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More Clues About Blue Origin's Space Plans

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the blue's-clues dept.

FleaPlus writes "Blue Origin, the secretive company started by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, has recently released a number of new details about their suborbital launch plans and their private desert launch facility. The vehicle will be fully reusable, and similar in many ways to the vertical-takeoff-and-landing DC-X. The details were part of a 229-page environmental impact statement the company filed to comply with federal regulations. The company plans to start launching test vehicles later this year, with commercial operations beginning in 2010."

2 of 74 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Reusable! by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 3, Informative

    The 26 hour turnaround was for the DC-X.

    The speed of this turnaround was mainly due to being able to take off from the same spot it landed on.
    Its like the old Lunar Lander games where you just boost back up into the sky after refueling.

    Looks very impressive.

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    liqbase :: faster than paper
  2. Re:Reusable! by Billosaur · · Score: 3, Informative

    The 26 hour turnaround was for the DC-X.

    And people forget that the DC-X was a concept vehicle, to prove that the technology existed and could be adapted to VTOL rockets. It was Pete Conrad's dream to take the DC-X and expand it, and make it a viable competitor for space commerce, a dream he saw dashed when the DC-X crashed during a test in July 1995.

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    GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network