{"id":17099,"date":"2025-08-05T20:43:32","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T12:43:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/blue-origin-and-five-other-companies-study-how-orbital-transfer-vehicles-can-aid-nasa\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T20:43:32","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T12:43:32","slug":"blue-origin-and-five-other-companies-study-how-orbital-transfer-vehicles-can-aid-nasa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/blue-origin-and-five-other-companies-study-how-orbital-transfer-vehicles-can-aid-nasa\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Origin and five other companies study how orbital transfer vehicles can aid NASA"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"354\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/250805-bluering-630x354.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-884477\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/250805-bluering-630x354.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/250805-bluering-1260x709.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/250805-bluering-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/250805-bluering.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"wp-element-caption\">An artist\u2019s conception shows the Blue Ring space platform in orbit. (Blue Origin Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture is among six companies that will be producing studies for NASA looking at low-cost ways to use orbital transfer vehicles to deliver spacecraft to hard-to-reach orbits for the space agency.<\/p>\n<p>The awards will support nine studies in all, with a maximum total value of about $1.4 million, NASA said today.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith the increasing maturity of commercial space delivery capabilities, we\u2019re asking companies to demonstrate how they can meet NASA\u2019s need for multi-spacecraft and multi-orbit delivery to difficult-to-reach orbits beyond current launch service offerings,\u201d Joe Dant, orbital transfer vehicle strategic initiative owner for the Launch Services Program at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center, said in a news release. \u201cThis will increase unique science capability and lower the agency\u2019s overall mission costs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Blue Origin will conduct two studies \u2014 one that focuses on potential NASA applications for its Blue Ring multi-mission space mobility platform, and another that focuses on how the upper stage of its New Glenn rocket could be used.<\/p>\n<p>The first New Glenn launch sent a test payload for the Blue Ring program into orbit in January. The second New Glenn launch is due to put twin orbiters on a path to Mars for NASA\u2019s ESCAPADE mission later this year. Blue Origin\u2019s first full-scale Blue Ring spacecraft is currently scheduled for launch in 2026, with Scout Space\u2019s Owl space domain sensors among the payloads.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Blue Ring Pathfinder\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nrAGGV-hpVM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The other companies involved in NASA\u2019s studies are:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Texas-based <strong>Arrow Science and Technology<\/strong>, which will partner with Quantum Space to study applications for Quantum\u2019s Ranger spacecraft.<\/li>\n<li>Texas-based <strong>Firefly Aerospace<\/strong>, which will focus on potential uses for its line of Elytra orbital vehicles. Firefly acquired Seattle-based Spaceflight Inc. in 2023, and its Elytra vehicles draw upon the heritage of Spaceflight\u2019s Sherpa vehicles.<\/li>\n<li>California-based <strong>Impulse Space<\/strong>, which will produce two studies focusing on its highly maneuverable Mira spacecraft and its high-energy Helios kick stage.<\/li>\n<li>California-based <strong>Rocket Lab USA<\/strong>, with one study focusing on the upper stage of its Neutron rocket, and the other focusing on a long-life orbital transfer vehicle based on its Explorer spacecraft.<\/li>\n<li>Colorado-based <strong>United Launch Alliance<\/strong>, which will assess the cislunar mission capabilities of an extended-duration Centaur V upper stage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The studies are due to be complete by mid-September, and NASA will incorporate the findings into its plans for future space missions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An artist\u2019s conception shows the Blue Ring space platform in orbit. (Blue Origin Illustration) Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture is among six companies that will be producing studies for NASA looking at low-cost ways to use orbital transfer vehicles to deliver spacecraft to hard-to-reach orbits for the space agency. The awards will support nine [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17099"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17099\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}