Months Until ULA Buyer is Announced – Blue Origin or Another Bidder

Lockheed Martin and Boeing is in the final stage of selecting a buyer for ULA between three bidders Blue Origin, a private equity fund, and an unknown big aerospace company. Buying United Launch Alliance would give Blue Origin an orbital rocket and the guaranteed government contracts. Amazon’s would be able to launch Project Kuiper satellites. …

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China Has Plans But No Launches of Copies of SpaceX Rockets and SpaceX Satellite

China, Guowang, has filed a spectrum application with the International Telecommunication Union for two constellations with the cryptic names GW-A59 and GW-2. This will be a 12992 satellite constellation. Chinese Aerospace conglomerate, Kasich, has large constellation satellite plans in August 2017 They announced plans for a constellation of 156 satellites with individual satellite capacities of …

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Cool New Space Station Designs that NASA Might Build

NASA is working with seven U.S. companies on next generation Space Station designs. ThinkOrbital, Vast and Sierra Space/Blue Origin have interesting designs. NASA is also talking to SpaceX and Northrop Grumman and Voyager/Nanoracks. Think Orbital will use a CanadaArm to assemble hexagonal and pentagram pieces that will be stacked during launch. They will be assembled …

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Blue Origin Blue Moon Lander and CisLunar Transporter

Blue Origin and its National Team partners will develop and fly both a lunar lander that can make a precision landing anywhere on the Moon’s surface and a cislunar transporter. NASA has awarded a NextSTEP-2 Appendix P Sustaining Lunar Development (SLD) contract to Blue Origin. Blue Origin’s National Team partners include Lockheed Martin, Draper, Boeing, …

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Blue Origin Making Solar Cells from Lunar Regolith

Since 2021, Blue Origin has been making solar cells and transmission wire from regolith simulants. Using regolith simulants, their reactor produces iron, silicon, and aluminum through molten regolith electrolysis, in which an electrical current separates those elements from the oxygen to which they are bound. Oxygen for propulsion and life support is a byproduct. Above …

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Blue Origin Nears Flight Test Certification for BE-4 Rocket Engine

The Blue Origin BE-4 might get certified for flight tests by December of this year. It is about 5-6 years late for an original 2017 planned operational date. The BE-4 engine project started in 2014. It would be the most powerful liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueled rocket engine ever developed. Using an oxygen-rich staged combustion …

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Blue Origin New Shepard NS-23 Fails at Max Q During Payload Flight

New Shepard’s 23rd mission, a dedicated payloads flight, was to fly 36 payloads from academia, research institutions, and students across the globe. The booster rocket failed about 1 minute into the flight as it reached MaxQ. The unmanned crew capsule did seperate and land safely. There were no passengers but if there were passengers they …

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