Blue Origin

[Eric Mc]

In keeping with having separate threads on the various separate manned space projects, maybe we should have one on Blue Origin. They conducted a test this morning - video here.

https://www.blueorigin.com/#youtubeEI-tGVFg7PU

[Simpo Two]

Why don't all these companies join forces and do one proper big one?

[Eric Mc]

That's commercial competition for you.

[AnotherClarkey]

That capsule looked like it just slammed into the ground. Did the landing rockets fire?

[Eric Mc]

They did.

Without rockets the impact would have been around 20 mph - survivable but a bit of a jar.

[Simpo Two]

Eric Mc said:

That's commercial competition for you.

True, but competition is supposed to make things better (eg you have a choice of three supermarkets not one). Where rocket science and frontiers of thingy are concerned it seems counter-productive to split the total human effort/budget several ways. You'll end up with smaller rockets going less far. But as no Government seems much interested I guess some is better than none.

[Eric Mc]

Competition does not always produce efficiency. It produces duplication of effort and often wastes resources.

What it does do regarding space is that it is producing efforts that are independent of government, which means some of these efforts have a better chance of continuity.

[scubadude]

I had assumed Blue Origin was just a front for ULA to develop a new engine outside the restraints of being a public service provider in the US, these sub-orbital bounces look good but I'm not sure how they progress the business or compete without anyone else (except Virgin Galactic who appear to be permanently stalled)

The media's obsession with comparing each BO flight to SpaceX is also frustrating, they are both noteworthy companies but the 60mile up and down hop is a world away from recovering a first stage to orbit IMVHO.

[Eric Mc]

That's the media's fault, not Blue Origin.

Having said that, at one point Jeff Bezos was trying to compare his vertical landings with Elon Musk's - so the media can get confused at times.

I like the fact that there are multiple projects at the moment. It's better than none at all.

[MartG]

Jeff Bezos has tweeted more info on his future plans, including this comparison picture



I wonder how long it will be before SpaceX respond with a similar graphic showing their planned big booster ( and also including a BO New Shepherd to compare with their Falcon 9 ) - and of course NASA's SLS will be pretty huge too

Link to the article is here http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/09/blue-origin...

[Beati Dogu]

Yes, "New Glenn" (named after John Glenn, naturally). Very ambitious it is too, especially as they want to fly one for the first time before the end of the decade. This will be from Launch Complex 36 (LC-36) at Cape Canaveral, which they leased last year and began modification work a few months ago.

With payload nose cone fitted, the 2-stage version will stand 270 feet tall, while the 3-stage version will be 313 feet tall. The first and second stages are common to both versions and are 23 ft wide. So size wise it's comparable with the Saturn V, which was 363 ft tall / 33 ft wide.

The first stage will use seven of their BE-4 (Blue Engine-4) motors that they've been developing for the last 5 years. These will burn methane and oxygen, which is of course stored in liquefied form in the main tanks. As you can tell from the retractable legs, they want to bring this stage back to Earth like a Falcon 9 and re-use it a minimum of 25 missions.

The second stage will have a single vacuum-optimised BE-4 engine (called the BE-4U).

The optional 3rd stage will use a single vacuum-optimised BE-3 engine, burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. They currently use this engine on the New Shepard rocket (named after Alan Shepard BTW).

He also hinted at a longer term rocket project, the New Armstrong.


No doubt he did this to preempt Elon Musk's Mars Architecture presentation at the end of the month. He's expected to announce details of their BFR.

Edited by Beati Dogu on Sunday 22 October 00:49

[Caruso]

Simpo Two said:

Why don't all these companies join forces and do one proper big one?

I think it's good to have more than 1 provider for human space travel so that you don't end up with a big hiatus in launch schedules if, for instance, a rocket blows up during refuelling.

[Sylvaforever]

chap in massive penis envy gig....

[Beati Dogu]

I like the feather logo. Hints of Galileo.

[RobDickinson]

I'm glad they are now talking about developing useful rockets rather than tourism toys.

With planned reusability they should be good competition for SpaceX

[Beati Dogu]

Quite so. Perhaps the New Shepard rocket is the equivalent of SpaceX's Grasshopper.

[Beati Dogu]

Sylvaforever said:

chap in massive penis envy gig....

Perhaps, but he was in a helicopter crash in Texas back in 2003, so maybe he thinks "screw it, you only live once". He escaped with cuts to his head, but I understand he doesn't fly in helicopters any more.



His current worth, on paper at least, is about 10 times that of Elon Musk. So he certainly has the resources to fund Blue Origin.

[scubadude]

MartG said:

Jeff Bezos has tweeted more info on his future plans, including this comparison picture

I wonder how long it will be before SpaceX respond with a similar graphic showing their planned big booster ( and also including a BO New Shepherd to compare with their Falcon 9 ) - and of course NASA's SLS will be pretty huge too

If Elon doesn't present something like this I will be disappointed...

[Beati Dogu]

That would be cool.

Pascal Jaussi, the founder & CEO of Swiss Space Systems has a model of Tintin's moon rocket on his desk. The story is what inspired him as a child.

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/into-orbit_the-space-s...

[Beati Dogu]

Bezos tweeted a couple of pictures of the wind tunnel test model of the New Glen:

Here seen in descent configuration (i.e. arse-backwards). Looks more like a Gatling gun.