Tag: Blue Origin
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How America fell behind China in the lunar space race—and how it can catch back up
For the last month, NASA’s interim administrator, Sean Duffy, has been giving interviews and speeches around the world, offering a singular message: “We are going to beat the Chinese to the Moon.” This is certainly what the president who appointed Duffy to the NASA post wants to hear. Unfortunately, there is a very good chance…
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Blue Origin and its partners in Luxembourg unveil Project Oasis to map lunar resources
An artist’s conception shows the Oasis-1 satellite mapping water ice deposits on the moon. (Blue Origin Illustration) Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture says it’s working with partners in Luxembourg on a campaign called Project Oasis, which aims to identify and take advantage of valuable resources on the moon. The project’s first mission, known as…
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Blue Origin reportedly plans to expand New Shepard suborbital space fleet and launch facilities
Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket ship lifts off for an suborbital trip in April. (Blue Origin Photo) The executive in charge of Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital space program has laid out plans to scale up the operation for weekly launches — and says the company is looking into setting up a second launch site,…
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The space race is tightening up for Blue Origin and SpaceX, and for America and China
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have both celebrated space victories, but they’ve also faced setbacks. (Musk at left: GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota, 2020. Bezos at right: Blue Origin Photo, 2021) Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture has only just begun to launch a heavy-lift rocket that was a decade in the making — its orbital-class New Glenn launch vehicle, which…
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SpaceX, Blue Origin, Stoke, and others make major progress on Cape launch facilities
The two spaceport launch facilities in the Cape Canaveral area — NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and the U.S. Space Force’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) — are on the verge of even bigger changes than have been seen in the last few years. In a recent flyover of the Cape, NSF obtained new…
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Blue Origin Wins NASA Contract to Deliver VIPER Rover to Lunar South Pole
The United States’ space agency NASA has awarded Blue Origin a contract worth about $190 million to deliver its VIPER rover to the lunar surface, giving new life to a mission previously shelved due to cost overruns and delays. Under the award, Blue Origin will transport the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) aboard its…
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NASA puts in an order with Blue Origin to work on sending VIPER rover to moon’s south pole
An artist’s conception shows NASA’s VIPER rover and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon MK1 lander on the lunar surface. (Blue Origin Illustration) NASA has selected Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture to help it resurrect a mission to send a robotic prospector to the moon’s south polar region. Kent, Wash.-based Blue Origin will be tasked with…
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Launch Roundup: Starlink, NRO, and New Shepard missions
Another busy week of launches has arrived, with SpaceX dominating the launch manifest with four missions for the week. Three of these missions saw new batches of Starlink internet satellites launched into the company’s Starlink constellation, with the fourth mission launching a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. Blue Origin finally launched its uncrewed NS-35…
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How AI and other trends in technology are starting to supercharge the space industry
The first mission for Blue Origin’s Blue Ring orbital maneuvering vehicle, scheduled for next year, serves as an example of multiple trends driving progress in the space industry. (Blue Origin Illustration) Artificial intelligence and other technological trends are smoothing the way for commercial space ventures ranging from multibillion-dollar companies to a new wave of startups.…
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Former NASA Boss Bridenstine: US “Highly Unlikely” to Land on Moon Before China
In a pointed testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine expressed deep concerns about the complexity and feasibility of NASA’s Artemis program, warning that the United States is “highly unlikely” to land astronauts on the Moon before China due to challenges with orbital refueling and an…