12/25/2022 0 Comments Blue origin flight![]() ![]() “The terrain navigation does not sit there and say, ‘Hey, I see a crater,’” Mr. The navigation system was turned on close to where the New Shepard booster reached its highest point. With this navigation system, a computer compares images taken by a camera with those stored onboard to determine its location. Because there are no global positioning system satellites orbiting the moon, a spacecraft has to rely on its own smarts to determine its exact location. That will require the ability to land close to the same spot again and again.Ī second NASA system aboard Tuesday’s launch was a test of what is known as terrain relative navigation. Unlike NASA’s Apollo missions from 1969 to 1972, which visited different parts of the moon, the space agency’s current Artemis program aims to make repeated visits near the lunar South Pole, where eternally shadowed craters contain large amounts of water ice. So it gives a little bit of a stress test for some of these sensors.” “In fact, I think we’re actually at slightly higher speeds than you would be approaching the moon. “Although not identical to a lunar lander, it is representative in that full-flight profile of approaching at a high rate of speed, and then throttling up an engine and doing a propulsive landing,” said Stefan Bieniawski, who leads the Blue Origin side of the partnership with NASA. It is part of NASA’s Tipping Point program, which seeks to push innovative technologies. Tucked under the collar at the top of the booster on Tuesday’s launch were prototypes of sensors that could help NASA astronauts safely reach the lunar surface in a few years. “We were watching across the valley and watching the rocket climb up.” ![]() “It was fantastic,” said Erika Wagner, Blue Origin’s payload sales director, who was in West Texas. ![]() And he has declared broad ambitions for its business, such as competing with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and others in the orbital launch business, building a moon lander for NASA astronauts and eventually making it possible for millions of people to live and work in space. Bezos said he was selling a billion dollars a year in Amazon stock to finance Blue Origin’s research and development. Bezos founded it in 2000 - but for most of its existence, it operated in secret without generating much revenue. One day, this will be New Shepard’s main business: flying well-to-do people above the 62-mile altitude generally considered the beginning of outer space where they will experience a few minutes of weightlessness as the capsule arcs.īlue Origin is not a new company - Mr. Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon, launched - and landed - its small New Shepard rocket and capsule for the 13th time as part of tests to verify safety before any passengers climb aboard. On Tuesday, Blue Origin, the rocket company started by Jeffrey P.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |