Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and NASA plan to create a moon-like gravity in the New Shepard rocket, rotating it 11 times a minute during the flight to test the payloads set for the Artemis mission.
- NASA and Blue Origin are working to recreate the gravity found on the moon
- The team intends to modify the Blue Sheet New Origin rocket for the project
- The ship will act as a large centrifuge to create artificial gravity in space
- It will have 11 rotations per minute during the free fall phase of the flight
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin turns its New Shepard rocket into a monthly simulator for NASA to test innovations in lunar gravity.
The team plans to upgrade the spacecraft to use the capsule as a large centrifuge, a device that uses a rotating force to separate specific components from liquids, to create artificial gravity for payloads inside.
Capsule reaction control thrusters would generate 11 revolutions per minute during the free fall phase of flight, which NASA says would produce a centripetal force equivalent to the moon’s gravity.
Blue Origin’s new monthly gravity testing capabilities will be available in late 2022 and will be a key player in experiencing the useful tasks that will accompany the Artemis mission that sends the first woman and next man to the moon in the mid-2020s.
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Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin turns its New Shepard rocket into a monthly simulator for NASA to test innovations in lunar gravity. The team plans to upgrade the spacecraft to use the capsule as a large centrifuge
Although sending humans into outer space is a challenge, the real obstacle will be when the heroes of the space fairing step on the lunar surface – gravity is one-sixth that of Earth.
Christopher Baker, director of NASA’s Flight Opportunities program, said in a statement, “One of the constant challenges of living and working in space is low gravity.”
“Many systems designed to be used on Earth just don’t work the same way elsewhere.”
Astronauts train in artificial gravity here on Earth, which takes place mostly while they are submerged in water.
Capsule reaction control thrusters would generate 11 revolutions per minute during the free fall phase, which NASA says would produce a centripetal force equivalent to the moon’s gravity.
Blue Origin’s new monthly gravity testing capabilities will be available in late 2022 and will be a key player in experiencing the useful tasks that will accompany the Artemis mission that sends the first woman and man to the moon in the mid-2020s.
But Blue Origin and NASA’s partnership could simulate the same type of gravity the crew will experience as they explore the moon.
At the upgrade, New Shepard will use its Reaction Control System (RCS) to activate a capsule rotation.
RCS uses missile thrusters to control altitude and direction and is able to provide small amounts of thrust to move the ship in a desired direction or combination of directions.
The first Blue Origin flight of this capability will target 11 rotations per minute to provide more than two minutes of continuous monthly gravity, exposing technologies to this challenging but difficult to test condition.
NASA announced on Wednesday that it has passed a key assembly stage with the “megarocket” space launch system (SLS), which is approaching to launch the Artemis crew on the moon.
The US space agency said the ten segments that make up the two booster missiles were stacked vertically over several weeks at the Kennedy Space Center.
At launch, the $ 18.6 billion SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever built and capable of carrying cargo and astronauts to the moon in a single voyage.
NASA announced on Wednesday that it has passed a key stage of assembly with the space launch system (SLS) “megarocket” (pictured). The US space agency said the ten segments that make up the two booster missiles were stacked vertically over several weeks at the Kennedy Space Center.
Taking the missile off the ground for Artemis I in 2021 is key to meeting the 2024 goal of landing the first woman and next man on the moon with Artemis III.
Bruce Tilleer, SLS recall manager at Marshall Space Flight Center, said: “Seeing the space launch system of solid rockets fully stacked on the mobile launcher for the first time makes me proud of the entire team.”
“This team has created the tallest and most powerful boosters ever built, which will help launch the Artemis I mission to the moon.”
This 2023 launch will be reminiscent of Apollo 10 and is intended to act as a manned rehearsal for the 2024 mission.
NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the moon in 2024 as part of the Artemis mission
Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo and the goddess of the moon in Greek mythology.
NASA has chosen to personify its way back to the moon, which will see astronauts return to the lunar surface by 2024 – including the first woman and the next man.
Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will allow human exploration on the Moon and Mars.
Artemis 1 will be the first integrated flight test of NASA’s deep space exploration system: the Orion spacecraft, the Space Launch System (SLS) and the terrestrial systems at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Artemis 1 will be an unmanned flight that will provide a basis for exploring deep human space and demonstrate our commitment and ability to expand human existence on the Moon and beyond.
During this flight, the ship will launch on the most powerful rocket in the world and will fly farther than any man-made ship has ever flown.
It will travel 450,600 km from Earth, thousands of miles beyond the Moon, during a mission of about three weeks.
Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will allow human exploration on the Moon and Mars. This chart explains the different stages of the mission
Orion will stay in space longer than any astronaut ship has done without approaching a space station and will return home faster and hotter than ever.
With this first exploration mission, NASA is leading the next steps in deep space exploration, where astronauts will build and begin testing near-moon systems needed for lunar surface missions and exploration to other destinations farther from Earth, including Mars.
They will take the crew on a different trajectory and test Orion’s critical systems with the people on board.
The SLS rocket will move from an initial configuration capable of sending more than 26 metric tons to the Moon, to a final configuration that can send at least 45 metric tons.
Together, Orion, SLS and Kennedy’s ground systems will be able to meet the most challenging needs of the crew and the cargo mission in deep space.
Finally, NASA is trying to establish a lasting human presence on the moon by 2028 as a result of the Artemis mission.
The space agency hopes that this colony will discover new scientific discoveries, demonstrate new technological advances and lay the foundations for private companies to build a monthly economy.