Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft made headlines in November when it launched 329,839 ft into the sky and flawlessly landed right-side up on Texan ground. Over the weekend, Blue Origin took New Shepard for another successful spin, demonstrating the spacecraft’s reusability.
During Friday’s trial, New Shepard blasted off to 333,582 ft before the capsule and booster returned back to Earth. Retro thrust slowed the unmanned crew capsule down from 15 mph to 3 mph for a soft landing.
To prepare for the weekend’s launch, “the team replaced the crew capsule parachutes, replaced the pyro igniters, conducted function and avionics checkouts, and made several software improvements, including a noteworthy one,” Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos wrote in a blog post. “Rather than the vehicle translating to land at the exact center of the pad, it now initially targets the center, but then sets down at a position of convenience on the pad, prioritizing vehicle attitude ahead of precise lateral positioning. It’s like a pilot lining up a plane with the centerline of the runway. If the plane is a few feet off center as you get close, you don’t swerve at the last minute to ensure hitting the exact mid-point.”
Blue Origin’s rocket reuse test comes after SpaceX successfully launched and landed one of its Falcon 9 rockets, which occurred on Dec. 21. SpaceX’s Elon Musk—after the landing—said the Falcon 9 tested will likely never fly again. Instead, “the company will perform a static fire test—where the rocket is held down and the engines are fired at full thrust—on the Launchpad to confirm that the rocket’s systems are still in good shape,” The Verge reported.
Bezos, in his blog post, explains his affinity for rocket-powered vertical landing. It’s the typical inverted pendulum problem, wrote Bezos, who noted that such a problem can be solved with ease as the size of the pendulum increases due to its greater moment of inertia.
“We solved the inverted pendulum problem on New Shepard with an engine that dynamically gimbals to balance the vehicle as it descends,” wrote Bezos. “And since New Shepard is the smallest booster we will ever build, this carefully choreographed dance atop our plume will just get easier from here.”
Currently, Blue Origin is three years into development on their first orbital vehicle. More flight tests on the New Shepard will occur this year.
