Quote from: Asteroza on 05/29/2018 03:42 amJeff says they bought the boat for landing NG and are refitting it? Sounds like our marine sleuths over in the SpaceX ASDS threads ought to be given a heads up for a new hunting target...I've done ASDS hunting, and I'll say that finding boat ownership from public records is quite hard. The typical ownership model seems to involve separate LLCs set up for each boat, which then have ownership and operating agreements with other opaque LLCs, etc. SpaceX for example doesn't directly own any of their vessels, and Mr. Steven (for instance) which has been operated by Guice Offshore for months and has a big GO logo painted on it, still doesn't have any official paperwork documenting the relationship with GO; there seems to be a private contract beween SeaTran marine, Guice Offshore and SpaceX (or a subsidiary).Custom-built commercial boats seem to be often "owned" by the builder and then "sold" for a nominal sum to the boat's own LLC when complete. Mr. Steven was sold by Gulf Craft LLC to Mr. Steven LLC for $1. So the boat owns itself.Thus tracing top-down from Blue Origin to whatever ship it is outfitting is likely to be fruitless. While Bezos says "bought" the likely case is that Blue Origin has signed contracts with a number of different folk, including perhaps the boat's own LLC, not actually transferred ownership in any boat registry. We have better luck with folks that hang around docks with an ear to the rumor mill.
Jeff says they bought the boat for landing NG and are refitting it? Sounds like our marine sleuths over in the SpaceX ASDS threads ought to be given a heads up for a new hunting target...
I found this quote interesting, and related to the topic.From CNES director of launches interview:https://satelliteobservation.net/2018/06/02/cnes-director-of-launchers-talks-reusable-rockets/"Blue Origin has a different concept, they will use a boat with hydrodynamic control surfaces for stability. The boat has to have some speed and the rocket has to match it."I am not a ship guy, but interpret that as a ship having more than just your basic rudder and keel etc...
It will be interesting to see if they will incorporate any ability to do some (maybe eventually all) of the post landing processing of the first stage on the boat to speed up turn around times for reuse of the 1st stage.
It will be interesting to see what they have bought and how the modified it.If it was a bespoke vessel I'd think along the lines of the Ullstein S182.Most fiddly bits at the front end. Less spray during transfer. Fast crew transfer if you need it. Lots of space in the back. A crane to move the stage around, perhaps lower it for transport. No need for a heavy lift crane though, a telescopic crane makes more sense to me.
....The new variable (landing platform in motion vs. stationary a la SpaceX) would seem to require that either (a) the ship uses radar to acquire the incoming stage, and has its own onboard software running to calculate the most likely time of intercept (based on running the same guidance algorithm as programmed into the stage) or (b) the stage itself does the intercept time calculation and radios it to the ship, maybe as one element of a telemetry stream.Since the ship will likely be recording the telemetry stream anyway, I'd guess option (b). Then it's up to the ship to hit the pre-preprogrammed coordinates at the predicted intercept time.
Tweet from Eric Berger:Blue Origin appears to have purchased this roll-on, roll-off ferry for (perhaps?) transporting New Glenn rocket components.https://t.co/IRBJbxWcfHTweet from Alan Boyle:In May, I asked @jeffbezos whether the @blueorigin landing ship had been bought. "Actually, yes, we have," he said, "and we’re retrofitting it now. It’s just about to start." So it's probly not Stena Freighter, which is yet to be delivered.Tweet from NI Ferry Site:Currently in dry dock in Portugal which could be her handover. We'll find out soon enough I'm sure - her next destination has already been set as Pensacola (FL) for a few weeks time
Not unpossible. Biggest argument against it is that Blue is supposed to already have their ship in dock, getting converted.
Quote from: Chasm on 09/26/2018 05:40 amNot unpossible. Biggest argument against it is that Blue is supposed to already have their ship in dock, getting converted.What do you think it is doing in a one of these 3 cells?
Transport of large parts is also an option, but what to where? All manufacturing, launching and transfer from the landing ship is supposed to happen at the Cape.