Blue Origin

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Emre Kelly‏Подлинная учетная запись @EmreKelly 32 мин. назад

Updated commercial crew slide from KSC Director Cabana's presentation today; appears to be as expected. Uncrewed Boeing and SpaceX flights in August, crewed in November and December, respectively. More details in photo.

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ǝdward ǝllǝgood‏ @FLSPACErePORT 1 ч. назад

A photo showing the recent status of Blue Origin's launch site construction at LC-36.

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/04/13/blue-origins-orbital-rocket-in-the-running-to-receive-u-s-military-investment/

Blue Origin's orbital rocket in the running to receive U.S. military investment
April 13, 2018 | Stephen Clark


Artist's concept of the two-stage version of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket. Credit: Blue Origin

Blue Origin submitted a proposal late last year in what's expected to be a four-way competition for U.S. Air Force funding to support development of new orbital-class rockets, a further step taken by the Jeff Bezos-owned company to break into the military launch market, industry officials said.

The proposal, confirmed by two space industry sources, puts Blue Origin up against SpaceX, Orbital ATK and United Launch Alliance, which could use Blue Origin's BE-4 engine to power its next-generation Vulcan rocket.

Blue Origin received funding in an earlier phase of the Air Force's initiative to help companies develop new liquid-fueled U.S.-built booster engines in a bid to end the military's reliance on the Russian RD-180 powerplant, which drives the first stage of ULA's Atlas 5 rocket.

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The Air Force's money supported development of the BE-4 engine, which was designed with private money, and is still primarily a privately-funded program. The Pentagon funding announced in early 2016 for the BE-4 program was directly awarded to ULA, which routed the money to Blue Origin's engine program.

SpaceX, Orbital ATK and Aerojet Rocketdyne also received Air Force funding in 2016 for propulsion work.

SpaceX used the Air Force money for its methane-fueled Raptor engine, which will power the company's next-generation super-heavy BFR launcher. Orbital ATK is developing its own launcher for national security missions, which would use solid-fueled rocket motors for the initial boost into space, then use a hydrogen-fueled upper stage for orbital injection. Aerojet Rocketdyne's AR1 engine is a backup option for ULA's new Vulcan rocket.

The Atlas 5 currently launches the bulk of the U.S. government's national security payloads. The basic, medium-lift versions of ULA's Delta 4 rocket are being retired next year, and the powerful Delta 4-Heavy configuration will remain in service until at least the early 2020s for military missions that require that rocket's capability.

The Air Force plans to award at least three of the companies a tranche of government funding this summer. Each launch provider will be required to supply their own multimillion-dollar investment fr om internal funds.

In late 2019, the Air Force is expected to sel ect two companies to proceed into the final phase of the public-private partnership, which will include procurement of launch services for military payloads.

The Air Force wants two certified launch providers that primarily use U.S.-built propulsion systems, giving the military assured access to space for its most critical communications, reconnaissance, navigation and early warning satellites. ULA's two rocket families and SpaceX's Falcon 9 launcher are currently certified for such missions.


Blue Origin's rocket factory near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now

But the Delta 4 rocket is nearing retirement due to its high cost, and the Atlas 5 uses a Russian main engine. ULA says its Vulcan rocket, which could eventually fly with reusable main engines, will be less expensive and more capable than the Delta 4 and Atlas 5.

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy could be certified for national security payloads as soon as 2019, once it completes additional missions and Air Force engineering reviews following its successful maiden test flight Feb. 6.

The Launch Services Agreements the Air Force is expected to award this summer will transition the military's investment from rocket propulsion to entire launchers, and the competition pits ULA against two of its prospective Vulcan suppliers: Blue Origin and Orbital ATK.

Bankrolled by Bezos's Amazon.com fortune, Blue Origin is developing the New Glenn rocket, a satellite launcher the company says could be ready for its first test flight by the end of 2020. There will be two versions of the New Glenn: a two-stage configuration for most satellite delivery missions, and a three-stage launcher for deep space missions.

Both configurations will employ the same reusable first stage booster, with seven BE-4 engines burning a mixture of liquified natural gas and liquid oxygen. The first stage will produce 3.85 million pounds of thrust will all seven engines at full throttle, then detach a few minutes after liftoff to return to Earth, landing on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean for reuse.

The BE-4 engine began hotfire testing at Blue Origin's test site in West Texas in October.

The New Glenn's second stage was originally designed with a single restartable vacuum-rated version of the BE-4 engine called the BE-4U. But Space News reported last month that Blue Origin has changed the design, and the New Glenn's second stage will instead use two BE-3U engines, a modified version of the hydrogen-fueled BE-3 engine that flies on the company's suborbital New Shepard booster.

The change simplifies the New Glenn design, meaning Blue Origin will only have to develop two types of engines for the rocket, not three.

The BE-3 engine produces 110,000 pounds of thrust, less than the 550,000 pounds of thrust generated by a BE-4 engine. But the BE-3 has a higher specific impulse, a measure of fuel efficiency, according to Space News.

The two-stage version of the New Glenn will meet all of the Air Force's launch requirements, capable of lifting the prescribed payload mass to a range of orbits specified by the military's procurement documents, Space News reported.

A BE-3U engine will also power the third stage of the New Glenn's deep space configuration.


Artist's concept of the New Glenn's flight profile. Credit: Blue Origin

Blue Origin also updated the New Glenn's design last year, opting to place a 7-meter (23-foot) diameter payload shroud on top of the rocket beginning with the rocket's inaugural launch. Officials originally planned a 5-meter (16-foot) fairing for the New Glenn's initial missions.

Officials said the wide payload envelope will allow the New Glenn to launch larger numbers of satellites in one go for commercial mega-constellations. Scientists see potential for the New Glenn to haul up telescopes with bigger mirrors.

Still nearly three years from its first flight, the New Glenn rocket, named for former astronaut John Glenn, has secured launch contracts from several commercial satellite companies, including OneWeb, Eutelsat and SKY Perfect JSAT Corp.

The New Glenn rocket will be manufactured and assembled in Blue Origin's new factory just outside the gates of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, wh ere the launcher's propellant tanks, structures and payload fairing will be produced. Blue Origin plans to base its engine manufacturing facility, currently at the company's Kent, Washington, headquarters, in Huntsville, Alabama.

Blue Origin is building its New Glenn launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The New Glenn will blast off from Launch Complex 36, the former home of the Atlas-Centaur rocket.

The company has no current plans for a West Coast launch site for polar orbit missions.

Payloads heading into polar orbit, such as OneWeb's communications satellites, could be launched fr om Cape Canaveral, then steered into polar orbit while avoiding taking a flight path over land.

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Jeff Foust‏ @jeff_foust 16 мин. назад

An FAA temporary flight restriction suggests Blue Origin will be conducting another New Shepard suborbital test flight as soon as tomorrow: http://bit.ly/2qQjhIG 

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NOTAM (на 24.04.2018 )

KZAB

FDC 8/3909 - NM..AIRSPACE VAN HORN,TX..TEMPORARY FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS WI AN AREA DEFINED AS 3NM RADIUS OF (312522N/1044525W) OR (SALT FLAT VORTAC SFL127026) SFC-8000FT TO PROVIDE A SAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR A ROCKET LAUNCH AND RECOVERY PURSUANT TO 14 CFR SECTION 91.143. AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS ARE PROHIBITED IN THIS AIRSPACE UNLESS AUTHORIZED BY ATC. BLUE ORIGIN LLC, BRET GRIFFIN, TELEPHONE 281-898-2464 IS IN CHARGE OF THE OPERATION. ALBUQUERQUE /ZAB/ ARTCC TELEPHONE 505-856-4500 IS THE FAA COORDINATION FACILITY. DLY 1330-2000. 24 APR 13:30 2018 UNTIL 27 APR 20:00 2018. CREATED: 23 APR 14:40 2018

Окно: 13:30 - 20:00 UTC 24.04.2018
Резервные дни: 25 - 27 апреля с.г.

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Jeff Bezos‏Подлинная учетная запись @JeffBezos 31 мин. назад

Launch preparations are underway for New Shepard's 8th test flight, as we continue our progress toward human spaceflight. Currently targeting Sunday 4/29 with launch window opening up at 830am CDT. Livestream info to come. @BlueOrigin #GradatimFerociter

13:30 UTC 29.04.2018

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NOTAM (на 29.04.2018 )

KZAB

FDC 8/6711 - NM..AIRSPACE VAN HORN,TX..TEMPORARY FLIGHT
RESTRICTIONS WI AN AREA DEFINED AS 25NM RADIUS OF
(312706N1044546W) OR (SALT FLAT VORTAC SFL125024) SFC-UNL TO
PROVIDE A SAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR ROCKET LAUNCH AND RECOVERY
PURSUANT TO 14 CFR SECTION 91.143. AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS ARE
PROHIBITED IN THIS AIRSPACE UNLESS AUTHORIZED BY ATC. BLUE ORIGIN
LLC, BRETT GRIFFIN, TELEPHONE 281-898-2464 IS IN CHARGE OF THE
OPERATION. ALBUQUERQUE /ZAB/ ARTCC TELEPHONE 505-856-4500 IS THE FAA
COORDINATION FACILITY. DLY 1330-2000. 29 APR 13:30 2018 UNTIL 02 MAY 20:00 2018.
 CREATED: 27 APR 15:03 2018

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/04/27/blue-origin-preps-for-suborbital-test-flight-sunday/

Blue Origin preps for suborbital test flight Sunday
April 27, 2018 | Stephen Clark


File photo of a previous New Shepard launch. Credit: Blue Origin

Blue Origin plans its next suborbital test launch Sunday from the company's sprawling development complex in West Texas, the company's owner Jeff Bezos announced Friday.

The single-stage New Shepard rocket has a launch window that opens at 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT; 8:30 a.m. CDT).

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"Launch preparations are underway for New Shepard's 8th test flight, as we continue our progress toward human spaceflight," Bezos tweeted.

The reusable New Shepard booster is expected to send Blue Origin's crew capsule, which will carry research experiments and not passengers on Sunday's test, to the edge of space, an internationally-recognized boundary around 62 miles (100 kilometers) above Earth. The crew capsule is expected to separate from the rocket once its main engine cuts off, then descend back to the ground under parachutes.

Meanwhile, the New Shepard booster itself will plunge back to Earth before deploying a drag brake, reigniting its hydrogen-fueled BE-3 engine, and extending landing legs for a gentle vertical touchdown on a concrete landing pad.

That's assuming the flight plan mirrors the trajectory of past New Shepard test launches.

A temporary flight restriction issued by the Federal Aviation Administration covering Blue Origin's test site, located north of Van Horn, Texas, is valid from 9:30 a.m. EDT through 4 p.m. EDT (8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. CDT) Sunday to "provide a safe environment for rocket launch and recovery."

The flight restriction also covers possible launch windows each day through Wednesday.

Blue Origin will webcast the test flight live, and the video will be available on this page.

Sunday's test flight is expected to reuse the same New Shepard booster that made its first launch in December.

The rocket flown Dec. 13 is Blue Origin's third New Shepard vehicle. The first New Shepard model was lost on a landing attempt in April 2015, and Blue Origin retired the second unit after it made five successful suborbital hops.

The December test flight also debuted Blue Origin's upgraded crew capsule, which features large windows to offer passengers spectacular views on their trips to space and back.

Blue Origin did not provide a live video stream of the Dec. 13 test flight, after conducting live webcasts of the previous two New Shepard demo missions in 2016.

The company hopes to be ready to fly people on New Shepard test flights by the end of the year, followed by the start of commercial space tourism service in 2019.

But Blue Origin is already offering rides for government and commercial research payloads, and more experiments will be aboard the unpiloted crew capsule Sunday.

"These payloads represent a range of users, from NASA's Johnson Space Center to a small commercial communications firm, as well as our first European customers, funded by the German national space agency, DLR," Blue Origin said. "Each of the payloads has been outfitted with a custom Blue Origin Payload Locker to provide structural, power, and data interfaces throughout the flight."

The NASA payload includes sensors to measure the environment -- carbon dioxide levels, pressure, acceleration and acoustics -- inside the crew capsule's cabin, and test components for the space agency's Orion spacecraft. A commercial New Mexico-based communications company named Solstar is flying a tech demo to test the concept of providing Wi-Fi access to in-space users, according to Blue Origin.

Three experiments in biology and physics from German universities and research institutes will also fly Sunday, Blue Origin said.

The New Shepard suborbital vehicle is a stepping stone to Blue Origin's larger orbital-class New Glenn rocket, which the company says could make its first test flight from Cape Canaveral by the end of 2010.

Blue Origin engineers are testing a more powerful rocket engine, the BE-4 fed by liquified natural gas, for the New Glenn launcher. The company also hopes to sell BE-4 engines to United Launch Alliance for the next-generation Vulcan rocket.

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NanoRacks‏Подлинная учетная запись @NanoRacks 24 ч. назад

We're thrilled to have the NanoRacks team with @BlueOrigin in West Texas again, preparing and integrating payloads for this weekend's #NewShepard launch #GradatimFerociter

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https://www.blueorigin.com/news/news/payload-customers-on-new-shepards-8th-test-flight

Apr 27, 2018
PAYLOAD CUSTOMERS ON NEW SHEPARD'S 8TH TEST FLIGHT

Mission 8 welcomes our second round of commercial payloads on board New Shepard for in-space science and technology demonstrations. These payloads represent a range of users, from NASA's Johnson Space Center to a small commercial communications firm, as well as our first European customers, funded by the German national space agency, DLR. Each of the payloads has been outfitted with a custom Blue Origin Payload Locker to provide structural, power, and data interfaces throughout the flight.

Below are some of the payload customers that are flying with us on Mission 8:

Suborbital Flight Experiment Monitor-2 (SFEM-2)

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NASA Johnson Space Center (Houston, Texas)

NASA's Suborbital Flight Experiment Monitor-2, or SFEM-2, was designed to characterize payload test environments in support of the NASA Flight Opportunities program and other payload initiatives. The sensor suite collects cabin environmental data (CO2, pressure, acceleration, acoustics) and also tests components for future flights on NASA's Orion capsule.

Schmitt Space Communicator (SC-1x)

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Solstar (Santa Fe, NM), developed with private funding

The Schmitt Space Communicator, named after Solstar advisor and Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, is a technology demo to test the concept of providing commercial Wi-Fi access to in-space users. This flight test is being conducted with support from NASA's Flight Opportunities Program.

Daphnia

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University of Bayreuth with ZARM (The Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity at the University of Bremen) and funding from German space agency, DLR

The Daphnia experiment investigates the effects of microgravity on gene expression and the cytoskeleton of daphnia water fleas. This small invertebrate species is popular in design of future bioregenerative life support systems for human space exploration.

EQUIPAGE

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Otto von Guericke University (Magdeburg, Germany) with ZARM (The Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity at the University of Bremen) and funding from German space agency, DLR

EQUIPAGE studies the motion of macroscopic rod shaped grains to validate physics models of these systems under microgravity conditions. Such "granular gases" allow researchers to study a unique state far from equilibrium and not possible in normal Earth environments.

EUPHORIE

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University of Duisburg-Essen with ZARM (The Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity at the University of Bremen) and funding from German space agency, DLR

EUPHORIE uses a laser to examine the phenomenon of photophoresis, the interaction of light on solid particles suspended in a gas. As the laser heats one side of such particles, it warms nearby gas molecules and accelerates the particle towards its cooler side. This research has applications to the study of early solar system evolution and meteorite formation.

For more information on our payloads program, please visit https://www.blueorigin.com/payloads/.

-Gradatim Ferociter!

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Blue Origin‏Подлинная учетная запись @blueorigin 36 мин. назад

Current liftoff target for New Shepard's 8th test flight is 845am CDT tomorrow, 4/29.

Livestream starts at T-15 mins on http://www.blueorigin.com 

Пуск - 13:45 UTC
Трансляция - 13:30 UTC

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Blue Origin‏Подлинная учетная запись @blueorigin 40 мин. назад

Mannequin Skywalker is ready for his 2nd mission on board New Shepard. He's a little sensitive about being called a "dummy", as he will be conducting astronaut telemetry and science studies - a very important job!

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Blue Origin‏Подлинная учетная запись @blueorigin 7 ч. назад

Thunderstorms earlier this morning in West Texas. New liftoff target is 10:15 a.m. CDT, 15:15 UTC for New Shepard's 8th test flight. Livestream starts at T-15 minutes on http://www.blueorigin.com 


4 ч. назад

Mission 8 liftoff target now NET 11:13 a.m. CDT, 16:13 UTC.

3 ч. назад

Mission 8 liftoff target now NET 11:42 a.m. CDT, 16:42 UTC. Livestream begins at T-15 mins before liftoff. Head to http://www.blueorigin.com  to watch.

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Трансляция Blue Origin

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ПУСК!

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