Blue Origin Press Release

tahanson43206 · 2021-06-07 05:41:24

BusinessFinancial Times
Jeff Bezos to go to space after stepping down at Amazon

Mr. Bezos is (apparently) planning to fly on his own vehicle.

If he succeeds (and survives) I would think that would be a winning round in his competition with Musk.

(th)

SpaceNut · 2021-08-09 20:30:42

https://www.blueorigin.com/blue-moon/national-team

kbd512 · 2021-08-09 23:45:15

I feel as though both the moon and Mars will eventually need an Amazon warehouse to store all the crap that people buy. Elon Musk likes Mariachi bands, and someone will need to supply the musical instruments, especially the maracas. Amazon has an app for that, too.

tahanson43206 · 2021-08-10 05:47:22

Here's an optimistic prediction .... Jeff Bezos got snubbed by NASA and he responded with a 2 Billion (USD) price drop ...

The **next** logical step is to ignore NASA and Elon Musk ...

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Mr. Bezos and company find a customer wanting to be first back on the Moon, and willing to contribute resources to make that happen. There are ** lots ** of Nations with the resources and there are a few who've already demonstrated interest in participating in the space enterprise.

A partnership with Blue Origin would make a ** lot ** of sense, since SpaceX will have it's collective hands full trying to keep up with Musk's ambitions.

(th)

Calliban · 2021-08-10 17:21:37

tahanson43206 wrote:

Here's an optimistic prediction .... Jeff Bezos got snubbed by NASA and he responded with a 2 Billion (USD) price drop ...
The **next** logical step is to ignore NASA and Elon Musk ...
I wouldn't be at all surprised if Mr. Bezos and company find a customer wanting to be first back on the Moon, and willing to contribute resources to make that happen. There are ** lots ** of Nations with the resources and there are a few who've already demonstrated interest in participating in the space enterprise.
A partnership with Blue Origin would make a ** lot ** of sense, since SpaceX will have it's collective hands full trying to keep up with Musk's ambitions.
(th)

It could happen. I wonder if ITAR would be used to scupper it?

SpaceNut · 2021-08-10 20:03:29

The engines are being developed for use on the Atlas replacement Vulcan and since these are not owned by the military they can be used in his own rocket as well the new Glenn. Its first stage is reusable, according to the hype. Its so far a cargo hauler and is in need of a true capsule top for manned missions.

Engine
Propellant
Thrust
BE - 1 Peroxide    9 kN (2,000 lbf) at Sea Level
BE - 2 Kerosene + Peroxide    140 kN (31,000 lbf) at Sea Level
BE - 3PM Liquid Hydrogen + Liquid Oxygen    490 kN (110,000 lbf) at Sea Level
BE - 3U Liquid Hydrogen + Liquid Oxygen    710 kN (160,000 lbf) in Vacuum
BE - 4 Liquefied Natural Gas + Liquid Oxygen    2,400 kN (550,000 lbf) at Sea Level
BE - 7 Liquid Hydrogen + Liquid Oxygen    40 kN (10,000 lbf) in Vacuum

Mars_B4_Moon · 2021-08-13 13:56:25

Gossip?
https://twitter.com/AstroStaab/status/1 … 9912653824

Blue Origin just not giving up on the HLS program. Says the GAO’s decision highlights issues that “will prevent the U.S. from landing on the moon” and says it is concerned about SpaceX needing 16 launches, with limited flight readiness reviews, to get Starship to the moon.

'Blue Origin doubling down this morning after release of the GAO report. There are legitimate concerns about the CONOPS for Starship, but GAO’s ruling is final. Throwing a (very) public tantrum because you didn’t get your way is not a good look.'

tahanson43206 · 2021-08-13 14:38:53

For Mars_B4_Moon re #32

Thanks for this update.

I posted earlier, and repeat now, that Blue Origin needs to find other partners and beat SpaceX (and NASA) to the Moon. China and India are working hard in the direction that may lead to their ultimate success in this arena.

(th)

Mars_B4_Moon · 2021-12-12 07:38:42

From the Space Tourism thread

SpaceNut wrote:

Alan Shepard: Bezos company sends first US astronaut's daughter to edge of space
The daughter of the first US astronaut, Alan Shepard, has blasted into space - 60 years after her father's flight.
Laura Shepard Churchley, 74, was one of six people to make the trip onboard a commercial spacecraft launched by Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space company.
Ms Shepard Churchley's father, who died in 1998, became the first American in space after his Mercury flight took off from Florida's Cape Canaveral on 5 May 1961.
It marked the first time that Blue Origin had filled all six seats on its New Shepard rocket, which is named after the eponymous astronaut.
Lasting for just over 10 minutes and reaching an altitude of around 62 miles (100km), it was five minutes and 116 miles shorter than Alan Shepard's inaugural flight.

Tory Bruno: ULA won’t get engines by Christmas, BE-4s coming in early 2022 - SpaceNews
https://spacenews.com/tory-bruno-ula-wo … arly-2022/

and of course there will be politics

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl … inois.html

Alan Shepard’s daughter, Michael Strahan launch to space
https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/12/10/a … -saturday/
Space stars: Michael Strahan, Alan Shepard’s daughter soar in Bezos rocket
https://www.wraltechwire.com/2021/12/12 … os-rocket/

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-01-02 14:10:47

Bezos' Blue Origin teams up with U.S. military 'rocket cargo' program

https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Bezo … m_999.html

Calliban · 2022-01-02 14:54:49

Mars_B4_Moon wrote:

Bezos' Blue Origin teams up with U.S. military 'rocket cargo' program
https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Bezo … m_999.html

Good for him. But does that mean that Blue Origin rockets end up being classed as a duel use (ITAR) components? A lot of people don't want to do business with the US military due to these requirements impacting any other business they have or might want to develop. Any nut or bolt used on a Blue Origin rocket will now be a duel use component. It isn't the military's fault, this was a US law that was poorly thought through. But it means that US military projects get treated as if they are dipped in shit. No one wants to deal them anymore because of the sheer ball ache of having to deal with ITAR regulations. I'm sure those regulations must have seemed like a good idea to someone at the time. Probably someone that lives in political circles and has never had to work on an engineering project. They have done a lot of damage to US domestic industry.

Last edited by Calliban (2022-01-02 14:58:44)

SpaceNut · 2022-02-01 20:52:14

Blue Origin successfully tests huge nose cone for New Glenn rocket at NASA Glenn

Blue Origin touted the first jettison test of the 7-meter-wide (23-foot-wide) fairing at Glenn Research Center’s Armstrong Test Facility Space Environments Complex in Ohio. The test was designed to ensure that the fairing would split apart cleanly to allow for payload deployment.
The complex houses the world’s largest vacuum chamber, measuring 100 feet in diameter and 122 feet in height. “It’s the only place in the world that we can test out this fairing in an environment similar to what the rocket will be seeing in space,” said Shawna Sherwood Ryan, a project manager and test conductor at Blue Origin.
Blue Origin said the test “validated acoustics, cleanliness and environments that payload customers are expecting.”
One key milestone has to do with the first-stage booster’s BE-4 rocket engines: In December, Ars Technica reported that Blue Origin wouldn’t be able to deliver BE-4 engines for United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket until the second quarter of 2022 at the earliest — which is months behind schedule.

Slow progress but its moving....

Oldfart1939 · 2022-02-02 11:02:51

I'll become more enthusiastic about BO after they deliver the BE-4 engines for ULA and they perform in flight, as advertised.

kbd512 · 2022-02-02 18:59:25

I would like to see a true Falcon 9 competitor that uses a single redesigned F-1 engine for the booster stage (possibly an aerospike design), in conjunction with a RL-10 powered upper stage. ULA wants to recover the engine(s) and dump the steel balloon propellant tanks. If that turns out to be cheaper than reusing the entire rocket, then so be it. Lowest cost wins. I couldn't help but notice that SpaceX is still using pressurized tanks of Helium or Nitrogen to maintain propellant tank pressure. The switch to CH4 fuel was supposed to eliminate the need for that, but I guess not. Maybe that's still a work in progress.

All I know is that RP-1 stores much better than any cryogen, so even if you have to de-gunk the propellant feed lines, main injector plate, injector pintles, etc, it could still end up being cheaper and easier than cryogenic fuel handling in addition to the LOX. That also provides an excuse to inspect most of the important parts of the engine. I think that will be required no matter what fuel is used. If aviation grade kerosene was refined to the same level that RP-1 is, which would have positive environmental effects, then the cost differential is probably a moot point when compared to the cost of storing a cryogenic fuel. I wonder if immediate N2 purges of the turbomachinery have ever been attempted to minimize polymerization / carbonization by blowing out the remaining fuel before it has a chance to gum up the inside of the engine.

Is it ultimately cheaper to expend paper thin steel balloon tanks for cargo vehicles while separating the engine / flight control computer for a mid-air recovery, as compared to landing the entire gigantic booster stage / hauling it back to the launch pad / refurbishing it?

If you have a robotic welding cell that can crank out new propellant tanks in a day, then that might be the appropriate compromise between fully reused and fully expended, in order to minimize marginal operating costs. At $850/t, assuming 85% of the stage mass is tankage, then the upper stage sheet steel only accounts for $1,623. That's peanuts compared to the daily salaries of all the workers. Assuming you have to continue to keep everyone employed, how much could you really save (ignoring price gouging of monopolies like ULA)? If there's a way to minimize the mass and cost of everything else attached to it, apart from the engine, then there's probably no way to make a reusable upper stage any cheaper than Centaur. If the booster only requires a single F-1 engine, then again, I want to know how much the tank manufacturing actually adds to the total launch cost.

GW Johnson · 2022-02-03 16:44:57

The Falcons burn LOX-kerosene. That's Falcon-9 and Falcon-Heavy. It is only the Starship/Superheavy that burns LOX-LCH4.

GW

SpaceNut · 2022-04-01 18:51:07

Sanders looks to shoot down Bezos’ moon plans

Senate leaders have promised Sanders a vote as soon as Thursday on a resolution urging Congress to strip a provision from a pending bill that would authorize an additional $10 billion for moon landers, calling the measure “a bailout to Jeff Bezos so that his company Blue Origin can launch a rocket ship to the moon.”
But the $10 billion, if it is subsequently appropriated by Congress, would actually be granted to NASA to choose between multiple companies — with no guarantee that Blue Origin would be the winner.

First off if you build something that does not match the RFP then you should get nothing.

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/space … nding_Tech

Since NASA chose SpaceX a year ago to build its lunar lander, Blue Origin has been lobbying Congress and NASA to open the program back up for competition. Along with fellow losing bidder Dynetics, Blue Origin formally protested the $2.9 billion award to SpaceX, and then unsuccessfully sued NASA.
Blue Origin even offered to waive a $2 billion payment from NASA for the chance to participate in the lander program.
NASA announced last week that it wants SpaceX to build a second lander and will also be releasing a new request for proposals in the coming weeks seeking other bidders.

What the reuseable lander needs another....

What was to be built from the first round
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/blue … r-concept/

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa … r-concepts

Blue Origin is already involved in smaller projects under NASA’s Artemis program to return astronauts to the moon by 2025. That includes the separate Commercial Lunar Payload Services, designing new concepts for landing on the moon known as “Appendix N” and developing sensors for landing on the moon.

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-07-26 05:17:20

Space For Humanity will send first Egyptian to space via Blue Origin

https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Spac … n_999.html

Today, Space For Humanity (S4H), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, announced its selection committee has chosen Sara Sabry to become the organization's second sponsored Citizen Astronaut. Sara will become the first Egyptian to fly to space when she flies aboard Blue Origin's NS-22 flight.
Sara, 29, is an Egyptian mechanical and biomedical engineer and founder of Deep Space Initiative (DSI), a nonprofit which aims to increase accessibility for space research. Sara became Egypt's first female analog astronaut in 2021, when she was selected to complete a two week analog Moon mission, which simulated the extreme conditions astronauts experience in Space. She will join five other crew members including Coby Cotton, Mario Ferreira, Vanessa O'Brien, Clint Kelly III, and Steve Young aboard New Shepard to experience the cognitive shift of the Overview Effect and incorporate that new found perspective into a social impact project with the support of S4H's Citizen Astronaut Program (CAP).

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-08-17 03:42:15

Blue Origin scraps original recovery ship for New Glenn boosters

https://spacenews.com/blue-origin-scrap … -boosters/

SpaceNut · 2022-08-17 19:16:58

Still waiting on engines that have not been seen yet in full application testing.

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-09-12 10:58:49

If he spent more time on his rockets, than banning people for giving bad reviews to his silly LOTR remake.

New Shepherd’s mission launch today did not go according to plan when it aborted after a "mid-flight anomaly".
https://twitter.com/IFLScience/status/1 … 8813665281

GW Johnson · 2022-09-12 13:39:14

Now, you didn't expect any of these billionaires to behave like properly-raised people, did you, Mars_B4_Moon? I cannot name a one that does, except possibly Warren Buffet. Not even Musk knows how to behave himself, not by a long shot.

Bezos's rocket had some sort of massive hydrogen leak that base-burned with air underneath the tail of his bird (nearly every shuttle launch had a base-burning hydrogen-air fire under its center tank, which is why that base was thickly-insulated with foam). That rather big fire probably destroyed plumbing or wiring (or both) on one or more of his engines, causing their loss, and the abort.

If I was assigned to investigate, that is the VERY FIRST place I would look.

I have to give him credit, the abort worked timely and well. At least his people did that right. But they certainly are not immune to hydrogen leaks. Possibly they got a bit complacent, and the size of that leak snuck up and bit them. Hydrogen is really bad about that. Some of that is written down (the "science"), and some is not (the "art").

Or it might be just that the "dumb luck" factor went against them. That's part of rocketry as well. Like all of engineering, rocket "science" ain't just science. It's about 40% science, about 50% art, and 10% blind dumb luck, and that's in production work. In development work, the art and luck percentages are higher. Much higher.

GW

Last edited by GW Johnson (2022-09-12 13:41:47)

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-09-13 06:23:27

Uncrewed Blue Origin rocket crashes in setback for space tourism

https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Uncr … m_999.html

SpaceNut · 2022-09-13 21:19:42

suborbital joy rides are not what most want.

Mars_B4_Moon · 2022-09-15 17:14:24

I seen an online social media vid commentary by a number of people, successful but also a failure, Scott Manley has a discord with thousands of members, he updates on twitter https://twitter.com/DJSnM

'Would have very likely have been safe'

Scott Manley video channel he has also other social media site

MaxQ ABORT!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoRp7nRIOpo

Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2022-09-15 17:19:12)

RGClark · 2022-09-18 02:50:05

GW Johnson wrote:

Now, you didn't expect any of these billionaires to behave like properly-raised people, did you, Mars_B4_Moon? I cannot name a one that does, except possibly Warren Buffet. Not even Musk knows how to behave himself, not by a long shot.
Bezos's rocket had some sort of massive hydrogen leak that base-burned with air underneath the tail of his bird (nearly every shuttle launch had a base-burning hydrogen-air fire under its center tank, which is why that base was thickly-insulated with foam). That rather big fire probably destroyed plumbing or wiring (or both) on one or more of his engines, causing their loss, and the abort.
If I was assigned to investigate, that is the VERY FIRST place I would look.
I have to give him credit, the abort worked timely and well. At least his people did that right. But they certainly are not immune to hydrogen leaks. Possibly they got a bit complacent, and the size of that leak snuck up and bit them. Hydrogen is really bad about that. Some of that is written down (the "science"), and some is not (the "art").
Or it might be just that the "dumb luck" factor went against them. That's part of rocketry as well. Like all of engineering, rocket "science" ain't just science. It's about 40% science, about 50% art, and 10% blind dumb luck, and that's in production work. In development work, the art and luck percentages are higher. Much higher.
GW

Why SpaceX also needs to put a escape system on the Starship.

Robert Clark

New Mars Forums

Announcement

#26 2021-06-07 05:41:24

Re: Blue Origin Press Release

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