NASA’s planned Mars science mission will ride up aboard Blue Origin’s big government contract-starter, the New Glenn. The heavy-lift rocket has yet to be certified for high-flown missions, but with a successful test flight already under its belt, the tech giant is well on its way to becoming a reliable player in the launch market. With generous contracts from both NASA and commercial entities alike, there’s little doubt that New Glenn will play an important role in humanity’s exploration of our neighboring planet—preparing us for future trips to Mars and beyond.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has stated that New Glenn is intended to be the successor to the company’s flagship Falcon Heavy rocket. Despite claims from some sources that its development has been somewhat behind schedule, it seems clear that SpaceX is intent on fielding a competitive heavy lifter. New Glenn may not have made an impressively quick debut, but there’s no question that it will one day fly humans into space – and potentially beyond.
The original launch date for New Glenn was projected to be in late 2021, but it has since been refined. The next window for launch seems to be Q4 of 2022, but this date is already out of reach. Although I have not been able to confirm this information, it seems that a contract with the Pentagon may have failed earlier this year and pushed the date back.
With such a generous contract from NASA, the 13 companies selected for the VADR program have high hopes for success. SpaceX is already hard at work on their first contract, with International Launch Services (ILS) set to carry out the launch of a commerical communications satellite. If all goes as planned, this could be the breakthrough that brings low-cost spaceflight within reach for more people.
Class D payloads are small satellites and satellites that fall in between Class A and Class C. Generally speaking, Class D payloads tolerate relatively high risk, making them an ideal platform for technical and architecture innovation. As a result, these satellites are used to carry out cutting-edge research that could benefit humanity as a whole.
Space exploration has always been a risky proposition. Though there have been many successes, such as the Apollo program, every journey into space carries with it the potential for catastrophic failure. For example, only six astronauts have ever succeeded in walking on the moon – and all but one of those missions ended in failure. In recent years, however, small spacecraft designed for less ambitious purposes have flown to different parts of our Solar System and even beyond. These “flagship” missions are typically single-craft affairs with a crew of five or more people who are tasked with accomplishing specific objectives or exploring new territory. This raises another concern: what happens if something goes wrong during launch? There is no backup system available should something go wrong during launch preparations or during mission operations. If everything goes according to plan but an unforeseen problem arises later on in the mission, that could be disastrous – potentially leaving everyone stranded
If Rocket Lab’s estimates are correct, the company will have its export-ready Electron rocket ready to launch in just over four years. Joining a growing list of companies racing to bring new spaceflight technologies online, Rocket Lab is aiming to make launching payloads into orbit more accessible and less expensive than ever before.
Blue Origin and Kuiper have been discussing a potential tie-up for some time now. Both companies are working on massive new spacecraft that could revolutionize spaceflight, but it’s unclear if or when their projects will actually be ready to fly. It seems most likely that the two companies will eventually join forces, but there’s no telling when that might happen.
