Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and NASA plan to create lunar gravity in the New Shepard rocket by spinning it 11 times per minute in flight to test the payloads set for the Artemis mission
- NASA and Blue Origin are working to mimic gravity on the moon
- The team plans to customize Blue Origin’s New Shepard missile for the project
- The craft will act like a large centrifuge to create the artificial gravity in space
- It will be 11 revolutions per minute during the free fall phase of the flight
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin transforms his New Shepard rocket into a lunar simulator for NASA to test innovations in the moon’s gravity.
The team plans to update the spacecraft to use the capsule as a large centrifuge, a device that uses rotational force to separate specific components of liquids, to create artificial gravity for the payload inside.
The capsule’s response control thrusters would generate a spin of 11 rotations per minute during the free fall phase of flight, which NASA said would produce a centripetal force equivalent to the moon’s gravity.
Blue Origin’s new moon gravity testing capabilities are expected to be available in late 2022 and will be a key player in experimenting with payloads accompanying the Artemis mission that sends the first woman and next man to the moon in the middle of the moon. years 2020..
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Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin transforms his New Shepard rocket into a lunar simulator for NASA to test innovations in the moon’s gravity. The team plans to update the spacecraft to use the capsule as a large centrifuge
While sending humans to space is challenging, the real obstacle will be when space heroes set foot on the lunar surface – its gravity is one-sixth that of Earth.
Christopher Baker, program manager of NASA’s Flight Opportunities program, said in a statement, “One of the constant challenges in living and working in space is reduced gravity.”
“Many systems designed for use on Earth don’t work the same anywhere else.”
Astronauts here on Earth receive training in artificial gravity, which usually takes place while submerged in water.
The capsule’s response control thrusters would generate a spin of 11 rotations per minute during the free fall phase of flight, which NASA said would produce a centripetal force equivalent to the moon’s gravity.
Blue Origin’s new moon gravity testing capabilities are expected to be available in late 2022 and will be a key player in experimenting with payloads accompanying the Artemis mission that sends the first woman and next man to the moon in the middle of the Moon. 2020s.
But Blue Origin and NASA’s partnership could simulate the same type of gravity crew they’ll experience while exploring the moon.
In an upgrade, New Shepard uses its reaction control system (RCS) to trigger a rotation of the capsule.
The RCS uses the missiles’ thrusters for altitude control and control, and can deliver small amounts of thrust to move the craft in a desired direction or combination of directions.
Blue Origin’s first flight with this capability will aim at 11 rotations per minute to provide more than two minutes of continuous lunar gravity, exposing the technologies to these challenging but difficult to test conditions.
NASA announced on Wednesday that it has reached a major assembly milestone with the Space Launch System (SLS) ‘megarocket’, bringing it closer to launching the Artemis crew to the moon.
The US space agency said the ten segments that make up the two booster rockets were stacked vertically for several weeks at the Kennedy Space Center.
At launch, the $ 18.6 billion SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever created and capable of delivering cargo and astronauts to the moon in a single trip.
NASA announced on Wednesday that it has reached a major assembly milestone with the Space Launch System (SLS) “ megarocket. ” The US space agency said the ten segments that make up the two booster rockets were stacked vertically over several weeks in Kennedy Space. Centre.
Getting the rocket off the ground for Artemis I in 2021 is critical to meeting the 2024 target of landing the first woman and the next man on the moon with Artemis III.
Bruce Tilleer, SLS booster manager at the Marshall Space Flight Center, said, “I am proud of the whole team when I see the Space Launch System’s massive rocket boosters fully stacked on the Mobile Launcher for the first time.”
“This team has created the tallest, most powerful boosters ever built for flying, boosters to help launch the Artemis I mission to the moon.”
This 2023 launch is reminiscent of Apollo 10 and is intended as a crew rehearsal for the 2024 mission.
NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the moon in 2024 as part of the Artemis mission
Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo and the goddess of the moon in Greek mythology.
NASA has chosen her to personify her path back to the moon, where astronauts will return to the lunar surface by 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 enable 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 ground systems at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Artemis 1 will be an unmanned flight that will provide a foundation for human exploration of deep space 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 further than ever human-built spacecraft.
It will travel 280,000 miles (450,600 km) from Earth, thousands of miles beyond the Moon over the course of a mission lasting about three weeks.
Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that enable human exploration to the Moon and Mars. This image explains the different stages of the mission
The Orion will stay in space longer than any spaceship without docking at a space station and return home faster and hotter than ever before.
With this first exploration mission, NASA is leading the next steps of human exploration in deep space, where astronauts will build and begin testing the systems near the moon needed for lunar surface missions and exploration to other destinations further from Earth, including Mars.
They take the crew on a different route and test Orion’s critical systems with people on board.
The SLS missile will go from an initial configuration capable of sending more than 26 tons to the moon, to a final configuration capable of sending at least 45 tons.
Together, Orion, SLS and Kennedy’s ground systems will be able to meet the most challenging needs for crew and cargo missions in deep space.
Ultimately, NASA is aiming to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon by 2028 as a result of the Artemis mission.
The space agency hopes that this colony will make new scientific discoveries, demonstrate new technological advancements, and lay the foundation for private companies to build a lunar economy.