Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin announced this week plans for Orbital Reef, a commercial space station that will be a mixed-use business park.
You are not the only one who thinks Bezos' ultimate dream of a coworking space in space is a bit stale.
Jeff Bezos has just announced that he will build the first commercial space station. His vision is literally for a suborbital mixed-use business park. Brian Merchant responded to the announcement with a tweet.
A mixed-use business park sounds like a place where space exploration dreams can die.
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The station is currently only available in the form a press release, and some flashy renders. The station's futuristic design leaves much to be desired. Reddit pundits quickly pointed out a flaw in the design. There is simply too much space, which could lead to crew members being stuck without a handhold.
One render shows even a calculator lying on top of a nearby work surface, seemingly unaffected due to the absence of gravity.
One user offered his opinion on how to make a space station. Bright white embedded lights, gray featureless mat surfaces, large windows that show the Earth in every one of them, and curved corridors.
These were not being worked on by any engineer, added the user, adding that the renders show how the woman could get lost in a hallway filled with cavernous corridors.
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This is not exaggerated. The International Space Station's largest section, the Kibo spacecraft module, was designed by Japan. It is large enough to allow astronauts to become stranded in mid-space.
An astronaut performs a special maneuver to free himself from the Kibo module's center. This was captured on video aboard the station.
It is possible to get caught in the middle of the module and not reach a handrail. This could lead to you getting stuck for a while, as NASA astronaut legend Mark Kelly noted in 2008.
It is not a fatal flaw, but astronauts can always find a fellow spacetraveler to help them out.
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Blue Origin faces a lot of challenges to achieve its vision. The company is still at the edge of space and has not sent a rocket into orbit.
It remains to be seen if NASA can make sufficient progress, despite the lawsuits, to complete the Orbital reef by 2030.
There is good news: you have plenty of time to go back and revise the station design.
Blue Origin reveals plans for a commercial space station called Orbital Reef
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