{"id":19251,"date":"2016-09-08T23:03:52","date_gmt":"2016-09-08T15:03:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/jeff-bezos-says-next-blue-origin-spaceship-test-should-destroy-the-booster-rocket\/"},"modified":"2016-09-08T23:03:52","modified_gmt":"2016-09-08T15:03:52","slug":"jeff-bezos-says-next-blue-origin-spaceship-test-should-destroy-the-booster-rocket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/jeff-bezos-says-next-blue-origin-spaceship-test-should-destroy-the-booster-rocket\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Bezos says next Blue Origin spaceship test should destroy the booster rocket"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_273241\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-273241\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-273241\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/160908-blue-origin-anomaly-630x364.jpg\" alt=\"Blue Origin escape system\" width=\"630\" height=\"364\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/160908-blue-origin-anomaly-630x364.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/160908-blue-origin-anomaly-768x443.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/160908-blue-origin-anomaly-1240x716.jpg 1240w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/160908-blue-origin-anomaly.jpg 1523w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-273241\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artist\u2019s conception shows Blue Origin\u2019s crew capsule firing its escape rocket motor. (Credit: Blue Origin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Blue Origin, the space venture founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, has flown the same rocket booster to outer space and back four times over the past year \u2013 but the fifth&nbsp;trip, planned for October, will be that booster\u2019s last.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur next flight is going to be dramatic, no matter how it ends,\u201d Bezos said in an email.<\/p>\n<p>Bezos said the uncrewed flight will serve as a test of the New Shepard suborbital spaceship\u2019s escape system.<\/p>\n<p>About 45 seconds after New Shepard launches from Blue Origin\u2019s West Texas launch site, the capsule that\u2019s designed for cargo and crew will separate from the booster.&nbsp;This will happen at an altitude of 16,000 feet, at a point in the ascent&nbsp;known as \u201cmax-Q,\u201d or maximum dynamic pressure, when the spacecraft\u2019s structure comes under maximum stress.<\/p>\n<p>If the test proceeds according to plan, the capsule\u2019s&nbsp;\u201cpusher\u201d rocket motor will fire for two seconds, propelling the capsule away from the booster. Parachutes will deploy to slow down&nbsp;the capsule\u2019s descent, and the capsule&nbsp;will be recovered safe and sound.<\/p>\n<p>The booster will have a rougher time, which Bezos is bummed about.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019d really like to retire it after this test and put it in a museum,\u201d he said. \u201cSadly, that\u2019s not likely. This test will probably destroy the booster.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"New Shepard Capsule Escape Animation\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/N5i-f-D_A-M?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Bezos explained that the escape rocket motor\u2019s searing-hot exhaust will blast the booster with 70,000 pounds of off-axis force. That\u2019s way more than the booster was designed to withstand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNevertheless, the booster is very robust,\u201d Bezos said, \u201cand our Monte Carlo simulations show that there\u2019s some chance we can fly through these disturbances and recover the booster.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Either way, it\u2019ll be a live webcast to remember.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the booster does manage to survive this flight \u2013 its fifth \u2013 we will in fact reward it for its service with a retirement party and put it in a museum,\u201d said Bezos, perking up&nbsp;ears at Seattle\u2019s Museum of Flight.&nbsp;\u201cIn the more likely event that we end up sacrificing the booster in service of this test, it will still have most of its propellant on board at the time escape is triggered, and its impact with the desert floor will be most impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Blue Origin isn\u2019t just doing this to blow things up real good. The New Shepard\u2019s pusher escape system is an essential part of the company\u2019s safety plan. If something goes wrong during a future rocket ascent, the escape system needs to work in order to save New Shepard\u2019s passengers from disaster.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Great Day in West Texas\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5l8aQ3hQyVs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The escape system was given a&nbsp;launch pad test back in 2012, but the max-Q test will be much more challenging.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX is working on a similar escape system for its crew-capable Dragon spacecraft. SpaceX\u2019s&nbsp;system aced a launch pad test last year&nbsp;\u2013 and last week\u2019s catastrophic loss of a Falcon 9 rocket and its satellite payload in a launch pad explosion dramatically demonstrated why such a system is needed.<\/p>\n<p>Blue Origin has yet to schedule the next flight test, although Bezos said it should take place in the first part of October. The company aims to start flying test astronauts in the autonomously controlled craft next year, and start taking paying passengers aboard in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>The price of a ticket hasn\u2019t yet been set, and no reservations are being taken at this time. However, you can sign up for future updates from Bezos via Blue Origin\u2019s website.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn my next email update, I hope to give you a sneak peek of the orbital vehicle we\u2019ve been working on for the last few years,\u201d Bezos said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An artist\u2019s conception shows Blue Origin\u2019s crew capsule firing its escape rocket motor. (Credit: Blue Origin) Blue Origin, the space venture founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, has flown the same rocket booster to outer space and back four times over the past year \u2013 but the fifth&nbsp;trip, planned for October, will be that booster\u2019s [&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":[509,291,1046,1250],"class_list":["post-19251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-blue-origin","tag-commercial-space","tag-jeff-bezos","tag-new-shepard"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19251"}],"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=19251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19251\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}