In a hold at the moment. 10:45 to go.

This is the final test flight before they carry people.

No jokes about the shape of the rocket please. That would be naughty.

Edited April 14, 20215 yr by martin-w

Countdown resumed!

Nicely done! Blue Origin seems to be making a lot of progress in their efforts!

The Blue Origin programme does come across as a serious and understated bit of scientific endeavour.

I enjoyed the 5 minutes from 4:20 running through the quick history of the launches: a series of "aggressive steps" that just worked.

Can't help but think it's a somewhat better approach than "Let's see if THIS one will work" currently employed by SpaceX. Elon Musk is neither an engineer nor a rocket scientist. But as The Boss he is pressuring those that are, into a path they might otherwise not prefer to follow.   

13 hours ago, WingZ said:

Can't help but think it's a somewhat better approach than "Let's see if THIS one will work" currently employed by SpaceX.

 

SpaceX are miles ahead though. They have launched craft to the ISS countless times and even sent manned Crew Dragon craft. Falcon boosters land time and time a gain with success. Starship is also making phenomenal progress. And by June is expected to be in orbit. The rate at which they can manufacture a new Starship prototype is astonishing. As soon as one has  landed (or exploded) there's a new one about to roll to the pad. This is achieved with unlimited funding, simple construction process and iterative design. 

Don't forget, all rocket development has an "explosive" history. The difference is you don't usually see it. With SpaceX they let you see it all. "Warts and all" as Musk puts it. You get to see the failures that we don't normally see with rocket development. 

In addition, its not just "see if it will work" there are countless talented engineers making important tweaks to the design after each test. No different to Blue Origin but much faster. 

Blue Origin on the other hand have achieved very little. The test you saw in the video is very modest in its ambition. Its designed to take a few people, just about above the Carmen line and then back to the ground. A few minutes in the air, barely into space, just for paying customers to briefly experience space. There is new Glen of course which is meant to be more ambitious and compete with SpaceX but its a very long way from being a reality. Don't expect a New Glen test flight before 2023. 

 

13 hours ago, WingZ said:

Elon Musk is neither an engineer nor a rocket scientist.

 

No degree in engineering but attended a material science and energy physics PhD course I recall. But then again, there were many "engineers" without formal engineering qualifications that got us to the Moon. 

 

13 hours ago, WingZ said:

The Boss he is pressuring those that are, into a path they might otherwise not prefer to follow.   

 

Nope, I would disagree with that. Again, the progress so far has been astonishing. I'm pretty sue that the talented engineers who are being given a free reign and almost unlimited funding are loving the experience. 

 

The video below does a great job of highlighting the worrying lack of progress form Blue Origin and how the time line for New Glen keeps being pushed back and back. Very little progress in 20 years.

 

 

Edited April 16, 20215 yr by martin-w

Another easy ride for Mannequin Skywalker, but I think that Blue Origin need a better understanding of the Force if they want to get anywhere near SpaceX.

1 hour ago, Christopher Low said:

Another easy ride for Mannequin Skywalker, but I think that Blue Origin need a better understanding of the Force if they want to get anywhere near SpaceX.

 

🤣👍

 

It was so funny you get FOUR cat awards.

😼😼😼😼

 

 

Edited April 16, 20215 yr by martin-w

On 4/14/2021 at 12:25 PM, martin-w said:

No jokes about the shape of the rocket please. That would be naughty.

Ohhhhhh, that's no fun.  The only thing as funny as fart jokes would be phallus jokes.😆

30 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

Another easy ride for Mannequin Skywalker

That's too funny!  LOL!

29 minutes ago, stans said:

Ohhhhhh, that's no fun.  The only thing as funny as fart jokes would be phallus jokes.😆

 

Just look at the shape of the Blue Origin rocket... I'll say no more. 

17 hours ago, WingZ said:

But as The Boss he is pressuring those that are, into a path they might otherwise not prefer to follow. 

Speaking of pressuring the engineering team:

Quote

This would have represented a more incremental step for a launch company that has yet to put a gram of material into orbit. But instead of offering a waypoint between New Shepard and a massive orbital rocket, Bezos ultimately opted to jump right to the massive, 313-foot-tall version. "It's like if NASA had gone straight from Alan Shepard to the Saturn V rocket, but then also had to make the Saturn V reusable," one former Blue Origin employee said.

Instead of crawl-walk-run, Bezos asked his engineering team to begin sprinting toward the launch pad. The engineering challenges of building such a large rocket are big enough. But because New Glenn is so expensive to build, the company needs to recover it from the outset. SpaceX enjoyed a learning curve with the Falcon 9, only successfully recovering the first stage on the rocket's 20th launch. Blue Origin engineers will be expected to bring New Glenn back safely on its very first mission.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/03/so-what-really-happened-with-blue-origins-new-glenn-rocket/

1 hour ago, goates said:

Speaking of pressuring the engineering team:

 

Well there you go, says it all. 

In essence boys and girls, we have a new space race and Bezos is playing catch-up. Hence why he's no longer hands-on with Amazon, he says he wants to focus on Blue Origin. Not surprised considering how far behind they are. 

With China and the Russians teaming up to build a Moon base, its game on. Reminds me of the TV show on Netflix, For All Mankind. 

And now SpaceX has beat out Blue Origin for NASA's lunar lander contract.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/04/16/nasa-lunar-lander-contract-spacex/?utm_source=reddit.com

18 hours ago, goates said:

And now SpaceX has beat out Blue Origin for NASA's lunar lander contract.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/04/16/nasa-lunar-lander-contract-spacex/?utm_source=reddit.com

 

The landing legs will need to be self levelling. We don't want such a tall ship standing on a rock and toppling over. Although I guess with the engines at the base the centre of gravity is low. 

And regarding the height, they will need a lift to get the astronauts all the way down to the surface. I mean it's 50 metres tall. Yikes! 

In fact the height from the surface is one reason I feared that the SpaceX ship wouldn't win the contract.