Jeff Bezos's Space Company Reveals Some Secrets 240
An anonymous reader writes "Jeff Bezos's commercial spaceflight company, Blue Origin, has kept its plans secret to better compete with rivals such as Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic. But in order to build its launch facility in West Texas, it has revealed some details of its future operations: Blue Origin's Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) will carry three or more passengers on suborbital, ballistic trajectories to altitudes in excess of 325,000 feet above sea level. It will launch vertically and land vertically, and will use hydrogen peroxide and kerosene as propellants. It will operate autonomously under control of on-board computers, with no ground control. Blue Origin plans a maximum rate of 52 launches per year."
Space company? (Score:2, Funny)
Next: eBay (Score:5, Funny)
"The TANG was stale"
"Space captain farted in airlock and refused to provide refund"
"Unsecured lunch lockers: tribbles ate my sandwich"
"I am a smoker, and was told that smokers had to step outside during spaceflight. Do NOT buy!"
Forgot this one. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Stale tang (Score:3, Funny)
You are so right. It is a very bad example, like "ape going ugly".
Re:Space company? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Space company? (Score:2)
It may not be as surprising as you think:
The Blue Origin RLV would be comprised of a propulsion module and a crew capsule and would use hydrogen peroxide and kerosene as propellants.
The RLV would launch vertically from a concrete pad and would land vertically in an area near the launch pad.
The RLV would carry three or more passengers per operation.
Blue Origin proposes to locate its launch facility on privately-
Why Texas? (Score:2)
Perhaps it's because they already own the property.
Re:Why Texas? (Score:2)
That was my first thought as well, but upon further reflection it doesn't hold much water. (ha ha) The craft is designed for suborbital hops that involve vertical take off and landing on dry land. Without better knowing the flight profile, it's always hard to say, but it doesn't appear that this craft ever passes over water. It just goes straight up and comes back down.
So what else is in Texas t
Re:Space company? (Score:4, Insightful)
Carmack's first attempt used an H2O2 monopropellant engine. This one uses H2O2 as oxidizer and Kerosene as propellant. It is not the same thing by a long shot. To be honest, I would have used O2 instead of H2O2 for the oxidizer (like Carmack is finally doing now). H2O2 is more expensive and decomposes into H2 and O2 easily. Too much trouble considering what it is worth. The only real bonus is that H2O2 is not cryogenic.
Re:Space company? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Space company? (Score:3, Funny)
And you get free shipping if you buy $1,000,000.00 or more!
But just think of the commissions you'd earn from the affiliate program! Where do I sign up?
EricRead my AdSense blog [memwg.com]: high-paying keywords, the Long Tail, and other fun stuff
Culberson County (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Culberson County (Score:2, Funny)
The response is even worse (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Culberson County (Score:4, Funny)
Maybe not...
Re:Culberson County (Score:2)
What an increibly underwhelming site (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:What an increibly underwhelming site (Score:4, Insightful)
Price? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Price? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Price? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Price? (Score:5, Funny)
€5,64. Gotta love the current exchange rates!
Prediction... (Score:5, Funny)
NASA folks have it. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Prediction... (Score:5, Interesting)
spacecraft accident ground crew
spacecraft accident occupant
spacecraft accident person (non-crew)
falling in a spacecraft (I guess that means floating into something)
and the generic spacecraft accident
Being almost too young to remember Challenger we'd kid around about these at work until Columbia.
Re:Prediction... (Score:2)
No problems here (Score:5, Funny)
No problems what so ever. Sounds incredibly safe to me.
Re:No problems here (Score:5, Funny)
Re:No problems here (Score:3, Funny)
Re:No problems here (Score:2)
Re:No problems here (Score:2)
Re:No problems here (Score:2, Funny)
Will it be running Windows for Space Flight (tm)? Having to reboot at 300,000 feet gives a whole new meaning to "blue screen of death".
Re:No problems here (Score:4, Informative)
Re:No problems here (Score:3, Interesting)
If you can get high concentration peroxide (85%+), there are no catalyst quenching problems. We started out with 90% peroxide, and we would still be using it (and would have saved a year of work...) if we had a willing supplier. The original supplier we used went out of business, and the remaining domestic supplier didn't want to do business with us, even for
Landing vertically (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Landing vertically (Score:5, Funny)
However, it more or less has to be computer controlled descent; the timing is a bit critical.
The description I heard was:
Re:Landing vertically (Score:2)
Cadet: Sir, what do we do in these four weeks of training?
Sgt: Well, son. In the first week, we separate the men from the boys.
Cadet: Wow, that sounds hard.
Sgt: Yes, it is. And in the second week, we separate the real men from the fake ones.
Cadet: This should be exciting!
Sgt: And in the third week, we separate the real men from the fools.
Cadet: Wow, and what's the final week for?
Sgt: Well son, in the fourth week the
Re:Landing vertically (Score:2)
They'll be using cavorite.
Re:Landing vertically (Score:2)
Re:Landing vertically (Score:2)
Re:Landing vertically (Score:2)
H.G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon [laborlawtalk.com] ; also used in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen [laborlawtalk.com]
Re:Landing vertically (Score:3, Interesting)
Fuel isn't the cost driver for this kind of venture. VTOL is a great way to save on operational costs, since you can pick your exact landing spot instead of landing wherever the wind takes you. The technical challenges of vertical landing aren't insurmountable, as they've been overcome by at least three groups I ca
Re:Here's a problem set for you: (Score:5, Informative)
The amount of GPE gained during an ascent requires X amount of fuel.
Descent requires no fuel to move downwards, however K.E. will be accumulated equal to the sum of the GPE and disippated thermal energy.
Therefore the amount of fuel required to stop a descent is less than that required to ascend.
To be honest, the best solution would probably be a combination of the two - drogue chute, main chute (both lightweight and easily re-deployable in future missions), which ensure a low velocity, and also proper alignment for the retro-rockets, which could be used for final touchdown (much like several mars missions).
And yes, I am a rocket scientist.
Re:Here's a problem set for you: (Score:2)
Re:Here's a problem set for you: (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Here's a problem set for you: (Score:2)
Unlimited flights for $79 a year? (Score:5, Funny)
As long as the passengers after the flight are reusable too, it should be a workable, safe plan. However, could we claim spaceflights under the "Amazon Prime Plan", which claims "Unlimited shipping privileges cost just $79 per year"? After all, it all boils down to being shipped by Amazon.
Re:Unlimited flights for $79 a year? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Unlimited flights for $79 a year? (Score:2)
The smile would have to be a rictus though..
interface (Score:5, Funny)
Re:interface (Score:5, Funny)
"Astronauts will be protected from massive the G-forces of liftoff by being shrink-wrapped to a piece of cardboard and surrounded on three sides by AirPak (TM)."
Re:interface (Score:2)
Re:interface (Score:5, Funny)
Re:interface (Score:3, Funny)
Sign me up! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Sign me up! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Sign me up! (Score:2, Funny)
Welcome to Van Horn, Texas! (Score:5, Informative)
* The county seat is Van Horn [google.com].
* As you can see by the satellite photo [google.com], the rugged Guadalupe Mountains meet the barren, flat Llano Estacado.
* Culberson County includes the highest point in Texas, part of Guadalupe Mountains National Park [nps.gov].
* Road geeks will appreciate the significance of this fact: Van Horn is the western terminus of U.S. Highway 90 [geocities.com].
* Due to the lack of water, tourism and mining are the only sources of income. For details on how the county's 3,407 souls bide their time while waiting for the new spaceport to be built, see the Handbook of Texas Online [utexas.edu].
And in the tongue-in-cheek words of singer-songwriter Brian Burns [coquet-shack.com]:
Welcome to Texas,
Don't anybody get me wrong;
We're glad y'all came to see us,
Just don't forget to go back home.
Re:Welcome to Van Horn, Texas! (Score:3, Funny)
I see quite a few stains in that photo. Looks like they've been making test flights already!
Re:Welcome to Van Horn, Texas! (Score:3, Funny)
It's just a bit further down the road, just keep goin'.
Good trick (Score:4, Interesting)
Didn't know anyone had systems relable enough for civilian passengers (i.e. not NASA, military, etc.) to do this yet (or maybe it's all in the disclaimer you have to sign beforehand
with no ground control during nominal flight conditions[...]
So they will have ground control during less than nominal flight conditions?
not bad (Score:5, Funny)
52 Launches a year? (Score:5, Funny)
S
Cart, horse (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't know. To me this is like the Wright brothers announcing their new airline and airport before ever flying at Kittyhawk.
jfs
Re:Cart, horse (Score:2)
"Operations at the launch facility would include development testing, pre-flight processing and flight, landing and recovery activities." -- Paul
Government Regulations... (Score:5, Insightful)
Jeff Bezos brought his evironmental impact statement to a conference once; it's about the size of a metropolitan phone book. It has sections that state that their rocket will not cause floods or hurricanes, will not change the flow of any rivers, will not interfere with the mating habits of local desert lizards, and on and on.
Present day aerospace development is regulated to the point of near inactivity. At least, the developers are still allowed to kill themselves in the process or nothing would get done.
On the upside, recent legislation has made launching easier. Finding a launch site with an appropriate window and a minimum of EPA hassles is still tricky.
-Hope
Ack! Correction. (Score:2)
-Hope
One click launch sequence? (Score:5, Funny)
Would he patent it?
Secrets... (Score:2, Redundant)
Will it have a patented "one click" Affiliate Program?
So the question is... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:So the question is... (Score:3, Funny)
No ground control? (Score:4, Interesting)
Land vertically? (Score:5, Funny)
This thing is supposed to land vertically? That sounds more like a crash to me.
Will it have parachutes?
That's not a crash (Score:2, Funny)
Crash? We prefer to refer to it as a high-velocity landing with 100% collateral damage to passenger, crew, and craft.
close to roswell (Score:3, Funny)
Is there a secret meaning to Blue Origin?
And afterwards... (Score:5, Funny)
Ballistic trajectory? (Score:2, Interesting)
Another thing I'd like to know is, where does it land? If it's a water landing, that makes passenger safety and training more complex (they have to learn h
Re:Ballistic trajectory? (Score:2)
Sand Crash? (Score:5, Interesting)
Forget People (Score:2)
Re:Forget People (Score:2, Funny)
Greetings, Professor Falken. Want to play a game?
Morbid humor... (Score:4, Funny)
This could certainly add new meaning to the phrase "Blue Screen of Death."
I'll wager that they'll never get guv'mint approval to operate without at least one human pilot.
Keep the peace(es).
"Land vertically?" (Score:2, Funny)
In high power model rocketry, we call this condition "Shovel Recovery," and it's not pretty.
Unfriendly competition (Score:3, Interesting)
Commercial manned space travel still seems like quite a lofty goal - lofty enough, and expensive enough, that trying to ensure competition in the marketplace at this very early stage seems counterproductive. One would think that everyone could benefit from open cooperation between Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, at least until they both get a revenue stream going (read: customers actually in space).
Unless, that is, Bezos and/or Branson think the first-mover advantage will really translate into significant profits. I suspect, however, that those profits are in the pretty distant future, and the best way to bring the profits closer would be to cooperate.
Re:Unfriendly competition (Score:2)
Sure, but then after they get the whole thing making a buck, some guy in his basement will complain that his own personal open source ballistic rocket ship is being unfairly kept out of the hands of users by the $pace$hipOne evil monopolists.
A Pilot: There is no substitute (Score:2, Interesting)
You know, from what I hear, jet airliners basically fly themselves. It's not a major problem for a pilot to land or take off in one of these things, and once you get it up, it's basically cruise control. Of course, as they say, when you need an experienced airline pilot, there is no substitute.
What happens when something goes wrong? If this thing isn't built to have some human control when things are out of the ordinary, no one in his right mind would go up in one of these things.
(Just my two cents.)
Hydrogen peroxide?!? (Score:3, Funny)
ballistic trajectories (Score:2)
OK so this thing is going to shoot straight up, then it's going to fall right back down so it will be able to land vertically... like a splashdown i assume. This doesn't sound like fun to me. I mean I think the only way you can land near where you launched with a ballistic trajectory is straight up and straight down. (well really close to it, you know what I mean)
300-sum-thousand feet?
I am just disappointed.
But on the brighter side, there are people who will pay to do this and maybe it will become a
The Amazon business model (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Cue the unmanned spaceflight mob (Score:5, Funny)
I suggest a compromise with these "unmanned spaceflght zealots". We send each of them up in a manned spaceflight. At some pre-determined point, the spacecraft is programmed to become unmanned due to explosive decompression of the passenger compartment. Then, the flight continues on, unmanned. Everybody's happy.
Re:Cue the unmanned spaceflight mob (Score:3, Interesting)
I think something like "Nobody onboard would care." is more appropriate, but that's just me.
Re:Cue the unmanned spaceflight mob (Score:2)
The use of the word 'onboard' is superfluous in this case.
Re:Cue the unmanned spaceflight mob (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Missiles (Score:2)
You sound unhappy about this. Not following the Second Amendment through to its logical conclusion, are we, sir?
And, gawd demmit, why won't thar gawd-damn gub'mint let me buy mah plew-toe-nyum, huh?
Re:Missiles (Score:3, Funny)
You are going to have to have an awfully slick sales pitch to get over the fact that the flights always end with 600 mp/h impact at former Soviet Union strategic targets. Other than that, it's a great flight, man!
Re:Space Vomit (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Why? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Why? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Why? (Score:2, Interesting)
What I'm asking is this: besides being a *very* expensive roller coaster, what practical applications does this have right now? It would be great if there were somewhere for us to *go* other than up and then down.
The good news is that if/when we can live on another planet we'll know how to get there.
Re:Why? (Score:2)