Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and NASA plan to create lunar gravity inside the New Shepard rocket by rotating it 11 times per minute during flight to test the payloads for the Artemis mission.
- NASA and Blue Origin work to recreate the gravitational pull of the moon
- The team plans to modify Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket for the project
- The craft will act like a large centrifuge to create the artificial gravity in space
- It rotates 11 minutes per minute during the freefall phase of the flight
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is transforming his New Shepard rocket into a lunar simulator for NASA to test innovations in lunar gravity.
The team plans to update the spacecraft to use the capsule as a large centrifuge, a device that uses a rotating force to separate specific components from liquids, to create artificial gravity for payloads inside.
The reaction control screws of the capsule will generate a rotation of 11 rotations per minute during the freefall phase of the flight, which according to NASA will deliver a centripetal force equal to the gravity of the moon.
Blue Origin’s new capabilities for lunar gravity testing will be available by the end of 2022 and will play an important role in experimenting with payloads that will accompany the Artemis mission that sends the first woman and the next man to the moon in the mid-2020s. .
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Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is transforming his New Shepard rocket into a lunar simulator for NASA to test innovations in lunar gravity. The team plans to update the spacecraft to use the capsule like a large centrifuge
While it’s a challenge to send humans to outer space, the real obstacle will be when space heroes step on the moon’s surface – gravity is one – sixth of that of Earth.
Christopher Baker, program manager for NASA’s Flight Opportunities program, said in a statement: “One of the ongoing challenges of living and working in space is reducing gravity.”
“Many systems designed for use on earth simply do not work the same.”
Astronauts practice in artificial gravity here on earth, which mostly takes place while underwater.
The reaction control screws of the capsule will generate a rotation of 11 rotations per minute during the freefall phase of the flight, which according to NASA will deliver a centripetal force equal to the gravity of the moon.
Blue Origin’s new capabilities for lunar gravity testing will be available by the end of 2022 and will play an important role in the experimentation with payloads that will accompany the Artemis mission that sends the first woman and the next man to the moon in the mid-2020s.
But Blue Origin and NASA’s partnership can simulate the same kind of gravity personnel that they will explore the moon
When upgraded, New Shepard will use its Response Control System (RCS) to rotate the capsule.
The RCS uses the rockets to control and manage the altitude, and is able to provide small amounts of propulsion to move the vessel in the desired direction or combination of direction.
Blue Origin’s first flight of this capability will target 11 rotations per minute to provide more than two minutes of continuous lunar pulling, exposing the technologies to this challenging but difficult-to-test condition.
NASA announced on Wednesday that it has passed an important milestone for the meeting with the Space Launch System (SLS) ‘megarocket’ which brings it closer to launch the Artemis crew to the moon.
The U.S. space agency said the ten segments that make up the two booster rockets were stacked vertically in the Kennedy Space Center for several weeks.
With the launch, the $ 18.6 billion SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever made and capable of taking cargo and astronauts to the moon.
NASA announced on Wednesday that it has passed an important milestone for the composition with the Space Launch System (SLS) ‘megarocket’ (photo). The U.S. space agency said the ten segments that make up the two booster rockets were stacked vertically on Kennedy Space for several weeks. Centre.
To get the rocket of Artemis I off the ground in 2021, it is crucial to achieve the goal of 2024 to land the first woman and next man on the moon with Artemis III.
Bruce Tilleer, SLS amplifier manager at the Marshall Space Flight Center, said: ‘When I first see the Space Launch System solid rocket amplifiers stack on the Mobile Launcher, I’m proud of the whole team.
“This team has created the tallest, most powerful boosters ever built for flight, boosters that will help the Artemis I mission to the moon.”
This launch in 2023 will be reminiscent of Apollo 10 and is intended to act as a costume for the 2024 mission.
NASA will land the first woman and next man on the Moon in 2024 as part of the Artemis mission
Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo and goddess of the moon in Greek mythology.
NASA has chosen her to personify its path back to the moon, which will allow astronauts to 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 basis for the exploration of human space and the dedication and ability to expand human existence to the Moon and beyond.
During this flight, the spacecraft will launch at the most powerful rocket in the world and fly farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown.
It will travel 450,000 miles (450,600 km) from Earth, thousands of miles across the moon in 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 phases of the mission
Orion will stay in space longer than any astronaut has done without connecting to a space station and returning home faster and hotter than ever before.
With this first reconnaissance mission, NASA takes the next steps of human exploration into deep space, where astronauts will build the systems near the moon and begin testing what is needed for lunar surface missions and exploration to other destinations farther from Earth, including Mars.
They will take the crew on a different course and test Orion’s critical systems with people on board.
The SLS rocket will send more than 26 tons to the moon from an initial configuration, to a final configuration that can send at least 45 tons.
Together, Orion, SLS and the ground systems at Kennedy will be able to meet the most challenging crew and cargo missions in deep space.
Finally, by 2028, NASA wants to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon as a result of the Artemis mission.
The space agency hopes that this colony will discover new scientific discoveries, show new technological advances and lay the foundation for private enterprises to build a lunar economy.