MESSAGE
| DATE | 2015-11-25 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout-NYLXS] private reusable rocket is a success
|
http://www.popsci.com/blue-origin-beats-spacex-in-landing-reusable-rocket?src=SOC&dom=fb
Space
Blue Origin Beats SpaceX In Landing Reusable Rocket
Touch down!
By Sarah Fecht posted Nov 24th, 2015 at 9:10am
In an historic first, the private company founded by Amazon co-founder
Jeff Bezos has become the first to land a reuseable rocket that's
traveled to and from space.
On November 23, 2015, Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket launched 330,000
feet into the air. An unmanned crew capsule separated from the rocket on
its way up, completing its own successful landing. Then the rocket
grazed the lower reaches of space before returning to Earth and slowly
touching down in a blaze of glory.
The company attempted a similar landing in April, but hydraulic problems
prevented the rocket from achieving its vertical landing. Yesterday's
achievement brings the industry closer to reusable--and hopefully
cheaper--spaceflight.
Blue Origin competitor SpaceX has been attempting similar landings with
its Falcon 9 rocket (on floating landing pads in the Atlantic Ocean),
but it hasn’t quite managed to stick its landing yet. SpaceX CEO Elon
Musk took to Twitter early this morning to congratulate Blue Origin for
succeeding in its vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) test, but would
like to point out that the rockets aren’t quite going high enough, or
fast enough, to compete with his own company:
While the New Shepard rocket is designed to reach sub-orbital space,
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 can get into orbital space--to deliver cargo shipments
to the International Space Station, for instance-- which it has done on
several occasions. SpaceX also just last week received the
second-in-history order from NASA for a private company to carry
astronauts to the ISS in 2017 (the first was Boeing). New Shepard isn't
quite there—yet.
Up until now, all rockets have been designed for one-time use: spent
rockets return to Earth by splashing into the ocean, never to return
from the dark and watery depths. SpaceX and Blue Origin say that by
reusing spent rockets, Americans can save a bundle on getting to and
from space. And the first step to reusing a rocket is to get it safely
back to Earth without drowning in the ocean.
SpaceNews reports that yesterday’s historic landing means Blue Origin is
on track to begin launching research payloads in the middle of 2016, to
be followed later by crewed flights.
New Shephard was a Best of What's New award-winner this year in the
December 2015 issue of Popular Science.
Correction 11/24/2015 at 10am: The original version of this article
misstated the height of the launch.
Tags:
blue origin
jeff bezos
reusable rockets
rocket landings
SpaceX
Space
rocket science
rocket landing
vtol
vertical takeoff and landing
_______________________________________________
hangout mailing list
hangout-at-nylxs.com
http://www.nylxs.com/
|
|
