Polar Reef

 

Few people get to see the electronic innards
of the Polar Reef's inflatable science module.

Orbital Reef has four stations in low Earth orbit (LEO), and the favorite among most Rocket Team astronauts is the Polar Reef, one of the first crewed stations in a polar orbit.  

The cool thing about a polar orbit is that the station passes over the north and south poles, and the Earth rotates under you so you can eventually fly over every part of the globe.

 
It mainly houses researchers and a few vacationers in a more rustic setting. It's a reminder of the old days when stations were small and most visitors there on a science mission.

Polar Reef circles the Earth about 14 times each day. Most of the researchers study and monitor land, ocean, and atmospheric issues (like hurricanes and global vegetation changes).

Polar Reef is a smaller station when compared to the big LEO vacation destinations managed by Orbital Reef and others.  But, it is still served by the Sierra Heavy, the big 50-seater from Sierra Space.


More info:

[1] Orbital Reef; https://www.orbitalreef.com/

[2] Polar orbits; https://sos.noaa.gov/catalog/datasets/polar-orbiting-noaa-satellite-tracks/