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Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin Launches Its First Rocket
Zothecula writes: Billionaires who made their cash in dot-coms from the 1990s successfully launching commercial rockets is officially a trend, now that Jeff Bezos has followed in the footsteps of Elon Musk with Wednesday's successful test flight of Blue Origin's New Shepard space vehicle. "Our 110,000-lbf thrust liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen BE-3 engine worked flawlessly, powering New Shepard through Mach 3 to its planned test altitude of 307,000 feet. Guidance, navigation and control was nominal throughout max Q and all of ascent. The in-space separation of the crew capsule from the propulsion module was perfect. Any astronauts on board would have had a very nice journey into space and a smooth return." Here are the images and video.
Someone isn't very good at statistical analysis...
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Why is GM doing the same thing that Ford is doing? As long as there is a market for space launches, competition will align the incentives better than other arrangements. We'll get to see more different approaches tried, and find out what's best. Costs will generally go down.
If competition takes root, then in 30 years a suborbital ticket would be affordable to many of us.
'Rich people having fun' does have its merits. It may be an inefficient use of capital, but it can still advance science and stimulate the economy.
Certainly it's preferable to 'Rich people sitting on their wealth'.
The point, as I understand it, is that even if these specific vehicles cannot be scaled up to have orbital capabilities (and I think they may well be), they WILL serve as stepping stones to vehicles that WILL have full orbital capabilities. With their suborbital "toys," these firms are building up the knowledge, skills, and technical infrastructure necessary for a real spacegoing capability.
Having multiple private space ventures is the best way for the US to stay in the space game. Why stay in the space game? Because the winners will be the dominant players in the planet's future. The more space-capable players we have, the better off we'll be.
"My strength is as the strength of ten men, for I am wired to the eyeballs on espresso."
I likes the rockets. I would like a Best Buy ad that could perhaps not block just one of my screens, but all 5, and then also order some stuff for me on its on that I don't want, like one of everything from Monster.
ignorance is bliss. googlefiberatx.com