Blue Origin resumes space flights more than a year after rocket test failure

Blue Origin’s tourism rocket, designed to take paying customers on brief trips to the edge of space, will return to flight this Monday (18), after more than a year of recovery from an unsuccessful unmanned flight test by the company founded by Jeff Bezos.

The rocket, called New Shepard, is expected to launch on an unmanned science mission at 11:30 a.m. EDT from Blue Origin’s facilities on a private ranch in West Texas. The company will transmit the event on your website.

Although no one is on board the flight, a success could set the stage for the resumption of space travel for enthusiasts.

On September 12, 2022, a New Shepard rocket and spacecraft were supposed to launch a batch of scientific instruments. However, one minute into the flight, the rocket faced Max Q, an aerospace term that refers to the moment of maximum stress on a vehicle at a relatively low altitude, where the atmosphere is still quite dense, and the rocket is almost at speed. Of the sound.

At this moment, the rocket seemed to emit a huge burst of flames. The New Shepard capsule, which is attached to the top of the rocket, then initiated its launch abort system, firing a small engine to safely move away from the failed rocket. This system worked as intended, parachuting the capsule for a safe landing.

Blue Origin later revealed that the cause of the failure was a problem with the engine nozzle, a large cone that directs the burning exhaust into the bottom of the rocket. Onboard computers accurately detected the fault and shut down the engine, according to the company.

There were no reports of injuries on the ground, and Blue Origin said the science payloads and capsule could be reused.

However, the rocket, without a working engine, crashed back into the ground and was completely destroyed. Typically, after New Shepard launches, the rocket booster orients itself back to a safe, vertical landing so it can be flown again.

During an interview Thursday with podcaster Lex Fridman, Bezos said the escape system that launched the capsule to safety is the most difficult piece of engineering in the entire rocket, but “it’s the reason I feel comfortable in let anyone go on the New Shepard.”

“The thruster is as safe and reliable as we can make it,” Bezos added. “The power density is so enormous that it is impossible to be sure that nothing will go wrong. So the only way to improve safety is to have an exhaust system.”

“A touring vehicle should be designed, in my opinion, to be as safe as possible,” he said. “You can’t make it perfectly safe. It’s impossible.”

What went wrong

Before the failure in September 2022, New Shepard rockets had flown 22 consecutive successful missions, including six with passengers on board. Bezos flew the rocket in 2021.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which licenses commercial rocket launches and is responsible for public safety, oversaw an investigation into the failure. The investigation revealed that the engine nozzle failed due to higher temperatures than the company had anticipated.

To fix the problem, Blue Origin said it implemented “design changes to the combustion chamber” – the area of ​​the engine where the fuel mixes explosively with the oxidizer – and adjusted “operational parameters”, that is, the data that the company uses to model safe flights.

“Additional design changes to the nozzle have improved structural performance under thermal and dynamic loads,” the company said in a statement in March.

The FAA formally concluded its investigation into the incident on September 27, outlining 21 “corrective actions” that Blue Origin must implement before returning to flight. The agency did not reveal details about these actions, noting that the report “contains proprietary data and U.S. export control information and is not available for public release.”

New Shepard’s return comes as Blue Origin rushes to fulfill another important project: developing a massive rocket called New Glenn, capable of carrying satellites and other large payloads into orbit.

This rocket is years late. And the same engines that will power New Glenn’s booster, the BE-4 engines, will also power a new line of rockets developed by United Launch Alliance – a partnership between Lockheed Martin and Boeing. United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket is scheduled to launch its first mission, delivering a NASA-sponsored lander to the moon, in January.

New Glenn also has an important first launch on the horizon, potentially carrying a NASA satellite to study the magnetized area of ​​space around Mars as early as next year.

Bezos admitted during last week’s podcast interview that he is “extremely nervous” about the first launch of New Glenn.

“Every launch I go to, whether it’s for New Shepard, for other vehicles as well, I’m always nervous for those launches,” he said. “A first release – not being nervous about it – would be some sign of disarray.”