Jump to content

Blue Origin Thread (merged)


Aethon

Recommended Posts

Can't wait to see humans flying and telling the tale. Bet the first commercial flight will be produced like a TV show, if Bezos knows his marketing.

For the time being, they've just flown two student experiments, which will surely mean that future test flights will carry even more scientific payloads.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The same rocket that landed successfully twice before just did it a third time.

(Doh! Sorry, I didn't notice this other thread.)

1 hour ago, Streetwind said:

Can't wait to see humans flying and telling the tale. Bet the first commercial flight will be produced like a TV show, if Bezos knows his marketing.

For the time being, they've just flown two student experiments, which will surely mean that future test flights will carry even more scientific payloads.

I think their plan is to fly mixed missions with both passengers and experiments.

Edited by mikegarrison
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, mikegarrison said:

I think their plan is to fly mixed missions with both passengers and experiments.

Yeah, but humans won't fly for at least a year. Science experiments are flying now. That's what I meant to point out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, sevenperforce said:

I wonder what kind of refurbishing process they are doing between flights. That engine uses liquid hydrogen. I cannot imagine that the tank will hold up without pretty substantial repair.

I thought the New Shepard uses methane/oxygen.

Hmm. Guess not, according to wikipedia. Am I thinking of their bigger rocket?

Edited by mikegarrison
Link to comment
Share on other sites

When they say "the same rocket..." what exactly do they mean? Does anybody know?

Does that mean, just refuel and relaunch? Or is it some minor scrubbing of the nozzle? Maybe a turbopump overhaul? Engine replacement?

What amount of maintenance and part replacement is needed for the rocket to stop being "the same"?

Edited by Shpaget
Link to comment
Share on other sites

56 minutes ago, mikegarrison said:

I thought the New Shepard uses methane/oxygen.

Hmm. Guess not, according to wikipedia. Am I thinking of their bigger rocket?

New Shepard's BE-3 uses LH2 and LOX; they are under contract to build an orbital-class methalox engine for ULA or somebody. 

 

44 minutes ago, Shpaget said:

When they say "the same rocket..." what exactly do they mean? Does anybody know?

Does that mean, just refuel and relaunch? Or is it some minor scrubbing of the nozzle? Maybe a turbopump overhaul? Engine replacement?

What amount of maintenance and part replacement is needed for the rocket to stop being "the same"?

Same engine, I'm sure. Figure that the tank is probably replaced each time. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought they said they replace the chutes in the CC, and otherwise refuel and go. Tanks are not changed.

From their website about the 2d flgiht:

Quote

Data from the November mission matched our preflight predictions closely, which made preparations for today’s re-flight relatively straightforward. The team replaced the crew capsule parachutes, replaced the pyro igniters, conducted functional and avionics checkouts, and made several software improvements...

 

Edited by tater
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, Mitchz95 said:

Looks like they're going for a suicide burn ... six seconds before impact. This will be exciting. :)

Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing the slickly produced video that will no doubt appear in the next few days.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would prefer just raw video. I hate the slick stuff.

The media differences are pretty stark. It's like the Soviet Space Program vs NASA. The former only announced and showed film of success, the latter did everything in public, warts and all. I'm fine with the BO mode of less/no hype before doing anything, but I see no reason not to live stream.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, tater said:

I think they go soon, he tweeted the crew capsule is locked and read for flight... Maybe they'll fly people one of these tries.

They need to build and test a working capsule first :)

5 hours ago, sevenperforce said:

I wonder what kind of refurbishing process they are doing between flights. That engine uses liquid hydrogen. I cannot imagine that the tank will hold up without pretty substantial repair.

Which brings us to the question why so many RLVs (Shuttle (original design) VentureStar, etc) used LH2. Maybe there is a good way to mitigate the hydrogen belittlement. After all, they have to reuse tanks carrying LH2 for a rocket on the pad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, fredinno said:

They need to build and test a working capsule first

Um, how so? I'm not sure if they are reusing the same capsule for each of these flights, but I'm not sure why they wouldn't. After all, the capsule is probably easier to reuse than the rocket.

But obviously they have a capsule that can land safely. I know they have already done aborted launch tests, etc. So what are you referring to?

Edited by mikegarrison
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, mikegarrison said:

Um, how so? I'm not sure if they are reusing the same capsule for each of these flights, but I'm not sure why they wouldn't. After all, the capsule is probably easier to reuse than the rocket.

But obviously they have a capsule that can land safely. I know they have already done aborted launch tests, etc. So what are you referring to?

A capsule that is human rated, and can survive reentry and landing. I thought the capsule was just a dummy, and not an actual capsule. Maybe I'm wrong.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, fredinno said:

A capsule that is human rated, and can survive reentry and landing. I thought the capsule was just a dummy, and not an actual capsule. Maybe I'm wrong.

I don't think so. I think these are the human-rating tests for the capsule as well as the rocket. But I also might be wrong.

Edited by mikegarrison
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...