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As a former aerospace engineer, I recall that some days were so frustrating that I simply had to laugh. Space is hard and many issues are made worse in the spirit of saving schedule. This coffee cup encapsulates that feeling. I hope that it can make you smile as you grind through the short notice design reviews and relentless revision/redline/release cycles to make a product that has a positive impact on society. Enjoy!

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Intro

Welcome to the monthly Blue Origin career discussion thread for April 2024, where you can talk about all career & professional topics. Topics may include:

• Professional career guidance & questions; e.g. Hiring process, types of jobs, career growth at Blue Origin

• Educational guidance & questions; e.g. what to major in, which universities are good, topics to study

• Questions about working for Blue Origin; e.g. Work life balance, living in Kent, WA, pay and benefits

Guidelines

1. Before asking any questions, check if someone has already posted an answer! A link to the previous thread can be found here.

2. All career posts not in these threads will be removed, and the poster will be asked to post here instead.

3. Subreddit rules still apply and will be enforced. See them here.

Todd Mosher, Ph.D.a* and Laura Kelsey

a Customer Experience Director, Blue Origin Kent, Washington, United States, 98032 tmosher@blueorigin.com

b Customer Experience Lead, Sierra Space, Broomfield, Colorado, United States, 80021, laura.kelsey@sierraspace.com

* Corresponding Author

[17 th International Conference on Space Operations, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 6 - 10 March 2023. Copyright ©2023 by Blue Origin. Published by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) on behalf of SpaceOps, with permission and released to the MBRSC to publish in all forms. SpaceOps-2023, ID #556 Page 1 of 11 SpaceOps-2023, ID # 556]

Abstract

Blue Origin and Sierra Space are jointly developing and deploying a commercially owned and operated space station in low Earth orbit (LEO) called Orbital Reef. The Orbital Reef baseline configuration will be operational later this decade prior to ISS transition. Orbital Reef provides all the necessary services and amenities required by researchers, manufacturers, service providers, and visitors alike, including space transportation and logistics, space habitation, equipment accommodations, and operations by an onboard crew. We are building on lessons learned from ISS operations by implementing new commercial processes, capacities, and product offerings, all aimed at lowering barriers to entry and expanding access to a global customer base. The Orbital Reef will be the common interface and operating system in space upon which hundreds of customers can pursue their applications, leveraging all or portions of the system’s offerings. Orbital Reef’s tenet of “space as a service” drives our approach to commercial operations with a customer-centric philosophy. Our Customer Experience (CX) office ensures the access, services, and capabilities that enable our customer’s mission success in a safe, reliable, and cost-effective manner. The design and development of Orbital Reef products, services, and ecosystems are based upon our customer’s requirements, needs, and desires. The Orbital Reef architecture is designed to optimize commercial station operations and diverse customer mission profiles. Example customer missions include ground-based principal investigators conducting research on Orbital Reef, civil space astronauts performing training missions, and private guests with experiential motivations. This paper describes how Orbital Reef will balance the unique operational considerations of these customer missions with station-critical operations in a commercial environment......

[PDF: https://star.spaceops.org/user_manudownload.php?doc=556__nd2w00wx.pdf ]

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[Note: this paper is referenced by the article in Nature "Orbital Reef and commercial low Earth orbit destinations—upcoming space research opportunities", Published: 29 March 2024, Article number: 43 (2024)...

"https://www.reddit.com/r/BlueOrigin/comments/1brahmf/nature_orbital_reef_and_commercial_low_earth/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button"

[It is reference 8: "Mosher, T. & Kelsey, L. Orbital Reef: Redefining Commercial Space Station Operations, 17th International Conference on Space Operations, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 6 - 10 March 2023 (2023)"

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The difference between this paper and the article in Nature....according to the article in Nature...

"...The LIFE™ habitat is an expandable module that will provide over 300 m3 of habitable volume to host payloads and research facilities, an ECLSS and sleeping quarters for up to ten crewmembers, two commodes, a health and hygiene compartment, a galley, exercise equipment, and plant growth hardware. Finally, the ~40 m3 Node will include two International Docking System Standard (IDSS)-compatible visiting vehicle ports, an airlock for extravehicular activity (EVA), and will be able to host external payloads and provide station-keeping functions. More details on each of these modules and their operations are described in Mosher & Kelsey, 2023. "

It contains the following topics;

1.1.2 LIFEâ„¢ Module

1.1.3 Node Module

1.1.4 Research Module

1.1.5 Mast

1.1.6 Single Person Spacecraft

1.2.3 Starliner Visiting Vehicle

3. Orbital Reef Commercial Space Station Operations

3.1 Assembly Without a Space Shuttle

3.2 Reducing EVA for Assembly and Maintenance

3.3 Developing markets beyond the current ISS community

4. Customer Experience Role in Orbital Reef]

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It’s great that we are finally getting clearer details on the internal design of Orbital Reef.

Published: 27 Mar 2024, 11:46 UTC • By: Daniel Patrascu Daniel Patrascu profile photo

In October 2023 the space company owned by former Amazon head honcho Jeff Bezos announced the arrival of something called Blue Ring. A spacecraft by design, the hardware was envisioned as a sort of space truck, meant to handle orbital logistics and delivery.

As if trying to hint this spacecraft would be more or less of a secret deal, the company did not reveal all that much about it and its capabilities. We know just a few shacky facts about it, and that makes the Blue Ring even more interesting.

As the world is increasing its exploitation of space, the needs of the companies and governments doing business up there will diversify. Sooner than later, there will be increasing needs for orbital refueling, hardware delivery, and even data storage...... "https://www.autoevolution.com/news/jeff-bezos-to-send-blue-ring-space-truck-in-orbit-on-secret-space-force-mission-231450.html"
..

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we should be able to talk about this once a year. actually interesting posts get deleted but the spam ai generated blue origin articles stay up. ridiculous

https://www.blueorigin.com/news/blue-origin-blue-ring-to-demonstrate-operation-capabilities-on-darksky-1-mission

I’ll be starting my first full time job as a manufacturing engineer after graduating this May. I want to be as ready as possible, make myself valuable and unique, and have a really good impression. What are some things you would recommend me to do or ask people on the team for this purpose?

📷By Kenneth Chang

• March 14, 2024Updated 11:50 a.m. ET

Which billionaire space company will get to the moon first: Elon Musk’s SpaceX or Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin?

At first glance, SpaceX seems to have a huge head start. It is about to launch the third test flight of Starship. A variation of Starship is scheduled to take NASA astronauts to the surface of the moon as soon as September 2026.

By contrast, Blue Origin has yet to launch anything into orbit, and its contract with NASA for a lunar lander for astronauts is for a mission that is launching in 2030.

But Blue Origin might still get there first. SpaceX faces major challenges with Starship, which is as tall as 16-story building, while Blue Origin plans to send a smaller cargo lander to the moon by the end of next year.

“This lander, we’re expecting to land on the moon between 12 and 16 months from today,” John Couluris, senior vice president of lunar permanence at Blue Origin, said during an interview on the CBS News program “60 Minutes” this month.

The first launch of the Mark 1 version of the Blue Moon lander is what Blue Origin calls a “pathfinder” to test technologies like the BE-7 engine, the flight computers, avionics and power systems — the same systems that will be used in the much larger Mark 2 lander that will take astronauts to the moon’s surface......"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/14/science/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-spacex-moon.html"

Multi-Mission,

Multi-Orbit Mobility

Blue Ring can support a variety of missions in medium Earth orbit out to the cislunar region. With unprecedented delta-V capabilities, customers can easily maneuver Blue Ring and access critical data to ensure a successful mission.....

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Cloud Computing

Blue Ring provides end-to-end services that span hosting, transportation, refueling, data relay, and logistics, including an “in-space” cloud computing capability.

Payload Capabilities

Blue Ring can host payloads of more than 3,000 kg for commercial and government customers to deploy a variety of missions....

"https://www.blueorigin.com/blue-ring"

The propellant loading pathfinder that wrapped up an apparently successful testing campaign is now on its way back to Exploration Park and the Blue Origin factory for its refit for the mid-summer hotfire tests.

https://twitter.com/_mgde_/status/1767580494273646968

By Jack KuhrMarch 6, 2024

Blue Origin aims to land its Blue Moon Mark 1 cargo vehicle on the Moon next year, setting an aggressive timeline as it seeks to chart a new course of decisive action and big swings after not reaching orbit in its first two decades of operations.

“We are expecting to land on the Moon in 12-16 months from today,” Blue’s SVP of lunar permanence John Couluris told 60 Minutes last weekend. 

The cargo lander can transport 3,000 kg to the lunar surface—30 times the capacity of most CLPS landers but smaller than Blue Origin’s crewed lander that will be used for Artemis V.  .......

"https://payloadspace.com/blue-origins-2025-lunar-landing-goal/"

Intro

Welcome to the monthly Blue Origin career discussion thread for March 2024, where you can talk about all career & professional topics. Topics may include:

• Professional career guidance & questions; e.g. Hiring process, types of jobs, career growth at Blue Origin

• Educational guidance & questions; e.g. what to major in, which universities are good, topics to study

• Questions about working for Blue Origin; e.g. Work life balance, living in Kent, WA, pay and benefits

Guidelines

1. Before asking any questions, check if someone has already posted an answer! A link to the previous thread can be found here.

2. All career posts not in these threads will be removed, and the poster will be asked to post here instead.

3. Subreddit rules still apply and will be enforced. See them here.