Jeff Bezos's Space Company Reveals Some Secrets

An anonymous reader writes "Jeff Bezos's commercial spaceflight company, Blue Origin, has kept its plans secret to better compete with rivals such as Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic. But in order to build its launch facility in West Texas, it has revealed some details of its future operations: Blue Origin's Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) will carry three or more passengers on suborbital, ballistic trajectories to altitudes in excess of 325,000 feet above sea level. It will launch vertically and land vertically, and will use hydrogen peroxide and kerosene as propellants. It will operate autonomously under control of on-board computers, with no ground control. Blue Origin plans a maximum rate of 52 launches per year."

Comments

Culberson County

[ChrisF79]

I don't know about this one. "Culberson County, we have a problem" just doesn't have a good ring to it.

No problems here

[DragonMageWTF]

will use hydrogen peroxide and kerosene as propellants. It will operate autonomously under control of on-board computers, with no ground control.

No problems what so ever. Sounds incredibly safe to me.

Re:No problems here

[Timesprout]

It is, all the rocket side of the business will be subcontracted to Acme, they have been in the business for years and really know their stuff.

Landing vertically

[madaxe42]

I'm assuming they mean they're going to use 'chutes to land - landing on reverse thrusters or what have you in earth's gravity well could be fairly fuel expensive, and doesn't make much sense.

Re:Landing vertically

[WolfWithoutAClause]

Actually, it's not too bad. You need about 10% of the landing weight of the vehicle to be fuel.

However, it more or less has to be computer controlled descent; the timing is a bit critical.

The description I heard was:

You're coming in and you think the engines should fire soon, otherwise you're going to die.

Then you think it's got to fire now, otherwise you're dead.

Then you fall some more.

Then you *know* your going to die.

And then they fire, and then you land.

Then you go change your trousers.

Unlimited flights for $79 a year?

[AtariAmarok]

"Blue Origin's Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) will carry three or more passengers"

As long as the passengers after the flight are reusable too, it should be a workable, safe plan. However, could we claim spaceflights under the "Amazon Prime Plan", which claims "Unlimited shipping privileges cost just $79 per year"? After all, it all boils down to being shipped by Amazon.

interface

[justforaday]

Apparently, the interface for the vehicle will be a single button with the word "click" stenciled underneath it.

Re:interface

[Anne_Nonymous]

From the article:

"Astronauts will be protected from massive the G-forces of liftoff by being shrink-wrapped to a piece of cardboard and surrounded on three sides by AirPak (TM)."

Re:Cue the unmanned spaceflight mob

[AtariAmarok]

"Cue the unmanned-spaceflight-is-the-only-way-to-go zealots..."

I suggest a compromise with these "unmanned spaceflght zealots". We send each of them up in a manned spaceflight. At some pre-determined point, the spacecraft is programmed to become unmanned due to explosive decompression of the passenger compartment. Then, the flight continues on, unmanned. Everybody's happy.

Next: eBay

[AtariAmarok]

Next thing you know, eBay will offer spaceflights, too. Just read the negative feedback carefully, and look for things like:

"The TANG was stale"

"Space captain farted in airlock and refused to provide refund"

"Unsecured lunch lockers: tribbles ate my sandwich"

"I am a smoker, and was told that smokers had to step outside during spaceflight. Do NOT buy!"

not bad

[Anonymous Coward]

at one launch per week, it wouldnt take more than a year or two to send prety much everyone i dont like into space. ^_^

52 Launches a year?

[lintocs]

I guess weekly launches aren't unattainable, as long as there's no requirement for an equal number of landings, and a large supply of launch vehicles.

S

Cart, horse

[Princeofcups]

I don't know. To me this is like the Wright brothers announcing their new airline and airport before ever flying at Kittyhawk.

jfs

Re:Space company?

[Momoru]

Yup...and he has already patented the "One-Click Launch Sequence"

Re:Here's a problem set for you:

[madaxe42]

Well, in a nutshell -

The amount of GPE gained during an ascent requires X amount of fuel.

Descent requires no fuel to move downwards, however K.E. will be accumulated equal to the sum of the GPE and disippated thermal energy.

Therefore the amount of fuel required to stop a descent is less than that required to ascend.

To be honest, the best solution would probably be a combination of the two - drogue chute, main chute (both lightweight and easily re-deployable in future missions), which ensure a low velocity, and also proper alignment for the retro-rockets, which could be used for final touchdown (much like several mars missions).

And yes, I am a rocket scientist. :)

Sand Crash?

[centauri]

Neal Stephenson (Snow Crash, The Diamond Age, The Baroque Cycle, etc.) has taken a part-time job as a consultant for Blue Origins.

Re:Prediction...

[rev_sanchez]

There are a few standard hospital diagnosis codes for spacecraft accidents:
spacecraft accident ground crew
spacecraft accident occupant
spacecraft accident person (non-crew)
falling in a spacecraft (I guess that means floating into something)
and the generic spacecraft accident

Being almost too young to remember Challenger we'd kid around about these at work until Columbia.