ten years and more than 40 flights and launches to complete the assembly.

The "Orbital Reef" project will complete the assembly of 830 cubic meters of pressurized space in two years, which can reach 90% of the pressurized space of the International Space Station.

However, its construction and operating costs are only 10% of those of the International Space Station.

The International Space Station costs hundreds of billions of dollars, enough to buy 25 Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, but the Orbital Reef space station project is expected to cost only a few billion dollars in the end.

Even if the project goes over budget, it will only be a little over ten billion US dollars.

For NASA, which is currently facing some financial difficulties and has been living hand to mouth, the Orbital Reef Space Station, with 10% of the cost and 90% of the performance, is something they would dream of.

After all, in the past, only counterfeit goods from China could achieve this level of cost-effectiveness.

The reason why the orbital reef space station is so cheap is mainly due to the inflatable cabin.

Unlike traditional rigid-shell space station modules, the Orbital Reef project boldly adopted inflatable modules made of high-strength polyaramid fiber material as the core of the Orbital Reef space station in order to make the module diameter as large as possible.

The inflatable habitation capsule currently being tested in the Orbital Reef project has a diameter of up to 6 meters, but when deflated, it is only a little over 4 meters in diameter. During launch, it can be compactly installed inside a 5-meter diameter rocket fairing, and then inflated and deployed in space to form a robust structure.

This cabin has a volume of approximately 300 cubic meters and can accommodate four astronauts, as well as sports and scientific facilities.

It's important to know that the original "T"-shaped three-module structure of the Tiangong space station was only a pressurized space station with a volume of 340 cubic meters. It was only after the addition of the extra "space dock" that the volume was increased to 450 cubic meters.

The cross-shaped four-module structure of Bluestar Aerospace's "Space Hotel" has a volume of 380 cubic meters.

The 830-cubic-meter Orbital Reef space station would naturally claim to be the "real space hotel".

They claimed, "We have revolutionized the space station with revolutionary, scalable space station technology."

"Our technology will enable a positive single-unit economic model for the first time, thus fully opening up the commercialization of space."

"Our biotechnology and industrial partners will leverage our 'space factory' to innovate and develop new products that will dramatically disrupt global markets and benefit humanity!"

After reading their statement, space enthusiasts do not recognize the orbital reef as a "space hotel," since it is not only for space tourism but also for space industry and scientific research experiments.

For a true space hotel, look to Lu Yun's "Space Hotel," which was created purely for space tourism.

Oh, and there's also a space wedding.

(End of this chapter)