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Blue Origin plans to deliver lunar gravity-type missions on space flights much closer to Earth.
Starting in 2022, the company plans to address a long-standing need to simulate lunar gravity – believed to be one-sixth that of Earth – for larger payloads and for longer periods than current options. Blue Origin will modify its New Shepard suborbital spacecraft to act like a large centrifuge in Earth orbit, gently providing a lunar thrust on the experiences inside the spacecraft.
Experiments requiring lunar conditions usually require a parabolic flight – which offers only a few seconds of lunar gravity at a time – or a centrifuge, which is limited by its size, according to a NASA statement. Blue Origin, however, will use its reaction control system to deliver lunar gravity for at least two minutes at a time.
Related: NASA calls on Blue Origin’s New Glenn to launch future missions
“NASA will soon have more options to test these innovations in lunar gravity thanks to a collaboration with Blue Origin to bring new testing capabilities to the company’s New Shepard reusable suborbital rocket system,” NASA added in the press release.
NASA wants to simulate lunar gravity on Blue Origin flights in order to prepare for actual missions to the moon by astronauts in the near future. The Artemis program received a renewed commitment of the Biden administration when he takes office this year, although it is not yet known that the 2024 deadline of the Trump era will be met. The point is, however, that the moon remains NASA’s next major human exploration target – and they’ll want to prepare the technologies for this harsh environment.
“NASA is pleased to be among the first customers to take advantage of this new capability,” added Christopher Baker, program director for the Flight Opportunities Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC, in the same release. .
Possible technologies to be tested could include extracting regolith (or soil) from the moon, living water or other resources on the moon (called in situ resource use), or preparing systems for environmental and survival control for astronauts, Baker added. “Many systems designed for use on Earth just don’t work the same way elsewhere,” he said.
Companies wishing to participate in New Shepard flights can join through the NASA Flight Opportunities Program, whose website is here. A number of technologies are selected each year for testing aboard one of the many vehicle options funded by NASA.
In addition to these flight test options, Blue Origin ultimately hopes to land on the moon itself. In 2019, the company revealed a lunar lander design called “Blue Moon”, intended to participate in NASA’s Commercial Lunar Services (CLPS) program for businesses. Blue Origin is eligible for CLPS opportunities, but has not yet received a contract assignment.
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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