Blue Origin sets October 13 for first New Glenn EscaPADE to Mars
- Reference: 1724755027
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/08/27/blue_origin_sets_october_13/
- Source link:
The [1]announcement comes amid [2]reports of several recent mishaps. In one incident, part of a rocket buckled due to a pressurization problem at the launcher's hangar. In another, a tank failed unexpectedly during testing with explosive consequences.
The Register put these reports to Blue Origin, and a spokesperson told us that the company was constantly testing new hardware and configurations. "Those tests, including ones with anomalies, allow us to make our future hardware and systems more robust.
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"We are ramping our production efforts up across the board and look forward to even more flights next year."
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The good news is that none of the "anomalies" have resulted in problems with the configuration the company plans to launch no earlier than October 13. The spokesperson added: "We continue to be on track to launch New Glenn this year and all flight hardware is complete."
That said, things going bang this close to launch is a bit of a worry, and while the anomalies were not as fiery as what happened to [6]RFA's first stage at SaxaVord , nerves at Blue Origin and NASA might be be jangling. The first New Glenn is to carry a NASA smallsat mission to Mars, dubbed EscaPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers), which must be launched in a relatively tight window to reach the red planet.
[7]Rocket Factory Augsburg engine test ends in explosion at SaxaVord spaceport
[8]NASA sends 4K video from a flying plane to the ISS using lasers
[9]Blue Origin to fly another 90-year-old into outer space
[10]Sierra Space bursts full-scale inflatable space habitat module
The launch window for EscaPADE extends from October to November. A failure to get the mission heading to its destination will result in a two-year wait until Mars and Earth are aligned again to permit another try.
While a two-year delay might be a short amount of time to Blue Origin, considering that the company was founded in 2000 (SpaceX was founded in 2002) but has yet to reach orbit, failing to send EscaPADE on its way would be highly embarrassing for the Bezos-backed biz and potentially devastating for the NASA team behind the Mars mission.
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The sub-orbital lobs of the New Shepard, which are impressive, pale when compared to the scale of the New Glenn. However, that increase in scale brings its own challenges, as evidenced by the repeated delays in getting New Glenn to the launchpad. It is difficult to see how having a maiden launch with a specific window can be doing anything but asking for trouble, and reports of mishaps and anomalies this close to lighting the blue touchpaper will only fuel speculation that Blue Origin is starting to feel the pressure of that looming launch date. ®
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[1] https://x.com/blueorigin/status/1827079568470995106
[2] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-08-21/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-suffers-new-glenn-rocket-mishaps
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Zs34KLe24v-rEphUv-8FTQAAAMA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zs34KLe24v-rEphUv-8FTQAAAMA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Zs34KLe24v-rEphUv-8FTQAAAMA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/20/german_rocket_explodes_scotland/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/20/german_rocket_explodes_scotland/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/25/nasa_4k_video_iss/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/05/blue_origin_ed_dwight/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/22/sierra_space_bursts_fullscale_inflatable/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zs34KLe24v-rEphUv-8FTQAAAMA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: About time too ...
Given the circumstances you describe, wouldn't the outer giants be a better place to investigate such noisome ructions?
Re: About time too ...
My thoughts exaclty! How can anyone be so sure these suffocating winds didn't emanate from Uranus instead?! And what about the Outer Rim gas giants ... they sound suspicious?! A deeper and more penetrating investigation could reveal that the Sun is just flatulently innocent, and was wrongly accused of this most silent, but deadly, of wind breaking offenses!
> We are ramping our production efforts up across the board and look forward to even more flights next year."
Even more flights than the ZERO flights to space Jeff's BO has managed so far? Say it isn't so. How can you manage more than no flights at all?
Jeff's BO, making Boeing look successful at space. (At least they have sent a capsule to space - getting it back is a problem but it went, unlike Jeff's BO.)
Mad Hatter: Would you like a little more tea?
Alice: Well, I haven't had any yet, so I can't very well take more.
March Hare: Ah, you mean you can't very well take less.
Mad Hatter: Yes. You can always take more than nothing.
New Shepard has been to space (but not orbit) once so far this year: 2024-05-19. It is still remotely possible New Glenn will reach orbit once this year. The most obvious way for Blue to put a rocket in orbit this year is to de-stack a New Shepard and send it up in a Starship (It won't fit stacked but the capsule and rocket should fit side by side).
Everyday Astronaut
There was a recent tour of the factory by Everyday Astronaut on YouTube. I don't know how long ago it was filmed, so things could have changed in the meantime. The rocket looked a long way from ready in that film. It was just a collection of unconnected rocket parts that had been designated for the flight.
Re: Everyday Astronaut
Filmed in late May.
We still have not seen cryoproofing, wet dress rehearsal or a static test fire. Getting any of these completely right first time would be impressive. Doing all of them by mid-October means I will need to [1]bake a hat .
[1] https://www.instructables.com/edible-party-hat/
"Run, Mars, run! If you catch a case of 'the humans', your life becomes a living hell. I've been trying to get this infestation under control for nearly a thousand orbits, and it just keeps getting worse. You do NOT want to deal with this!" --Ma Nature, Earth
About time too ...
Well yes, here on Mars, we've been wondering for some time now what crawled up the Sun and died for it to pass such nasty solar winds that stripped us of our flowery atmosphere! Soluble fibers Mr Gas Giant ... pulease!
(PS: and let's hope the Blue/Gold EscaPADE twins finally shed light on this most ironic of situations, commonly encountered only in areas where the sun don't actually shine, at all!)