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New Glenn & BE-4 (videos)
Hello All,
This video (see: www.blueorigin.com/#youtubeZUV53Nn3PhA ) of Blue Origin's www.blueorigin.com latest New Shepard flight today also includes video footage of their New Glenn orbital vehicle (including their SLC-36 launch pad at the Cape, their rocket factory just 8 miles from the pad, static firings of its BE-4 methalox [LOX/LNG] rocket engine, and CGI video of a New Glenn ascent and landing). It also discusses features and procedures that Blue Origin is employing, which will enable more frequent launches and quicker first stage turn-arounds between flights. These include the following: Their launch control center is inside their rocket factory building (in one corner), eight miles from SLC-36. This will streamline pre-launch and launch operations, and the distance between the building and the launch pad will also be safe for larger, future vehicles. New Glenn's first stage will land on a moving ship rather than on a barge; this will enable flights--and stable first stage touchdowns--to occur on days with a rougher sea surface state than SpaceX's barges can accommodate, and the landing ship can compensate for greater winds, which will relieve the first stage from having to burn more landing reserve propellant to compensate for wind changes, and: I do not prefer Blue Origin over SpaceX (or vice-versa), and neither do I root for any company over another, in the space field or in any other field (I only oppose industry consolidation that creeps toward a trust [monopoly] state of affairs, because this reduces competition and blunts innovation--but that's what the anti-trust laws are for). I want to see a healthy, vigorous, competitive space industry, and the competition between Blue Origin and SpaceX (and the others--even little Rocket Lab will snag some of SpaceX's CubeSat "hitch-hiker" customers, by being able to deliver to their desired orbits when they want to fly) will force all of them to be better companies that deliver better products and services, which will lower the prices their customers must pay. Only by this route can we ever achieve the truly routine, commercial space travel that Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke, and Heinlein advocated.
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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511 All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com. NAR #54895 SR |
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Interesting stuff. Thanks for posting that. While New Shepard has applications in the space tourism market, it appears to be more of a testbed for the technologies needed for New Glenn and future rockets. It will be New Glenn that will put Blue Origin in the forefront of the commercial and military payload market, where the profitability lies. Bigger than the Falcon Heavy and almost as tall as the Saturn V, the reusability of its' booster section should dramatically lower the cost of access to space. Although if I'm a space tourist I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable flying a booster on its' 100th flight! BTW what happened to New Grissom?
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Quote:
Recovering and reusing what is by far New Glenn's largest component should bring the recurring costs way down. Regarding riding on a rocket during its 100th flight, that is the main reason behind their gradual ("Gradatim Ferociter!") pace. They're interested in implementing (as they did on Sunday's test flight) and perfecting all of the little details that will make their rockets much more like airliners, where quick turn-arounds--with the help of health-monitoring systems--will become a reality. Their vehicles are designed so that the engines (like on SpaceX's rockets) aren't pushed to their pressure, temperature, and thrust limits. Their goal is literally "launch-land-checkout-refuel-relaunch" in quick succession, like turning around a jetliner in at most a few hours (using multiple vehicles will enable a faster launch-and-landing tempo). Regarding New Grissom: The "official version" may be that each vehicle is named after the first American astronaut to fly suborbital and orbital missions, while the actual reason--or part of it--may be that there's no New Grissom for the same reason that most tall buildings have no 13th floor. :-)
__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050 http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511 All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com. NAR #54895 SR |
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