Blue Origin plans to deliver lunar gravity-like missions on space flights much closer to Earth.
Beginning in 2022, the company plans to address a long-standing need to simulate the Moon’s gravity – that would be one-sixth of Earth’s – for larger payloads and for longer than current options. Blue Origin will adapt its suborbital New Shepard spacecraft to act like a large centrifuge in orbit, gently giving a moon-like push to the spacecraft’s experiments.
Experiments requiring lunar-like conditions usually require parabolic flight – providing only a few seconds of lunar gravity at a time – or a centrifuge, which is limited by size, according to a NASA statementHowever, Blue Origin will use its reaction control system to provide the moon’s gravity for at least two minutes at a time.
Related: NASA uses Blue Origin’s New Glenn to launch future missions
“NASA will soon have more options to test those innovations in lunar gravity thanks to a partnership with Blue Origin to provide new testing capabilities for the company’s reusable suborbital rocket system New Shepard,” NASA added in the statement.
NASA wants to simulate the moon’s gravity on Blue Origin flights to prepare for actual missions to the moon by astronauts in the near future. The Artemis program received one renewed commitment from Biden’s administration when it took office this year, although there is no word yet that the Trump-era 2024 deadline will be enforced. The point, however, is that the moon remains NASA’s next big human exploration target – and they’ll want to get technologies ready for that challenging environment.
“NASA is delighted to be one of the first customers to take advantage of this new opportunity,” added Christopher Baker, program manager of the flight opportunities program at NASA’s Washington DC headquarters.
Possible technologies to test include mining the regolith (or earth) of the moon, living off water or other resources on the moon (called in-situ resource utilization), or preparing environmental monitoring and life support systems for astronauts , Baker added. “A lot of systems designed for use on Earth just don’t work the same elsewhere,” he said.
Companies wishing to participate in the New Shepard flights can participate through NASA’s flight opportunities program, whose website is hereEach year, a certain number of technologies are selected for testing onboard one of several NASA-funded vehicle options.
Regardless of these test flights, Blue Origin hopes to eventually land on the moon itself. In 2019, the company unveiled one lunar lander design called ‘Blue Moon’, intended to participate as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Services Program (CLPS) for businesses. Blue Origin is qualify for CLPS opportunities, but has not yet received a contracted mission.
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.