Blue Origins' New Glenn Rocket Reaches Orbit (nytimes.com) 20
Longtime Slashdot reader timeOday shares a report from the New York Times: At 2:03 a.m. Eastern time, seven powerful engines ignited at the base of a 320-foot-tall rocket named New Glenn. The flames illuminated night into day at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The rocket, barely moving at first, nudged upward and then accelerated in an arc over the Atlantic Ocean, lit up in blue, the color of combustion of the rocket's methane fuel. Thirteen minutes later, the second stage of New Glenn reached orbit.
The launch was a major success for Blue Origin, Mr. Bezos' rocket company. The upward flight appeared almost flawless, but Blue Origin's stretch goal of landing the booster stage on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean failed. As planned, the booster fired three of its engines to slow down, but then the stream of data stopped, indicating that the booster had been lost.
"We'll learn a lot from today and try again at our next launch this spring," Dave Limp, the chief executive of Blue Origin, said in a statement. In an interview on Sunday, Mr. Limp said that, with a successful inaugural launch of New Glenn, Blue Origin is aiming for a second launch in the spring and that he wanted six to eight launches this year. A recording of the launch is available on YouTube.
The launch was a major success for Blue Origin, Mr. Bezos' rocket company. The upward flight appeared almost flawless, but Blue Origin's stretch goal of landing the booster stage on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean failed. As planned, the booster fired three of its engines to slow down, but then the stream of data stopped, indicating that the booster had been lost.
"We'll learn a lot from today and try again at our next launch this spring," Dave Limp, the chief executive of Blue Origin, said in a statement. In an interview on Sunday, Mr. Limp said that, with a successful inaugural launch of New Glenn, Blue Origin is aiming for a second launch in the spring and that he wanted six to eight launches this year. A recording of the launch is available on YouTube.
Did they ever find the booster? (Score:3)
" As planned, the booster fired three of its engines to slow down, but then the stream of data stopped, indicating that the booster had been lost. "
Or did the aliens steal it?
Re: Did they ever find the booster? (Score:2)
It's on its way to Bezos home planet, Talos 4, to deliver the message that he finally got it up.
I's a good thing, but (Score:1)
They are SO slow
Yes, it's good to see other companies making rockets, but they will never match Spacex or RocketLab
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Yes, it's good to see other companies making rockets, but they will never match Spacex or RocketLab
Never say never. Many industries have seen titans rise and fall. Right now SpaceX arguably is the leader, but that is not necessarily permanent.
[Posting this just after Starship test-flight 7. TL/DR: booster catch successful, but starship lost around +8 minutes.]
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> Many industries have seen titans rise and fall. Right now SpaceX arguably is the leader
Indeed, for example, Tesla was the head-and-shoulders-above leader in EVs... now, not so much.
Just a few years ago, Twitter was *the* short posting social media network of the world, whereas now it's not the only one. Still probably the 'leader', but definitely fighting off some competition.
So SpaceX... probably not going to be on top for too much longer. Whether BO takes over is another matter entirely, but don't co
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They are SO slow Yes, it's good to see other companies making rockets, but they will never match Spacex or RocketLab
Except that New Glenn got a payload to orbit on it's first launch, so it's basically done what every other rocket program has done on it's first attempt. Next time they try they will have another go at landing the booster and maybe they will succeed. For now they've proved they have a viable platform which they will work on making commercially viable.
6 to 8 launches this year? (Score:4, Interesting)
Of the New Glenn? Or were they planning on buying some Estes rockets for the other launches? They do still make Estes rockets, right?
I just can't see Blue Origin iterating fast enough to justify six to eight launches in a calendar year. It's taken them this long to launch one past the hop-skip level. How do they think they're going to suddenly speed up now?
Don't get me wrong, I like to see another launch company getting to orbit. That's always something worth applauding so long as they didn't wipe out a city to do it. But this is Blue Origin, and they currently have a history that is anything but speedy and responsive. I'm having a real hard time accepting that boisterous schedule as anything other than a pipe dream.
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Iterating and failing a lot isn't the only way to do this. As Tesla found it, it's not always the best way to do it either.
I'm sceptical as well, but I'll see what they actually do rather than speculate.
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It wasn't moving at all, then it was moving very slowly, then a bit faster until it reached orbital velocity.
FTFY
Glad to see it! (Score:1)
I didn't think there was going to be a third attempt after two scrubs, glad to see I was wrong!
I'd rather work for Bezos than Musk (Score:2)
Both are amoral billionaires. But Bezos is just a nicer guy all around (and he's American, dang it). Bezos' plans for space are more realistic than Musk's Mars thing, and he has an actual business case and plan. Bezos wants to see space manufacturing (space stations, asteroid mining) and industry for profit, whereas Musk wants to go to Mars because we have to go to Mars. Musk admits that it will be costly and there's no known return on investment.
I wish both SpaceX and Blue Origin success. New Glenn wil
No ROI is not a criticism (Score:1)
Defense spending has no monetary ROI yet gets showered with funds
Countering climate change is failing because it has poor ROI
Computer & network security constantly lack because it has poor ROI
Raising children has zero monetary ROI, yet the same culture that worships ROI conveniently ignores this
Look at all the frivolous things in the world that exist because there is an ROI
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Saying that the guy more focused on money is a nicer guy is pretty much the height of simple thinking. He's the guy who aligns with your "money is the most important thing in the universe" philosophy. I don't really think either of these dudes are nice guys. Musk has a dream and is pursuing it. Bezos has a dream too, a dream of finding a way to monetize space exploration. It's a valid path, and one that should be explored, but it hardly makes him a nice guy.
Blue Origins, New Glenn acronym (Score:3)
Did someone in the PR department miss this:
B lue O rigins N ew G lenn
I can't wait to see the memes
A Huge week for Space (Score:2)
You know I have to eat my own words here.
Like so many others out there I thought this thing would never fly. 20+ years of farting around from what we could see.
But lets look at some of the amazing check boxes they made on this flight.
1. On first ever attempt to reach orbit they did.
2. First ever to use metholox to reach orbit. ( Starship still hasn't )
3. First orbital class rocket is a direct competitor with the hands down market leader in launch. No other company is even ready to compete.
4. Put a ship i