By 
October 3rd, 2016
Abort test of New Shepard suborbital rocket.
Credit: Blue Origin
Blue Origin’s planned launch has been rescheduled to Wednesday Oct. 5. Refer to the Blue Origin Twitter, https://twitter.com/blueorigin, for more details.
The suborbital passenger rocket program of Blue Origin is to take a next step – a test of the New Shepard’s in-flight escape system.
Slated to take place on the anniversary of the launch of the Soviet Union’s Sputnik 1 satellite, the October 4th flight of the rocket involves triggering of the vehicle’s abort system after launch.
Blue Origin says that the New Shepard rocket itself, which is reusable and will be making its 5th flight, will likely be destroyed “and its impact with the desert floor will be most impressive.”
Rocketeer Jeff Bezos.
Credit: Blue Origin
The company’s private spaceport site is in Texas.
Dramatic ending
The Tuesday, October 4 test will be webcast on the company’s website beginning at 10:50 am ET.
“Our next flight is going to be dramatic, no matter how it ends,” says Jeff Bezos, lead rocketeer of the Blue Origin group and Amazon.com guru.
“We’ll be doing our in-flight escape test with the same reusable New Shepard booster that we’ve already flown four times,” Bezos adds.
Up, up, and away! Blue Origin repeat success of its New Shepard rocket from West Texas launch site.
Credit: Blue Origin
“About 45 seconds after liftoff at about 16,000 feet, we’ll intentionally command escape,” Bezos explains. “Redundant separation systems will sever the crew capsule from the booster at the same time we ignite the escape motor.”
Escape motor
The escape motor will vector thrust to steer the capsule to the side, out of the booster’s path. The high acceleration portion of the escape lasts less than two seconds, but by then the capsule will be hundreds of feet away and diverging quickly. It will traverse twice through transonic velocities – the most difficult control region – during the acceleration burn and subsequent deceleration.
New Shepard flight profile.
Credit: Blue Origin
The capsule will then coast, stabilized by reaction control thrusters, until it starts descending. Its three drogue parachutes will deploy near the top of its flight path, followed shortly thereafter by main parachutes.
Unlikely survival
“It’s the first ever rocket booster to fly above the Karman line into space and then land vertically upon the Earth. And it’s done so multiple times. We’d really like to retire it after this test and put it in a museum,” Bezos explains.
Gradatim Ferociter!
Blue Origin team paints a tortoise on their vehicles after each flight.
Credit: Blue Origin
“Sadly, that’s not likely. This test will probably destroy the booster. The booster was never designed to survive an in-flight escape,” Bezos adds.
Check out this animation of what’s to come at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5i-f-D_A-M&feature=youtu.be
To watch the October 4th test flight, go to the firm’s website at:
Posted in Space News
