Arizona State Envisions Office Park in Space

The ultimate coworking space for digital nomads is on the drawing board. Working alongside others, Arizona State University is developing a space station that acts as a business park.

"Orbital Reef," as it's being called, will be situated in low Earth orbit and enable companies to run operations for research, manufacturing, travel, education and exploration. They'll lease space in the facility, akin to current coworking setups, with a big exception. People will have to live on board, at least for short periods.

The collaborative project is being led by the School of Earth and Space Exploration Interplanetary Initiative, headed by Professor Lindy Elkins-Tanton. She is also a principal investigator of the Psyche mission, an ASU and NASA space mission to visit a metal asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.

Orbital Reef space station rendering
Rendering of the Orbital Reef space station. Courtesy of Blue Origin Media.

Elkins-Tanton said the goal of Orbital Reef is to make space exploration "accessible for so many more people who can participate in many different ways." The expectation is that sharing the expense and complexity of living and working in low Earth orbit will open the "space economy" to small businesses and nations.

ASU is working with a number of space companies on the project, including Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, Sierra Space, Boeing, Redwire Space and Genesis Engineering.

The Interplanetary Initiative runs an advisory council with representatives from more than a dozen international universities. According to ASU, their goals are to "establish guidelines and standards of conduct for ethical research on the station, provide consulting for those new to space research, channel academic research onto Orbital Reef, inform the academic user experience aboard the station and conduct STEM outreach and education programs."

The project hosts a 6,800-square-foot lab that serves as a research and development workspace where companies collaborate with students, faculty and staff to design, build and test space hardware and software.

Officials said the research topics they're currently exploring in the project include these:

  • How can we sustain healthy communities in space?
  • How will we manage shared resources in space, from satellites and space debris to minable asteroids?
  • How can we better connect humans and robots in space exploration?
  • How would humankind react to the discovery of alien life?

"Humans are compelled to explore; it's in our bones. We will become an interplanetary species," Elkins-Tanton said, in a statement. "We have an opportunity to use the inspiration of space exploration to take better care of the Earth by involving all of society and driving technological advances that will help solve problems here below."

"Shifting our mindset to see ourselves as a team of crewmates aboard a space vessel — Earth — opens the door to shared purpose and better cooperation," added Jessica Rousset, deputy director of Interplanetary Initiative.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • K–12 Safety Trends Report Reveals Reliance on Training, Technology

    Wearable safety technology provider CENTEGIX recently released its 2025 School Safety Trends Report, according to a news release. The report is based on more than 265,000 incidents during the 2024–25 school year as reported through the CENTEGIX Safety Platform, used by more than 800 school districts across the U.S.

  • Designing Learning Spaces that Support Student Mental Health and Wellness

    In today’s education landscape, schools are more than just centers for learning; they are integral to the holistic development and well-being of students. The global pandemic underscored the importance of addressing mental health in schools, as productivity dropped, stress levels rose and students faced challenges managing emotions.

  • StarRez Releases 2025 State of Student Housing Report

    Student housing software solutions provider StarRez recently released its second State of the Student Housing Industry Report, according to a news release. The report is based on the results of survey data from more than 400 higher education institutions around the world, both StarRez clients and not.

  • Three U.S. Universities Install Acre Security Access Control Platform

    Cloud-native physical and digital security solutions company Acre Security recently announced that it has deployed its access control platform at three major universities in the U.S., according to a news release. Acre partnered with Atrium Campus to provide coverage for more than 69,000 students at the University of Virginia (UVA), George Mason University, and Rockhurst University.

Digital Edition