Blue Origin test fires a powerful new hydrogen- and oxygen-fueled
American rocket engine at the company's West Texas facility in Van Horn. During
the test, the BE-3 engine fired at full power for more than two minutes to
simulate a launch, then paused for about four minutes, mimicking a coast through
space before it re-ignited for a brief final burn. The last phase of the test
covered the work the engine could perform in landing the booster back softly on
Earth. Blue Origin, a partner of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, is developing
its Orbital Launch Vehicle, which could eventually be used to launch the
company's Space Vehicle into orbit to transport crew and cargo to low-Earth
orbit. (Photo Credit: Blue Origin)
NASA commercial crew partner Blue Origin of Kent, Wash., announced it has
tested a new, hydrogen- and oxygen-fueled engine designed to lift the company's
crewed Space Vehicle on future missions out of Earth's atmosphere. Blue Origin
is one of the American companies developing next generation rockets and
spacecraft capable of carrying humans to low-Earth orbit.
Blue Origin conducted the test of its BE-3 rocket engine on a stand at the
company's West Texas facility near Van Horn on Nov. 20. The engine fired for 2
1/2 minutes, then paused for several minutes before re-igniting for a minute in
a pattern that simulated a suborbital mission.
NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP) has been working with the company on
several aspects of the engine's development. The program supported testing of
the BE-3 under the agency’s Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2)
initiative and continues to offer technical support. NASA and Blue Origin also
are partnered in review and tests of the company's Space Vehicle design.
"Blue Origin has made steady progress since the start of our partnership
under the first Commercial Crew Development round," said Phil McAlister, NASA's
director of Commercial Spaceflight Development. "We're thrilled to see another
successful BE-3 engine test fire."
During the test, the engine demonstrated a full mission duty cycle, mimicking
the flight of the company’s suborbital New Shepard vehicle by thrusting at
110,000 pounds in a 145-second boost phase, shutting down to simulate coast
through apogee. The engine then restarted and throttled down to 25,000 pounds
thrust to simulate controlled vertical landing.
Blue Origin's Orbital Launch Vehicle will use the BE-3 engine to propel the
company's Space Vehicle into orbit. Unlike other boosters that burn once and
then fall away to never be used again, the Reusable Booster System is designed
to send a crew into space and then make a soft landing on Earth before being
refurbished for another mission. The Space Vehicle is envisioned to carry people
into orbit and could potentially carry astronauts to the International Space
Station.
"Working with NASA accelerated our BE-3 development by over a year in
preparation for flight testing on our New Shepard suborbital system and
ultimately on vehicles carrying humans to low-Earth orbit," said Rob Meyerson,
president and program manager of Blue Origin. "The BE-3 is a versatile, low-cost
hydrogen engine applicable to NASA and commercial missions."
The engine firing comes about a year after the BE-3's thrust chamber was
tested at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Developing a new rocket
engine is one of the most difficult aspects of launch vehicle design because of
the dynamics involved with creating a powerful machine that can safely operate
in a range of -423 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature of liquid hydrogen, to
more than 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit in the engine during a firing. The BE-3 is
the first new liquid-hydrogen rocket engine built for production since the
RS-68, which was developed more than a decade ago for the Delta IV rocket
family.
All of NASA's industry partners, including Blue Origin, continue to meet
their established milestones in developing commercial crew transportation
capabilities.
For more information about NASA's Commercial Crew Program and its aerospace
industry partners, visit:
NASA Advances Effort to Again Launch Astronauts from
U.S. Soil to Space Station
This artist concept features a NASA astronaut, the
Earth and the International Space Station. The Earth focuses on the United
States, from which NASA's Commercial Crew Program plans to safely launch
astronauts using commercially developed space transportation capabilities by the
end of 2017.
Image Credit: NASA/Greg Lee
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NASA took another step Tuesday to restore an American capability to launch
astronauts from U.S. soil to the International Space Station by the end of 2017,
subject to the availability of adequate funding. The agency's Commercial Crew
Program (CCP) requested proposals from U.S. companies to complete development of
crew transportation systems that meet NASA certification requirements and begin
conducting crewed flights to the space station.
"NASA is committed to launching American astronauts from U.S. soil in the
very near future, and we're taking a significant step toward achieving that goal
today," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "Our American industry partners
have already proven they can safely and reliably launch supplies to the space
station, and now we're working with them to get our crews there as well.
However, we will require that these companies provide spacecraft that meet the
same rigorous safety standards we had for the space shuttle program, while
providing good value to the American taxpayer."
This phase of the CCP, called Commercial Crew Transportation Capability
(CCtCap), will enable NASA to ensure a company's crew transportation system is
safe, reliable and cost-effective. The certification process will assess
progress throughout the production and testing of one or more integrated space
transportation systems, which include rockets, spacecraft and ground operations.
Requirements under CCtCap also will include at least one crewed flight test to
the space station before certification can be granted.
"The U.S. commercial space industry has made tremendous progress designing
and developing the next generation of U.S. crew transportation systems for
low-Earth orbit," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for
human exploration and operations in Washington. "Finalizing these systems in
accordance with NASA’s certification requirements will not be easy. The
acquisition approach we are using is designed to leverage the innovative power
of industry with the expertise, skill and hard learned lessons from NASA. This
request for proposals begins the journey for a new era in U.S. human
spaceflight."
As with all of NASA's human spaceflight activities, astronaut safety will be
a priority. CCtCap ensures a strong emphasis on crew safety through its
requirements, including NASA insight throughout development and thorough testing
of the space transportation systems.
"NASA is taking its years of expertise in human spaceflight systems and
partnering with industry to develop a safe and reliable crew transportation
system for NASA and for the nation," said Phil McAlister, NASA's director of
commercial spaceflight development. "These certification contracts are part of a
strategy that will help ensure human safety."
NASA expects to award one or more CCtCap contracts no later than September
2014.
CCtCap is the second phase of a two-phased effort that began last year. It
builds on the accomplishments of a first certification phase, called
Certification Products Contracts (CPC). CPC required companies to deliver a
range of products that establish a baseline for their integrated system
certification. CCtCap is open to any company with systems at the design maturity
level consistent with the completion of the first certification phase.
CCtCap contractors will plan, manage and execute long-term production and
operational plans for their systems. The firm-fixed price contracts, based on
the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), will include at least one, crewed
flight test to verify the spacecraft can dock to the space station and that all
its systems perform as expected. CCtCap contracts also will include at least two
and as many as six crewed, post-certification missions to enable NASA to meet
its station crew rotation requirements.
While CCtCap will enable NASA to acquire a capability to transport crews to
the space station, systems developed by U.S. industry can be marketed and used
by other customers.
As NASA works with U.S. industry partners to develop commercial spaceflight
capabilities to low Earth orbit, the agency also is developing the Orion
spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS), a crew capsule and heavy-lift
rocket to provide an entirely new capability for human exploration. Designed to
be flexible for launching spacecraft for crew and cargo missions, SLS and Orion
will expand human presence beyond low-Earth orbit and enable new missions of
exploration across the solar system.
For more information about NASA's Commercial Crew Program, visit:
To view the CCtCap Request for Proposals, visit:
Blue Origin Test-Fires New Rocket Engine
12.03.13 - NASA commercial crew partner Blue Origin of Kent, Wash., announced it has tested a new, hydrogen- and oxygen-fueled engine designed to lift the company's crewed Space Vehicle on future missions out of Earth's atmosphere. Blue Origin is one of the American companies developing next generation rockets ...
Massive Black Hole Duo: Possible Sighting by WISE
12.03.13 - Astronomers have spotted what appear to be two supermassive black holes at the heart of a remote galaxy, circling each other like dance partners. The incredibly rare sighting was made with the help of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.
Hubble Finds Subtle Signals of Water on Distant Planets
12.03.13 - Using the powerful eye of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, two teams of scientists have found faint signatures of water in the atmospheres of five distant planets. The presence of atmospheric water was reported previously on a few exoplanets orbiting stars beyond our solar system, but this is the fir ...
LAS Tower Prepped for Orion's First Mission
12.03.13 - NASA engineers and contractors have successfully completed the Orion Launch Abort System (LAS) tower, marking a milestone that puts NASA one step closer to sending Orion 3,600 miles into space on the uncrewed Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) mission, scheduled to launch in September 2014. Orion is ...
Comet ISON Spotted From Space Station
12.02.13 - Prior to its journey around the sun, comet ISON was photographed on Nov. 23 by one of the Expedition 38 crew members aboard the International Space Station. This image reveals a pin-head sized view of an object which is actually the comet ISON, seen just to the right of center and a little below cen ...
Airborne Radar Looking Through Thick Polar Ice
12.02.13 - The bedrock hidden beneath the thick ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica has intrigued researchers for years. Scientists are interested in how the shape of this hidden terrain affects how ice moves -- a key factor in making predictions about the future of these massive ice reservoirs and th ...
NASA's HS3 Hurricane Mission Calls it a Wrap for 2013
12.02.13 - NASA's Hurricane and Severe Storms Sentinel airborne mission known as HS3 wrapped up for the 2013 Atlantic Ocean hurricane season at the end of September, and had several highlights. HS3 will return to NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va., for the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season.
'Space Station Live' and New Weekly Web Series
11.29.13 - Starting in December, NASA will show the public the International Space Station in new ways that will highlight all the scientific research, cutting-edge technology testing and even the wonder of living and working in space. NASA is enhancing its daily NASA Television "Space Station Live" program an ...
Comet ISON May Have Survived
11.29.13 - Continuing a history of surprising behavior, material from Comet ISON appeared on the other side of the sun on the evening on Nov. 28, 2013, despite not having been seen in observations during its closest approach to the sun. The question remains whether it is merely debris from the comet, or if som ...
Do Black Holes Come in Size Medium?
11.29.13 - NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, is busy scrutinizing a class of black holes that may fall into the proposed medium-sized category. Evidence for medium-sized black holes might come from objects called ultraluminous X-ray sources, or ULXs. > What is a black hole? > NuSTAR Mi ...
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
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