Nicholas D’Alessandro
January 14th, 2021
An artist’s rendering of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket throughout its ascent into orbit. Credit score: Blue Origin
Final month, the U.S. area company awarded a NASA Launch Companies contract to Blue Origin and its New Glenn rocket.
NASA announced the award in a Dec. 16, 2020, press launch, stating that Blue Origin’s orbital New Glenn rocket will probably be accessible for future missions below the company’s Launch Services Program.
The information comes within the type of a NASA Launch Companies II contract being awarded to Blue Origin and its New Glenn rocket, which permits the launch system to be accessible as a part of NASA LSP for future missions,
With ordering home windows between June 2025 and December 2027, it’s successfully a contract for the privilege to compete with different NLS II recipients for future NASA launch contract awards.
Blue Origin’s manufacturing facility for the New Glenn Rocket sits simply exterior the gates of NASA’s Kennedy House Middle in Florida. Credit score: Nicholas D’Alessandro / Spaceflight Insider
NASA’s Launch Companies Program is the U.S. area company’s administration and oversight program for launching uncrewed rockets delivering spacecraft that observe the Earth, go to different planets and discover the universe, starting from climate satellites and telescopes to Mars Rovers.
Blue Origin is the launch providers startup of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and is taken into account a direct competitor to Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
New Glenn is the corporate’s formidable orbital launch system, involving a behemoth of a rocket standing simply shy of the historic Saturn V at a peak of 322 toes (98 meters).
The rocket is anticipated to make the most of a reusable first stage and a big industry-leading, 7-meter fairing.
Like SpaceX’s Falcon rockets, New Glenn is designed to launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with the primary stage touchdown at sea on a big vessel to be processed for reuse at Port Canaveral.
Not like lots of its opponents, nonetheless, Blue Origin goals to make the New Glenn system able to delivering double the payload quantity of any currently-available launch system, and achieve this in 95% of climate circumstances.
To not be outdone in fact, SpaceX is deeply dedicated to its Starship program, with its prototype iterations already making 40,000ft test flights, with interplanetary journey clearly set as that system’s endgame.
Blue Origin plans to launch the New Glenn system for the primary time no sooner than someday in 2021.
Video courtesy of Blue Origin
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