Discussion
Just received an e-mail update
Blue Origin is honored to enter into a Launch Services Agreement (LSA) partnership with the Air Force to leverage our commercial, heavy-lift New Glenn launch vehicle for national security space (NSS) missions. New Glenn is a single-configuration, operationally reusable launch vehicle powered by seven BE-4 liquefied natural gas rocket engines and offers significant performance margin for all NSS missions.
The LSA partnership enables rapid buildout of NSS-unique New Glenn infrastructure such as vertical payload integration capability and a launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base as well as completion of NSS certification activities.
Blue Origin is proud to serve the NSS community and is committed to providing safe, reliable access to space for the nation.
For more information on this announcement, check out the Air Force's press release, Blue’s tweet and Jeff’s tweet.
Gradatim Ferociter!
Blue Origin is honored to enter into a Launch Services Agreement (LSA) partnership with the Air Force to leverage our commercial, heavy-lift New Glenn launch vehicle for national security space (NSS) missions. New Glenn is a single-configuration, operationally reusable launch vehicle powered by seven BE-4 liquefied natural gas rocket engines and offers significant performance margin for all NSS missions.
The LSA partnership enables rapid buildout of NSS-unique New Glenn infrastructure such as vertical payload integration capability and a launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base as well as completion of NSS certification activities.
Blue Origin is proud to serve the NSS community and is committed to providing safe, reliable access to space for the nation.
For more information on this announcement, check out the Air Force's press release, Blue’s tweet and Jeff’s tweet.
Gradatim Ferociter!
MartG said:
Graphic showing relative size and payloads of various launchers... interesting that despite its greater size the 3 stage New Glenn will have a similar payload capacity to Falcon Heavy - the efficiency benefits of dropping off the boosters I guess
The figures for Falcon Heavy are 28 tonnes with the boosters recovered, New Glenn is 45 tonnes with first stage reusability.The disparity will be much larger to higher orbits as it has a hydrogen second stage.
The New Glenn will probably exceed this as the BE4 only needs a very conservative specific impulse to do this. The vehicle is physically larger than the Falcon Heavy because methane is about half the density of RP1.
Blue Origin have release their payload guide for New Glenn:
chrome-extension://oemmndcbldboiebfnladdacbdfmadadm/https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=41146.0;attach=1528480;sess=0
Not surprisingly, given its size, it's going to be able to double stack satellites, like Ariane V.
chrome-extension://oemmndcbldboiebfnladdacbdfmadadm/https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=41146.0;attach=1528480;sess=0
Not surprisingly, given its size, it's going to be able to double stack satellites, like Ariane V.
Blue Origin’s next New Shepard mission (NS-10) is currently targeting liftoff tomorrow at 8:30 am CST / 14:30 UTC. This will be the 10th New Shepard mission and is dedicated to bringing nine NASA-sponsored research and technology payloads into space through NASA’s Flight Opportunities program.
NASA’s Flight Opportunities program is an essential program for researchers providing access to microgravity for technology development. Blue supports NASA’s Flight Opportunities program and its role in perfecting technology for a future human presence in space.
The payloads flying with us on NS-10 include:
Carthage College Space Sciences Program: The Modal Propellant Gauging experiment led by Dr. Kevin Crosby is a joint effort with the NASA Kennedy Space Center Cryogenics Laboratory. It demonstrates a way to measure fuel levels in microgravity by using sound waves.
Controlled Dynamics Inc.: The Vibration Isolation Platform (VIP) aims to separate payloads from the normally occurring vibrations experienced during spaceflight. The payload led by Dr. Scott Green allows researchers to have a clear understanding of microgravity’s effects on their research results.
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab: On its second flight with Blue, the EM Field experiment will observe and collect data on the naturally occurring electromagnetic fields both inside and outside New Shepard during the launch. Principal Investigator Dr. Todd Smith will use success of this experiment to determine how global measurements of the Earth’s electromagnetic field can be conducted in the future.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center: Cooling tightly-packed electronics onboard a spacecraft can be challenging, and many solutions have not been able to undergo robust testing. Principal Investigator Franklin Robinson will test one of these solutions in his Flow Boiling in Microgap Coolers experiment.
NASA Johnson Space Center: On its third flight on New Shepard, the Suborbital Flight Experiment Monitor-2 (SFEM-2) led by Dr. Katy Hurlbert will analyze various aspects of the flight environment during New Shepard’s mission profile, measuring cabin pressure, temperature, CO2, acoustic conditions, acceleration and more. The data collected will help future researchers on New Shepard design the most effective experiments for the vehicle.
Purdue University: Dr. Steven Collicott’s payload looks at Zero-Gravity Green Propellant Management Technology, which aims to help advance the use of a safer and more environmentally friendly rocket propellant by better understanding the fuel’s behavior in microgravity.
University of Central Florida: Two teams led by Dr. Josh Colwell and Dr. Addie Dove both have planetary science payloads on NS-10. The Collisions Into Dust Experiment (COLLIDE) aims to understand how dust particles react after surface contact during exploration missions to places such as the Moon, Mars and asteroids. The Collection of Regolith Experiment (CORE) addresses the unique challenge of collecting and analyzing material samples in microgravity.
University of Florida: Dr. Rob Ferl and Dr. Anna-Lisa Paul are adapting technology designed for the ISS to suborbital uses with their experiment, Validating Telemetric Imaging Hardware for Crew-Assisted and Crew-Autonomous Biological Imaging in Suborbital Applications. By recalibrating the way data is collected, the experiment will enable more biological research on suborbital missions.
Make sure to follow us on Twitter for launch day updates and join us at BlueOrigin.com to watch the launch live!
Gradatim Ferociter
Team Blue
NASA’s Flight Opportunities program is an essential program for researchers providing access to microgravity for technology development. Blue supports NASA’s Flight Opportunities program and its role in perfecting technology for a future human presence in space.
The payloads flying with us on NS-10 include:
Carthage College Space Sciences Program: The Modal Propellant Gauging experiment led by Dr. Kevin Crosby is a joint effort with the NASA Kennedy Space Center Cryogenics Laboratory. It demonstrates a way to measure fuel levels in microgravity by using sound waves.
Controlled Dynamics Inc.: The Vibration Isolation Platform (VIP) aims to separate payloads from the normally occurring vibrations experienced during spaceflight. The payload led by Dr. Scott Green allows researchers to have a clear understanding of microgravity’s effects on their research results.
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab: On its second flight with Blue, the EM Field experiment will observe and collect data on the naturally occurring electromagnetic fields both inside and outside New Shepard during the launch. Principal Investigator Dr. Todd Smith will use success of this experiment to determine how global measurements of the Earth’s electromagnetic field can be conducted in the future.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center: Cooling tightly-packed electronics onboard a spacecraft can be challenging, and many solutions have not been able to undergo robust testing. Principal Investigator Franklin Robinson will test one of these solutions in his Flow Boiling in Microgap Coolers experiment.
NASA Johnson Space Center: On its third flight on New Shepard, the Suborbital Flight Experiment Monitor-2 (SFEM-2) led by Dr. Katy Hurlbert will analyze various aspects of the flight environment during New Shepard’s mission profile, measuring cabin pressure, temperature, CO2, acoustic conditions, acceleration and more. The data collected will help future researchers on New Shepard design the most effective experiments for the vehicle.
Purdue University: Dr. Steven Collicott’s payload looks at Zero-Gravity Green Propellant Management Technology, which aims to help advance the use of a safer and more environmentally friendly rocket propellant by better understanding the fuel’s behavior in microgravity.
University of Central Florida: Two teams led by Dr. Josh Colwell and Dr. Addie Dove both have planetary science payloads on NS-10. The Collisions Into Dust Experiment (COLLIDE) aims to understand how dust particles react after surface contact during exploration missions to places such as the Moon, Mars and asteroids. The Collection of Regolith Experiment (CORE) addresses the unique challenge of collecting and analyzing material samples in microgravity.
University of Florida: Dr. Rob Ferl and Dr. Anna-Lisa Paul are adapting technology designed for the ISS to suborbital uses with their experiment, Validating Telemetric Imaging Hardware for Crew-Assisted and Crew-Autonomous Biological Imaging in Suborbital Applications. By recalibrating the way data is collected, the experiment will enable more biological research on suborbital missions.
Make sure to follow us on Twitter for launch day updates and join us at BlueOrigin.com to watch the launch live!
Gradatim Ferociter
Team Blue
In their latest rendering it looks like they've re-designed the legs on the New Glenn to a more SpaceX-like fold out and down design.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSftIaLhQzE
Comparing it to the animation they put out in May 2017, they've also changed the launcher erector to tubular steel (wow), and the upper stage has two nozzles now instead of one. Not sure if they have one engine or two for those. It's sporting the new paint job and the landing ship looks less like a super tanker than before.
BTW the next test flight of the New Shepard is due on 21st Jan now. Delayed from December due to some ground support equipment issues apparently.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSftIaLhQzE
Comparing it to the animation they put out in May 2017, they've also changed the launcher erector to tubular steel (wow), and the upper stage has two nozzles now instead of one. Not sure if they have one engine or two for those. It's sporting the new paint job and the landing ship looks less like a super tanker than before.
BTW the next test flight of the New Shepard is due on 21st Jan now. Delayed from December due to some ground support equipment issues apparently.
Yes, looking into it some more, it is two engines. It seems there were originally planning to use a single vacuum-optimised version of the BE-4 engine (called BE-4U), which powers the first stage..
They're now going to use two vacuum-optimised versions of the BE-3 engine (BE-3U), which also powers the New Shepard rocket. These run on hydrogen & liquid oxygen, unlike the BE-4, which is methane & liquid oxygen.
I should mention that they ditched the optional third stage sometime last year.
They're now going to use two vacuum-optimised versions of the BE-3 engine (BE-3U), which also powers the New Shepard rocket. These run on hydrogen & liquid oxygen, unlike the BE-4, which is methane & liquid oxygen.
I should mention that they ditched the optional third stage sometime last year.
Beati Dogu said:
Yes, looking into it some more, it is two engines. It seems there were originally planning to use a single vacuum-optimised version of the BE-4 engine (called BE-4U), which powers the first stage..
They're now going to use two vacuum-optimised versions of the BE-3 engine (BE-3U), which also powers the New Shepard rocket. These run on hydrogen & liquid oxygen, unlike the BE-4, which is methane & liquid oxygen.
I should mention that they ditched the optional third stage sometime last year.
Initial New Glenn Stages are clearly designed to target high energy orbits like GTO and GEO, basically NRO and USAF requirements as they are partially paying for it.They're now going to use two vacuum-optimised versions of the BE-3 engine (BE-3U), which also powers the New Shepard rocket. These run on hydrogen & liquid oxygen, unlike the BE-4, which is methane & liquid oxygen.
I should mention that they ditched the optional third stage sometime last year.
However as a massive rocket it can do plenty of other stuff even it its not optimized for it.
I suspect that the evolution of the New Glenn will be that they will increase the thrust of the BE4, this will allow it to carry a heavier BE4U upper stage (which may be reused). The lower staging velocity will mean that it can do a return to the launch site burn rather than the current drone ship landing. This setup will be optimised for LEO and heavy payloads.
They're going to need a presence at Vandenberg first if they want to launch satellites for the USAF and the NRO in particular. I imagine the majority of their satellites need a polar orbit (spy & GPS satellites), which can't really be done from Florida. MIlitary comms satellite should be mostly OK. Plus they'll need another recovery ship for the Pacific.
Then there's the issue of literally shipping the rockets from the factory at Cape Canaveral to California.
ULA makes the Delta 4 main assemblies in northern Alabama and they have to ship them to the coast via waterways & through the Panama Canal to California. There's a dock to the south of Vandenberg AFB specifically for this. This is over 5,000 miles & takes 3 weeks.
Perhaps ULA can lend Blue Origin their ship, but they may need something bigger.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMGCcVqACZ4
Looks a bit tight in there. Delta 4 has a 5 meter diameter, but New Glenn is 7 meters wide and the booster probably a good 10 meters longer.
Of course the beauty of a recoverable booster is that hopefully you only need to ship it once. The upper stage & fairings however....
Then there's the issue of literally shipping the rockets from the factory at Cape Canaveral to California.
ULA makes the Delta 4 main assemblies in northern Alabama and they have to ship them to the coast via waterways & through the Panama Canal to California. There's a dock to the south of Vandenberg AFB specifically for this. This is over 5,000 miles & takes 3 weeks.
Perhaps ULA can lend Blue Origin their ship, but they may need something bigger.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMGCcVqACZ4
Looks a bit tight in there. Delta 4 has a 5 meter diameter, but New Glenn is 7 meters wide and the booster probably a good 10 meters longer.
Of course the beauty of a recoverable booster is that hopefully you only need to ship it once. The upper stage & fairings however....
Beati Dogu said:
They're going to need a presence at Vandenberg first if they want to launch satellites for the USAF and the NRO in particular. I imagine the majority of their satellites need a polar orbit (spy & GPS satellites), which can't really be done from Florida. MIlitary comms satellite should be mostly OK. Plus they'll need another recovery ship for the Pacific.
Then there's the issue of literally shipping the rockets from the factory at Cape Canaveral to California.
ULA makes the Delta 4 main assemblies in northern Alabama and they have to ship them to the coast via waterways & through the Panama Canal to California. There's a dock to the south of Vandenberg AFB specifically for this. This is over 5,000 miles & takes 3 weeks.
Perhaps ULA can lend Blue Origin their ship, but they may need something bigger.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMGCcVqACZ4
Looks a bit tight in there. Delta 4 has a 5 meter diameter, but New Glenn is 7 meters wide and the booster probably a good 10 meters longer.
Of course the beauty of a recoverable booster is that hopefully you only need to ship it once. The upper stage & fairings however....
Ship it? Sub orbital hop from Cape Canaveral to Vandenberg - they could do it in a few minutes and avoid the cost of the boat! Then there's the issue of literally shipping the rockets from the factory at Cape Canaveral to California.
ULA makes the Delta 4 main assemblies in northern Alabama and they have to ship them to the coast via waterways & through the Panama Canal to California. There's a dock to the south of Vandenberg AFB specifically for this. This is over 5,000 miles & takes 3 weeks.
Perhaps ULA can lend Blue Origin their ship, but they may need something bigger.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMGCcVqACZ4
Looks a bit tight in there. Delta 4 has a 5 meter diameter, but New Glenn is 7 meters wide and the booster probably a good 10 meters longer.
Of course the beauty of a recoverable booster is that hopefully you only need to ship it once. The upper stage & fairings however....
A nice idea, but it would never be allowed to launch westwards over populated areas, even if it did have the ability.
Meanwhile, they plan to launch a New Shepard rocket again on Wednesday 23rd Jan from the Texas launch site at 2.50 pm UK time (8.50 am CST). It'll be carrying various NASA-sponsored experiments onboard:
https://www.blueorigin.com/news/new-shepard-to-fly...
One Friday, they're breaking ground on their new 200,000 square feet engine manufacturing plant at the Cummings Research Park in Huntsville, Alabama. Artist's impression:
This is where they'll make the BE-4 engines for both themselves and ULA's forthcoming Vulcan rocket. Vulcan will be assembled in nearby Decatur, Alabama.
Meanwhile, they plan to launch a New Shepard rocket again on Wednesday 23rd Jan from the Texas launch site at 2.50 pm UK time (8.50 am CST). It'll be carrying various NASA-sponsored experiments onboard:
https://www.blueorigin.com/news/new-shepard-to-fly...
One Friday, they're breaking ground on their new 200,000 square feet engine manufacturing plant at the Cummings Research Park in Huntsville, Alabama. Artist's impression:
This is where they'll make the BE-4 engines for both themselves and ULA's forthcoming Vulcan rocket. Vulcan will be assembled in nearby Decatur, Alabama.
New Shepard completed its 10th test flight earlier OK. The 4th flight of this particular rocket.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E-3Bk2wpxo
The launch itself starts at 40 minutes in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E-3Bk2wpxo
The launch itself starts at 40 minutes in.
Beati Dogu said:
They're going to need a presence at Vandenberg first if they want to launch satellites for the USAF and the NRO in particular. I imagine the majority of their satellites need a polar orbit (spy & GPS satellites), which can't really be done from Florida. MIlitary comms satellite should be mostly OK. Plus they'll need another recovery ship for the Pacific.
I think the role that Blue Origin is pitching the New Glenn at for NRO/USAF is GTO and direct to GEO missions.These currently require Delta IV Heavy, for the direct GEO mission Falcon Heavy may even have to expend its central core. These missions would fly from Cape Canaveral.
The polar orbits are probably possible with a Falcon 9 expendable though possibly payloads in class C won't fit under a standard SpaceX fairing, they have mentioned that the HEavy may carry a longer fairing if required but you'd have to pay the cost of it for one mission.
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