Category: Uncategorized

       I have blogged before about all the debris orbiting the Earth left over from space launches. It is estimated that there are more than one hundred million pieces of debris that are less than 1 centimeter in size. They are too small to track with radar, but some are still big enough to cause serious damage to a space craft because they are traveling so fast.
       The International Space Station currently has special shields to handle orbital debris that is smaller than 1 ½ centimeters. Pieces that are larger than that can be tracked by ground-based radar. If they pose a sufficient hazard to the ISS, there are thruster attached to the ISS that can be used to move it out of the way of the debris.
       A new Space Debris Sensor has been developed. It will be used to monitor small space debris around the ISS. The system will be tested for two or three years. It will be recording debris between .05 millimeters and .5 millimeters. Any debris that is more than .3 millimeters will be tracked from the ground as part of the study.
        The SDS will be delivered to the ISS as part of a SpaceX supply mission by December 12, 2018. It will be mounted on the Columbus module of the ISS and provide nearly real-time tracking and recording of small space debris.
       John Hamilton, one of the principle researchers on the SDS project said, “Debris this small has the potential to damage exposed thermal protection systems, spacesuits, windows and unshielded sensitive equipment. On the space station, it can create sharp edges on handholds along the path of spacewalkers, which can also cause damage the suits.”
      The SDS has three layers. It is able to record the size, speed, direction and density of the small objects in the debris cloud. The debris penetrates the first two layers which are identical. Each contains acoustic sensors and resistive lines which are .075 millimeters wide. They provide information on the time, location and speed of the particles. The final layer is made of Lexan which stops the particles and records their density. None of the captured particles will be recovered but the SDS does provide important information.
        Hamilton said, “The backstop has sensors to measure how hard it is hit to estimate the kinetic energy of the impacting object. By combining this with velocity and size measurements from the first two layers, we hope to calculate the density of the object.”
        The information gathered by the SDS system should allow the researchers to create a detailed map of the entire orbital debris cloud at that altitude. They will be able to plan for the placement of future sensors beyond the ISS and low Earth orbit where there is greater risk of damage from orbital debris.
       Hamilton said, “The orbital debris environment is constantly changing and needs to be continually monitored. While the upper atmosphere causes debris in low orbits to decay and either burn up of fall to Earth, every new launch and new event in space will add to the cloud of debris.
Space Debris Sensor diagram:

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       I have often blogged about the International Space Station, a cooperative project of space faring nations in orbit around the earth. A lot of experiments are carried out by the international crew of the ISS. The U.S. and Russia are two of the major players in the project. Now Russia has announced its intention to send up a new module to be connected to the ISS to serve as a resort destination to the ultra-wealthy who want to spend a few days in orbit.
       Of all the suggestions for businesses that might play a part in the development of a robust space industry, I have always thought that the idea of space tourism is just not very realistic. Consider the level of tourism for Antarctica, not exactly a popular destination. Some of the companies working on launch vehicles have said that they do intend to offer flights to tourists but they will be expensive, uncomfortable and short. On the other hand, for those with the money, there might be a few who would be willing to pay for a stay on the ISS.
       The Russians say that they will add luxury accommodations to the ISS with their new module. The features of the propose addition to the ISS include private cabins with big windows, personal hygiene facilities, exercise equipment and Wi-Fi. Space tourists will have the opportunity to take space walks with trained astronauts, if they wish. The first package they will offer to tourists will be a one to two week stay at the ISS for forty million dollars. Adding a space walk and extending the stay to a month will cost an additional twenty million.
         The detailed plan was released by Rosatom this month. The new luxury module will weight twenty tons and be about fifty feet long. It will contain over three thousand cubic feet of pressurized space. There will be four personal cabins with about seven cubic feet each. There will also be two “hygiene and medical stations” of seven cubic feet each. Each personal cabin will have a window of nine inches in diameter with a sixteen inch diameter window in the lounge area of the module. Russia’s prime space station contractor, RKK Energia, is working on an arrangement to pay for the construction of the module with a mixture of private and state investors. In order to turn a profit, the module will be customized for paying customers.
       The estimated cost of the new module will be between two hundred and eighty million and four hundred and fifty million. RKK Energia plans to fly two tourists and one professional astronaut on each of four Soyuz flights each year. RKK Energia hopes to be able to recover their costs and start turning a profit in about seven years. To get the process going, RKK Energia plans to offer twelve tourists a trip to the ISS for about four million each. This will provide some initial seed money for work on the module. During the two years leading up to the flight, each tourist will pay about twelve million dollars with a final eleven million dollar payment at the time of the flight.  
       The Russians have been considering space tourism for years. However, with the end of the U.S. Space Shuttle program, the only way to get to the ISS has been on the Russian Soyuz shuttles. All the seats available for trips to the ISS have been booked by other nations for their astronauts. Fortunately, private space companies such as SpaceX under contract to NASA are working on space taxis to take people to the ISS. This will free up the Soyuz shuttles to bring paying tourists to the ISS.
        As I said above, I don’t believe that space tourism will be much of a market for decades at best. On the other hand, I will the Russian the best of luck on their plans.
NEMS ISS module design which will be used for the hotel module:

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      Many fairytales and legends feature a person being put into a long sleep, in some cases decades. With the advent of the scientific age, the idea of being able to put someone into a deep sleep in order for them to endure long space flights became popular. However, the complexity of human biological processes were not understood well enough to safely put someone to sleep for years and then bring them back to wakefulness with their health intact. A new company believes that they can develop suspended animation that really works.
        SpacewWorks is a new company in the space industry. It’s website states, “SpaceWorks delivers advanced products and services to the space community. From hypersonic flight test systems and small spacecraft to aerospace software development and engineering services, SpaceWorks is focused on future flight and space exploration technologies.”
         Spaceworks is proposing the use of a suspended animation system they call “therapeutic hypothermia.” In this procedure, the body is cooled to a little below normal body temperature which is ninety-eight point six degrees. This process is already used in medicine to give doctors more time to treat serious brain injuries or cardiac arrest. The body of the patient is lowered to between ninety degrees and ninety-four degrees Fahrenheit. So far, patients are only kept at the lower temperature for two to four days. However, there have been tests where a subject was kept at the lower temperature for up to two weeks. Spaceworks thinks that they can extend this lowered temperature state for months. They also believe that they can develop the technology needed to automate the process and apply it to deep space missions.
       In depictions in novels and movies, suspended animation is carried out in individual pods. The system envisioned by Spaceworks would feature an open space where astronauts could sleep in shifts. There would be some robotic arms and monitoring systems to take care of the sleepers. There would be small transnasal tubes in their noses to assist in cooling and heating. This system would be lighter than other designs. Sleeping in shifts insures that there will always be someone awake to deal with maintenance and emergencies.
       One big problem with suspended animation is the concern about muscular deterioration. SpaceWorks is considering a system which utilizes electrical stimulation of the muscles while the subject is asleep. There has also been work done on animal biochemistry to discover how animals can endure long periods of hibernation without muscular atrophy.
        Being able to have some of the crew hibernating at any time would mean that the ship would have to carry less fuel, food, water and air than would otherwise be required. There is also the issue of dealing with the psychological impacts of depression, claustrophobia, or anxiety caused by boredom and close quarters of a long deep space. Allowing crew to sleep through a lot of the  flight would help solve these problems.        Spaceworks hopes to be able to begin animal testing next year.

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      Many science fiction movies begin with the return of a probe from space which brings some sort of alien life to Earth from space to wreak havoc on our ecosystem. For a long time it was though that the conditions in space were too harsh for the survival of any sort of living organism. However, we have found a living creature called a tardigrade which is so hearty that it can survive vacuum and radiation.  
        When we send probes to Mars, we sterilize the probes so we don’t introduce living organisms from Earth into the Martian environment. And we are careful when bringing samples back from celestial bodies that we don’t introduce alien life into the Earth’s environment. There are theories that life may have originated elsewhere and spread though space to land on Earth. A recent finding by a Russian Cosmonaut named Anton Shkaplerov raises the odds that this could have happened.
       Yeas ago, Russian Cosmonauts swabbed the external surface of the International Space Station during space walks and stored the swabs. Now examination of those swabs indicates that there were bacteria on the external surface of the ISS that were not on the modules when they were first sent into orbit.
       Shkaplerov tooks some of the original swabs and his announcement of his findings of bacteria surprised NASA officials at the time because they said that they did not receive any notice from the Russians about the bacteria. Russian scientists examined the space-walk bacterial samples and said that it was apparently sea plankton that was on the outside of the station.
        NASA has had nothing substantial to say about the Russian announcement. They refer reporters to Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. Roscosmos has been distributing a couple of articles to people asking for information on the discoveries. One article talks about the finding of the plankton on the ISS. The other article talks about the possibility that bacteria from asteroids and comets might collect on the outside of the ISS.
       While the existence of the tardigrade and the finding of organic molecules in space bolster the idea of bacterial life existing in space, there is a more logical and less radical explanation. The Earth’s atmosphere extends out to about six thousand miles but is very, very tenuous at that altitude. The mesosphere layer of the atmosphere extends out to about four hundred miles. The ISS orbits around two hundred and fifty miles above the Earth. It is at least theoretically possible there may be undiscovered bacteria in the mesosphere which were collected by the ISS.
       There are recent reports that suggest that high velocity flows of space dust could possibly incorporate bacteria from the Earth’s atmosphere and carry it through space to other worlds. And, of course, the reverse possibility exists that life on Earth may have been carried here from other worlds by such flows of space dust.
      While we are looking for life on the surface of other worlds such as Mars, it may be floating along with other space dust on the solar winds generated by the sun.
International Space Station:

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Part 2 of 2 parts
       NASA maintains the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio to “design and develop innovative technology to advance NASA’s missions in aeronautics and space exploration.” At the Center, there is a fourteen-ton sealed stainless steel tank known as the Glenn Extreme Environments Rig which contains a simulation of the conditions of the surface of Venus.
      The original purpose of the chamber was to test efficient nuclear-fueled Stirling generators to refrigerate electronics for Venus missions. However, the project was canceled in 2013. A dedicated researcher managed to find funding to continue developing the GEER.
       The current version of the chamber can mix eight different gases to simulate the Venusian atmosphere. It can also inject water and other liquids into the chamber to run different tests. It has been used to simulate the effects of the Venusian atmosphere on the types of rocks that are found on the Venusian surface.
       NASA is also pioneering a new generation of electronic chips at the GLC that may be able to withstand the conditions on the surface of Venus without being protected by massive shielding. These chips would be able to land on Venus in simple landers and monitor wind, temperature, chemistry, pressure, and seismic waves. Unlike the bulky primitive Soviet landers, these landers would be able to continue to function for months as opposed to hours.
      Early this decade, the scientists at the GRC began work on special heat-resistant electronics. They are working with a new type of semiconductor that was originally intended to be able to be placed inside of jet engines. They were contacted by Russian scientists who were working on new pressure vessel probes for exploring Venus. This interaction resulted in igniting interest in the GLC researchers in the exploration of Venus.
       The new electronics are based on silicon carbide which is able to function effectively at much higher temperatures than pure silicon. One of the breakthroughs that made the new generation of chips possible was the development of techniques by an electronics company named Cree to create the large flawless silicon carbide crystals that were necessary to build the new chips. One of the GLC breakthroughs was the ability to created layered chips which led to increasing the complexity of possible circuits.
       The new chips are very expensive, and the prototype circuits are very simple with few chips when compared to modern computers. But they can function in conditions where modern computers would melt. Recently, a simple twenty-four transistor circuit of the new chips ran successfully for twenty-four days inside the GEER.
      Another branch of NASA has been working on the development of a mechanical clock-work lander without any electronics. When they found out about work being done at GLC, they contacted the center to explore the possibility of supplementing the new electronics with their mechanical approach.
      If the GLC can perfect the new electronics that they are working on, new missions to Venus may be able to answer many of these questions more quickly and accurately than has been assumed possible. If the three Venus projects submitted for the New Frontiers Mission fail to be funded, the GLC approach to high-temperature electronic chips may be the best bet for future Venus missions.

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Part 1 of 2 parts.
       Venus is the second planet from the sun in our solar system. Its year is about two hundred and twenty-four days. Venus is similar to the Earth in terms of size, mass and bulk composition. In other ways, it is very different than the Earth. It has the densest atmosphere of the four Earth-like planets; Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Ninety six percent of the atmosphere is carbon dioxide. The pressure of the atmosphere at the surface is ninety-two times as dense as the atmosphere at the surface of the Earth. Venus is also the hottest planet in the solar system with a surface temperature of about eight hundred and sixty-three degrees Fahrenheit. The surface of Venus is obscured by clouds of sulfuric acid. It may have had oceans of water in the past but they would have evaporated in the run-away greenhouse environment. The surface is a dry desert with some slab-like rock.
       The last NASA mission to Venus was in 1989. There have been European, Japanese and Soviet missions to Venus. Most of these missions were just orbital but in the 1980s, the Soviet Union sent a series of landers covered in heavy armor to resist the harsh environment. The last such lander was sent in 1985 and only endured for a few hours on the surface before being destroyed by the pressure and temperature.
       For many years, it was thought that the surface of Venus was static for long periods of time, occasionally punctuated by huge volcanic eruptions that essentially repaved large areas of the surface. However, recent probes with new equipment that could better penetrate the cloudy atmosphere to yield new details about the surface suggests that the surface is much more active on an ongoing basis than the earlier models.
        NASA has a special program for exploring speculative technologies for use in space exploration called the New Frontiers program. This year there are three entries for mission to Venus. They face intense competition for other projects like going back to Saturn to look for life on the moons Enceladus and Titan.
       The first two Venus missions would drop a pressure-vessel to the surface of Venus. Each would monitor the chemistry of the atmosphere on the way down. Once on the surface, each would spend its few hours of life using a laser or a mechanical drill to take samples of rocks on the surface. One of the big questions they are seeking to answer is whether or not Venus may have started with the same amount of water that Earth did.
       The third proposed project for the New Frontiers Missions would just have a probe that dived in and out of the atmosphere for the analysis of atmospheric chemistry. The high-resolution radar on the probe would be able to penetrate the atmosphere far better than the old probes to return highly detailed images of the surface. It is hoped that these detailed pictures might be able to answer questions about the processes that shaped and are shaping the surface of Venus.
       Scientists believe that missions to Venus could return valuable information about the development of the current environment on Earth and how Venus evolved into its hellish environment. Venus is the only other planet in the solar system that is similar enough to the Earth to answer some of these questions.
Please read Part 2
Venus, Earth size comparison:

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       One danger of a manned space launch is that there could be a major problem during launch. If this happens, there should be a way for the crew capsule to be jettisoned so that it can return safely to Earth. We have lost astronauts during launch before. There have been a variety of safety systems proposed. Now NASA reveals a launch abort system for the launch of the Orion manned spacecraft.
        NASA is currently working on the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle which will be delivered to space on top of NASA’s upcoming Space Launch System. The massive launch vehicle can develop almost ninety million pounds of thrust. If it developed problems during launch, the explosion would be huge. In order to protect the crew from death in such an eventuality, NASA has developed the Launch Abort System. NASA has scheduled a full stress test of the LAS for April 2019 to speed the development process and to validate computer models.
        If there is an emergency on the launch pad or during ascent, the LAS will use a solid-fuel rocket referred to as the abort motor to separate the Orion crew module from the launch vehicle. The AM will generate a brief but powerful burst of thrust in order to move the capsule and the SLS apart as quickly as possible. Following separation, the capsule will be returned to Earth supported by the deployment of a set of parachutes. Even if the LAS works as designed, it will be an extremely stressful ride for the crew.
         For the full stress test, NASA will use a fully functional LAS with an uncrewed Orion test vehicle. The capsule and the LAS will be sent into space aboard an Orbital booster rocket built by ATK. The rocket will be launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. When the launch vehicle reaches an altitude of thirty-two thousand feet and a velocity of over a thousand miles an hour, the LAS reverse-flow abort motor will trigger, igniting and shoving the Orion test capsule away from the rocket. For this initial test, parachutes will not be used because the primary reason for the test is to check the separation system.
       The LAS has two parts. First, there is a fairing assembly that shields the crew capsule from the wind, heat, and sound of the launch. Second, there is what is called a launch abort tower which holds the crew capsule away from the SLS and contains three motors.
        The first scheduled launch of the LAS on the SLS won’t happen until December of 2019 at the earliest and could easily be delayed until July of 2020. NASA is currently about a year behind schedule for the development of the LAS and unforeseen events could result in even greater schedule delays. NASA does say that it is still on schedule for the first launch of a crewed flight with the full LAS system in place in 2023. 

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       An increasingly large share of the satellite market is being taken up by what are referred to as “small satellites.” These are defined as weighing less than one thousand one hundred pounds. It is estimated that between 2015 and 2019, over five hundred small satellites will have been launched into low Earth orbit. The value of this fleet of satellites will be about seven and a half billion dollars.
      One major problem that is being worked on with respect to small satellites is the problem of maneuvering them while they are in orbit. The propulsion systems for such maneuvering are referred to as microthrusters. Many of these small satellites are launched in a batch and then released into different orbits. The problem posed by this process is the fact that small satellites being launched in a batch are not allowed to carry any flammable materials including rocket fuel. A new type of microthrusters is being developed at the Ion Space Propulsion Laboratory at the Michigan Technical University.
       The MTU researchers are working with ferrofluids. A ferrofluid is a liquid that becomes strongly magnetized in a magnetic field. Then the application of a strong electrical field can cause ions to spray off of peaks in the ferrofluid which could propel a small satellite. Their work was inspired by earlier research at the University of Sydney in Australia.
         Professor Lyon B. King, the Ron & Elaine Starr Professor in Space Systems at MTU, has been researching the physics of ferrofluids for many years, has been supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. He  (says, “We’re working with a unique material called an ionic liquid ferrofluid. When we put a magnet underneath a small pool of the ferrofluid, it turns into a beautiful hedgehog structure of aligned peaks. When we apply a strong electric field to that array of peaks, each one emits an individual micro-jet of ions.”
        King’s team at MTU undertook a comprehensive experimental and computational study program on the dynamic properties of ferrofluid. They developed a computer model of the interaction between magnetic fields, electrical fields and surface tensions in ferrofluid. One researcher said, “We wanted to learn what led up to emission instability in one single peak of the ferrofluid microthrusters. We learned that the magnetic field has a large effect in preconditioning the fluid electric stress.”
       The MTU team developed a model for an electrospray ionic liquid ferrofluid thruster. Previous electrospray thrusters utilized microscopic needles through which passed tiny jets of fluid. The new design for ferrofluid thrusters does away with the need for the microneedles which are fragile and expensive to manufacture. The ferrofluid microthrusters create their own ion ejecting peaks when they are hit with a powerful magnetic field.
        The AFOSR were impressed with the model developed by the MTU researchers and have provided another grant for them to work on developing ferrofluid microthrusters based on that model. Professor King said, “Often in the lab we’ll have one peak working and 99 others loafing. Brandon’s model will be a vital tool for the team going forward. If we are successful, our thruster will enable small inexpensive satellites with their own propulsion to be mass produced. That could improve remote sensing for better climate modeling, or provide better internet connectivity, which three billion people in the world still do not have.”
       There is a great deal of work that remains to be done and it may take years to develop a working prototype for a ferrofluid microthruster. If and when they are developed, ferrofluid microthrusters will be put to work propelling the growing fleet of small satellites, cubesats and nanosats in low Earth orbit.
Ferrofluid forming peaks under the influence of magnetic fields: 

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       The human race has an insatiable hunger for energy. Down through the ages humanity has found new sources for energy and exploited them ruthlessly. Our use of fossil fuels to power our civilization has resulted in changes to the climate that may render large areas of the Earth uninhabitable. Hopefully we will ramp up the use of non-polluting renewable energy sources in time to prevent the collapse of our society. One of the best renewable sources is solar power. However, solar power can be intermittent in many locations and, of course, is only available in the daytime. With the development of a robust private space industry, there are hopes that we can place solar power collectors in orbit where the sun shines all the time.
       The idea of space-based solar power can be traced to the short story “Reason” by Isaac Asimov published in 1941. A detailed description of the idea was provided in 1968 with the first patent for such a system being granted in 1973 to Peter Glaser. A large array in space would collect solar energy which would be converted to microwaves and transmitted through a large antenna to a smaller antenna on the ground.
        The California Institute of Technology and Northrop Grumman Corporation formed the Space-Based Solar Power Initiative in 2015. Caltech was supplied with a budget of seventeen and a half million dollars for a three year project to “develop the scientific and technological innovations necessary to enable a space-based solar power system—consisting of ultralight, high-efficiency photovoltaics, a phased-array system to produce and distribute power dynamically, and ultralight deployable space structures—that ultimately will be capable of generating electric power at a cost comparable to that from fossil-fuel power plants.” One of the SSPI members said “What we’re proposing, somewhat audaciously, is to develop the technology that would enable one to build the largest-ever-built space structure.”
       The SSPI is using a modular approach to help lower costs and provide redundancy. The basic unit of the system is a four inch square, one inch thick “multifunctional tile” which is a light photovoltaic cell that weights three one hundredths of an ounce. The project calls for making a panel with four hundred tiles and placing nine hundred of the panels into each satellite. Each set of panels can be folded into a small space for launch and then unfolded in orbit to about two thirds the size of a football field.
       The SSPI plan calls for putting twenty five hundred of these satellites into a close formation in orbit. Altogether, this array of panels would be about three and a half square miles in size. Each tile is able to convert solar energy into microwaves that can be beamed back to Earth.
       One benefit of the modular approach with the small tiles is that inevitable damage to any orbital structure from micro meteorites or orbital debris would only knock out a few individual tiles leaving the rest of the array intact to continue supplying power.
       Another benefit of space-based solar power is the fact that unlike terrestrial power stations, space-based solar power does not require sophisticated infrastructure at the site of use. This makes it ideal to supply power to remote and impoverished areas. Only a relatively simple and cheap ground station has to be built with the antenna to receive the orbital power.

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       When I was a kid, the portrayal of space ships showed them landing on their tails. Up until recently, every launch just threw away the engines and boosters. This made the cost of launching a package into orbit very expense. Recently SpaceX has developed the capability to land the launch vehicle back on its tail so it can be reused. This will allow SpaceX to offer launch services that are much cheaper than competitors. One competitor is working hard on their own reuse capability. I have blogged before about Blue Origin, the company founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, attempt to return the engines in the launch vehicle to Earth for reuse. There is new news on Blue Origin efforts.
       Blue Origin has been developing the BE-4 liquid natural gas engine for years. This new engine will be used for the Blue Origin New Glenn orbital rocket. There has been great interest in this engine in the space industry. It features new innovations in technology and it is intended to be fully reusable.
       The BE-4 has just passed an important milestone called a hot-fire test. Last Wednesday at the Blue Origin’s West Texas test facility, a BE-4 engine was fired at fifty percent power for three seconds. The testing of the BE-4 engine sends a signal to the space industry that Blue Origin intends to compete for major launch contracts against other companies such as SpaceX.
       The new Blue Origin BE-4 engine develops five hundred fifty pounds of thrust at sea level. This is the most powerful U.S. rocket engine developed since Rocketdyne created the RS-68 engine over twenty years ago. The RS-38 engine was a workhorse for the U.S. space program but it is too expensive for today’s space missions. The U.S. military has also been using the Atlas V powered by Russian engines to launch some missions which is also too expensive.
        The United Launch Alliance which has been flying the Delta IV fleet of launch vehicles powered by RS-38 engines has decided to outsource the construction of mew rocket engines. The ULA is working on a new rocket dubbed the Vulcan to replace both the Delta IV and the Atlas V rockets. The ULA prefers the BE-4 engine but is also considering the AR1 engine being developed by Aerojet Rocketdyne as a backup choice.
        Aerojet Rocketdyne has a long history of engine development. Lobbyists for Aerojet Rocketdyne are busy on Capitol Hill trying to get Congress to force the ULA to use their AR1 engine instead of the BE-4 based on the argument that Blue Origin is a new company that does not have the experience and expertise to build such a complex new rocket engine. The successful hot-test just conducted by Blue Origin is evidence that Aerojet Rocketdyne may be wrong about the ability of Blue Origin to perfect the BE-4 engine. In addition, this test shows that Blue Origin is ahead of Aerojet in the development of a powerful new rocket engine.
      The BE-4 engine is being developed for the New Glenn rocket. This big orbital rocket may be tested as early as 2020. The design of the New Glenn calls for seven rocket engines to power the two hundred and seventy foot tall vehicle. This rocket will have the ability to send forty five tons of payload into lower Earth orbit. It will also be able to launch thirteen tons to geosynchronous orbit. Each BE-4 engine will be able to be recovered and reused up to one hundred times.
BE-4 engine:

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