Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and NASA plan to create moon-like gravity inside the New Shepard rocket by spinning it 11 times per 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 plans to modify the Blue Origin New Shepard rocket for the project
- The vessel 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 is transforming its New Shepard rocket into a moon 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 rotational force to separate specific components from liquids, to create artificial gravity for payloads inside.
Capsule reaction control thrusters would generate a rotation of 11 rotations per minute during the free fall phase of flight, which according to NASA would produce a centripetal force equivalent to the moon’s gravity.
Blue Origin’s new lunar gravity testing capabilities will be available in late 2022 and will be a key player in experimenting with payloads that will accompany the Artemis mission that sends the first woman and next man to the moon to mid-2020s.
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Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is transforming its New Shepard rocket into a moon simulator for NASA to test innovations in lunar gravity. The team plans to upgrade the spacecraft to use the capsule as a large centrifuge
While sending a human into outer space is a challenge, the real hurdle will be when the heroes of the space fairing step on the lunar surface: gravity is one-sixth that of Earth.
Christopher Baker, executive of NASA’s Flight Opportunities program, said in a statement, “One of the constant challenges of living and working in space is reduced gravity.”
“Many systems designed for use on Earth just don’t work the same anywhere else.”
Astronauts train in artificial gravity here on Earth, which takes place mainly while they are submerged in water.
Capsule reaction control thrusters would generate a rotation of 11 rotations per minute during the free fall phase of flight, which according to NASA would produce a centripetal force equivalent to the gravity of the moon.
Blue Origin’s new lunar gravity testing capabilities will be available in late 2022 and will be a key player in experimenting with payloads that will accompany the Artemis mission that sends the first woman and next man to the moon to mid-2020s
But Blue Origin and NASA’s collaboration could simulate the same kind of gravity the crew will experience as they explore the moon.
When upgraded, New Shepard will use its reaction control system (RCS) to activate a capsule rotation.
The RCS uses rocket thrusters to control and steer altitude and is able to provide small amounts of thrust to move the spacecraft in the desired direction or combination of directions.
The first flight of this Blue Origin capability will target 11 rotations per minute to provide more than two minutes of continuous lunar gravity, exposing technologies to this challenging but difficult-to-test condition.
NASA announced Wednesday that it has surpassed a key milestone in the assembly with the space launch system (SLS) megarocket approaching it to launch the Artemis crew to the moon.
The U.S. space agency said the ten segments that make up the two reinforcement rockets stacked vertically for several weeks at the Kennedy Space Center.
When launched, the $ 18.6 billion SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever made and capable of carrying cargo and astronauts to the moon in a single trip.
NASA announced Wednesday that it has surpassed a key milestone in the assembly with the “megarocket” of the space launch system (SLS). The U.S. space agency said the ten segments that make up the two reinforcement rockets stacked vertically for several weeks at the Kennedy Center space.
Taking the rocket to the ground for Artemis I in 2021 is critical to achieving the 2024 goal of landing the first woman and next man on the moon with Artemis III.
Bruce Tilleer, SLS reinforcement manager at Marshall Space Flight Center, said: “Seeing the solid rocket space launch system stacked completely on the mobile launcher for the first time makes me proud of the whole team.”
“This team has created the tallest and most powerful boosters ever built for flight, boosters that 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 general rehearsal for the 2024 mission.
NASA will land the first woman and next man on the moon in 2024 as part of the Artemis mission
Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo and goddess of the moon in Greek mythology.
NASA has chosen it to personify its path back to the Moon, which will see astronauts return to the lunar surface in 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 to 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) rocket, and the terrestrial systems of the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Artemis 1 will be an unmanned flight that will provide the basis for deep human space exploration and demonstrate our commitment and ability to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond.
During this flight, the spacecraft will launch on the world’s most powerful rocket and fly farther than any human-built spacecraft has ever flown.
It will travel 450,600 km from Earth, thousands of miles beyond the Moon over a mission of approximately three weeks.
Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will allow human exploration to the Moon and Mars. This graph explains the various stages of the mission
Orion will stay in space longer than any other ship the astronauts have made 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 human exploration into deep space where astronauts will build and begin testing the near-moon systems needed for lunar surface missions and space exploration. other destinations farther from Earth, including Mars.
The crew will take a different trajectory and test Orion’s critical systems with humans on board.
The SLS rocket will go 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 ground systems will be able to meet the most demanding needs of the crew and the cargo mission in deep space.
Finally, NASA seeks to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon in 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 groundwork for private companies to build a lunar economy.