advertisement
Facebook
X
LinkedIn
WhatsApp
Reddit

Blue Origin has started a rocket measuring contest with SpaceX

The measuring contest happening between billionaires with spacefaring firms is far from over, but it’s taken a weird turn.

As you might be aware, SpaceX has been selected by NASA to land astronauts on the Moon.

As NASA explains, “The agency’s powerful Space Launch System rocket will launch four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft for their multi-day journey to lunar orbit. There, two crew members will transfer to the SpaceX human landing system (HLS) for the final leg of their journey to the surface of the Moon. After approximately a week exploring the surface, they will board the lander for their short trip back to orbit where they will return to Orion and their colleagues before heading back to Earth.”

That’s a rather complex chain of events that needs to happen and Blue Origin appears to be aware of this according to a infographic first spotted by CNBC.

You can view the infographic here as a PDF. We will admit to having a chuckle at the literal rocket measurement graphic which showcases how far astronauts would have to travel from the hatch to the ground.

The infographic claims that the Lunar Starship is “immensely complex and high risk”.

“There are an unprecedented number of technologies, developments, and operations that have never been done before for Starship to land on the Moon. This includes developing Super Heavy – not only the largest launch vehicle stage ever produced, but one that has to be reusable – and Starship – the first ever reusable second stage. Then, the two systems must work together,” explains Blue Origin.

“A launch site in Boca Chica, Texas that has never conducted an orbital launch must demonstrate the ability to do so 7-11 times within 1-week increments. And cryogenic fluid transfer – a process that has also never been done – must work to refuel up to 100 MT of propellants from Starship to Starship that also requires development of a new tanker Starship variant. Finally, for just a single Starship lunar landing, this must all be done more than 10 times flawlessly. This is so that Starship can get to the surface and back with a single-stage ascent/descent vehicle, without dissimilar redundancy in abort engines,” it adds.

In contrast Blue Origin says that its National Team architecture would only require three launches – compared to SpaceX’s 10 – and is primed to fly on multiple existing launch vehicles making it easier to launch and with fewer in-space rendezvouses than SpaceX.

“Further, the system is entirely built on heritage systems and proven technologies that are flying today,” says Blue Origin.

While we’d prefer not to pick sides, Blue Origin makes a number of good points.

Starship has only landed successfully once but, SpaceX also has a long history of nailing the landing of its Falcon 9 rockets. Could SpaceX do the same with Starship? We’re not qualified to make that call.

Make no mistake, SpaceX has a long way to go before it’s landing humans on the Moon but given the rate of progress from the firm in recent years, long is a relative term here. As an example, in December Starship SN8 met a fiery end as did Starship SN10 in March although that landing was a massive improvement.

By May, SpaceX stuck the landing and things can only improve from here on out.

Blue Origin appears to be trying to get NASA to rethink it’s decision to choose SpaceX but as CNBC points out, SpaceX claims it can do everything that Blue Origin outlined in its HLS graphic for $2.9 billion while Blue Origin’s bid for an HLS came in at $5.99 billion. Given that NASA’s budgetary constraints were a factor, it makes sense to go with the firm which offers a cheaper price.

As for orbital flight, according to SpaceX, Starship is prepping for its first orbital flight as we speak.

Neither SpaceX nor Elon Musk has responded to this infographic, but if they do we suspect the measuring contest is going to amp up.

[Image – CC 0 Pixabay]

advertisement

About Author

advertisement

Related News

Subscribe to
our newsletters

[mailpoet_form id=”1″]