I'm suspect. Who knows what major parts they could have replaced in two months. Is this truly a reused vehicle or the same airframe with new everything, making it a reused vehicle in name only.
Data from the November mission matched our preflight predictions closely, which made preparations for today’s re-flight relatively straightforward. The team replaced the crew capsule parachutes, replaced the pyro igniters, conducted functional and avionics checkouts, and made several software improvements[...]
Quote from: HIP2BSQRE on 01/23/2016 03:12 amNotice jeff said "Though it will be the small vehicle in our orbital family.." I guess there will be siblings/other vehicles???He said it in his article.Quote to achieve our vision of millions of people living and working in space — we will need to build very large rocket boosters. And the vertical landing architecture scales extraordinarily well.......................We’re already more than three years into development of our first orbital vehicle. Though it will be the small vehicle in our orbital family, it’s still many times larger than New Shepard. I hope to share details about this first orbital vehicle this year.So a sensible approach, building a small orbital test vehicle, then the big one. Will it match BFR or be somewhere intermediate, Falcon Heavy range? Exciting times and congratulations to Blue.
Notice jeff said "Though it will be the small vehicle in our orbital family.." I guess there will be siblings/other vehicles???
to achieve our vision of millions of people living and working in space — we will need to build very large rocket boosters. And the vertical landing architecture scales extraordinarily well.......................We’re already more than three years into development of our first orbital vehicle. Though it will be the small vehicle in our orbital family, it’s still many times larger than New Shepard. I hope to share details about this first orbital vehicle this year.
An extremely important milestone for economic re-usability passed. I'm really excited for what the future holds, Blue Origin and SpaceX are revolutionizing the industry before our eyes.Now, do it again, and again!<snip>Some interesting information here. It seems like Tory Brunos' information about an orbital rocket based on a single BE-4 first stage is on the money (as expected). I'm wondering how easy it will be to scale the New Shepard concept to an orbital rocket. The BE-4 should be designed for impressive gimbaling and deep throttling to be able to propulsively land the first stage of an orbital rocket on a single engine. If Blue can do it, they will have advanced the state of the art considerably. Exciting times ahead!
I suspect that every rocket maker interested in being in the game in 5-10 years is at their desk envisioning another path to full stage reusability (or fitting themselves into one of the existing ones).
Quote from: AncientU on 01/23/2016 01:00 pmI suspect that every rocket maker interested in being in the game in 5-10 years is at their desk envisioning another path to full stage reusability (or fitting themselves into one of the existing ones).And we are at an interesting inflection point where two major launch providers (ULA and ESA) are on the cusp of finalizing new designs, so maybe what Blue Origin and The Other Guys have done will show that reusability should not be assumed to be impossible. Essentially, if those contemplating change build their next launcher with the wrong future technology, they could severely affect their future.Exciting times.
Quote from: Coastal Ron on 01/23/2016 03:24 pmQuote from: AncientU on 01/23/2016 01:00 pmI suspect that every rocket maker interested in being in the game in 5-10 years is at their desk envisioning another path to full stage reusability (or fitting themselves into one of the existing ones).And we are at an interesting inflection point where two major launch providers (ULA and ESA) are on the cusp of finalizing new designs, so maybe what Blue Origin and The Other Guys have done will show that reusability should not be assumed to be impossible. Essentially, if those contemplating change build their next launcher with the wrong future technology, they could severely affect their future.Exciting times.Reuse is clearly not impossible technically. ULA and ArianeSpace say it may not be possible economically. They may eventually find themselves in a situation where space launch without reuse is economically impossible.
100km mark is just an arbitrary number not a physical ceiling for suborbital flight.
Is it possible for the New Shepard to go well past 100km mark ( 125 or 150km).? Would this extra height would give extra zeroG time.?.100km mark is just an arbitrary number not a physical ceiling for suborbital flight.
Quote from: TrevorMonty on 01/23/2016 08:35 pmIs it possible for the New Shepard to go well past 100km mark ( 125 or 150km).? Would this extra height would give extra zeroG time.?.100km mark is just an arbitrary number not a physical ceiling for suborbital flight.It depends on what kind of margin New Shephard has, but extra height would certainly give more zero G time. But if they keep the trajectory vertical, entry G's will peak higher. At some point it would be intolerable for the passengers. One way to get more zero G time would be to execute a parabolic arc downrange (like the Original Shephard did!) which would give a more gentle entry. Both booster and capsule would have to be retrieved, of course. EDIT: fixed spelling.
Just for people who don't want to click through to a fluffy news article saying 99% what you already know just to find that 1% that's new, the geekwire article quotes Branson saying:"Our spaceship comes back and lands on wheels. Theirs don’t."Personally, who cares? Helicopters sometimes don't have wheels, either. Still works great for flying vertically.Only place I'd give advantage to wings is point-to-point. And that is where Branson wants to go with this.
Is it possible for the New Shepard to go well past 100km mark ( 125 or 150km).? Would this extra height would give extra zeroG time.?.
And now we get Branson's two cents worth...http://www.geekwire.com/2016/virgin-galactics-richard-branson-ribs-blue-origin-jeff-bezos-elon-musk-spacex/