Blue Origin Aerospace (updates)

[DocM]

http://spacenews.com/blue-origin-plans-to-start-selling-suborbital-spaceflight-tickets-next-year/

 

Blue Origin expects to start flying people on its New Shepard suborbital vehicle soon and start selling tickets for commercial flights next year, a company executive said June 19.

Speaking at the Amazon Web Services Public Sector Summit here, as the keynote of a half-day track on earth and space applications, Blue Origin Senior Vice President Rob Meyerson offered a few updates on the development of the companys suborbital vehicle.

"We plan to start flying our first test passengers soon," he said after showing a video of a previous New Shepard flight at the companys West Texas test site. All of the New Shepard flights to date have been without people on board, but the company has said in the past it would fly its personnel on the vehicle in later tests.

[DocM]

Oops...this may move both New Glenn and Vulcan to the right.

 

http://spacenews.com/rl10-engine-added-to-air-force-agreement-with-aerojet-rocketdyne/

 

>

...Blue Origin’s BE-4, started hotfire tests last October. In a June 19 speech at the Amazon Web Services Public Sector Summit in Washington, Rob Meyerson, senior vice president of Blue Origin, said testing of the BE-4 was continuing with "full qualification" of the engine expected in 2019.

ULA executives have said for months that a decision on the engine it will use for Vulcan will come “soon,” but have not offered more specific timelines or other updates on the engine selection process.
>

[Blue-Vision]

Oooohhh ... something's gotten snagged somewhere if it's that far out still. I bet it's got to do with them not being able/willing to hit their thrust targets thus far.

 

Using the AR-1 might be a thing after all. Blue should already be hitting the full monty in testing by now. Fact of business they should have pushed it to failure already just to get an idea of how hard they can push the platform. If they aren't past that 63% marker that they've been stuck at by 1Q 2019, this one's as good as dead and they'll have to go with the AR-1. ULA can't wait forever.

[DocM]

Remember they had that BE-4 come unglued, so (heaven forbid!) it could be a design issue and they had to backtrack.

[Blue-Vision]

Agreed. That's the only thing, at this point, that it could be. Major design flaw(s) that needed to be addressed.

[DocM]

Higher altitude in-flight abort test

 

 

 

[DocM]

 

[Beittil]

Launch postponed an hour to 15:00 UTC.

 

 

[DocM]

Perfect!

[Blue-Vision]

Okee dokey! 

[Beittil]

Nice show. 

[DocM]

BE-3U (U = upper stage) will be the  upper stage engine for New Glenn, and it'll be available on the open market. Propellants are liquid hydrogen (LH2) and liquid oxygen (LOX.)

 

 

[Beittil]

 

 

 

Hello! 

[DocM]

Theyre planning on landing the booster while the ship is moving. It'd better not overshoot the deck.

[Blue-Vision]

Well ... it's not impossible ... hope the technology has come far enough to cope.

[flyingskippy]

I hope they take everyone off before the first attempt.....

[DocM]

New Glenn slips a year. Likely a reflection of the BE-4 engine development hell - stuck at 70%-ish thrust levels for months.

 

 

[Blue-Vision]

Ouch.  Maybe ULA choosing the BE-4 over the AR-1 wasn't the best idea in the world right now ... might be appropriate for Vulcan +1, but not currently. They needed Vulcan flying this year.

[Beittil]

 Vulcan could still fly in 2020 I guess if Blue qualifies the engine in time. It's just that Blue needs more time for their own rocket as a whole. 

 

Ow well, at least they now have $500M Air Force monies coming their way. 

 

 

[Blue-Vision]

More money isn't going to solve an Engineering problem.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Blue Origin takes their time with everything. There is no problem with the BE-4 that I have seen from an "official" source. The AR1 is way behind and was used for funding procurement only.

 

One can't mix ULA and Blue timelines.....and until I see a "Blue source", the BE-4 is in it's own progression and doing fine....rumours don't cut it here.

 

We need to stop spreading the FUD......reality may not be that exciting, but it is what it is.

[IsItPluggedIn]

Hey DD, the problem is that Blue is very quiet on what they are doing and how things are progressing. Also when they do release information it all looks very polished. This is fairly standard in the Space Industry as these businesses are not usually large on public PR.

 

With SpaceX being such a large PR machine we have been spoilt with information. Thus it is hard to stay away from rumors and "unnamed sources" with such little information. But.... we should alway preface our conjecture with the detail/facts.

 

I am excited for BO and wish they would be more open about their development, but we cant have everything. 

[Beittil]

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

21 hours ago, IsItPluggedIn said:

Hey DD, the problem is that Blue is very quiet on what they are doing and how things are progressing. Also when they do release information it all looks very polished. This is fairly standard in the Space Industry as these businesses are not usually large on public PR.

 

With SpaceX being such a large PR machine we have been spoilt with information. Thus it is hard to stay away from rumors and "unnamed sources" with such little information. But.... we should alway preface our conjecture with the detail/facts.

 

I am excited for BO and wish they would be more open about their development, but we cant have everything. 

Quite true but one can infer with activities....

 

Jeff got rich by being "money smart". As of 2016, he had invested 500 million, and put 1 billion in at the end of 2017 with another 1 billion on the way. He would not throw cash at a "problem engine". A Vandy site is also in the works now.

 

ULA made the selection a ways before the "official" release. NG slipped by releasing the GEM test data with "mounts that were not RP1. ULA is quite aware of BE-4 development as well as the Air Force. The new development awards also speak volumes...The BE-4 is fine...if anything, just the usual Blue Origin caution.

 

Even when Blue is tight lipped...others around them display info by their actions.

 

You are right...SpaceX is a "treat" for the info given, but even over the last year, the amount of data has been screened and comes with less frequency. They are a private company with no requirements to inform the general public.

 

Still fun times though....

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Quote

The Stena Freighter, Blue Origin’s new vessel docked at the Port of Pensacola. A little over 600ft long, she was quite an imposing presence up close. She is scheduled for dry dock upgrades before being delivered to Blue Origin. Photos taken for @NASASpaceflight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Will need a wider platform on top...

 

 

They have a bit of work to do, but she'll look great when done.