back to article Blue Origin spins up lunar gravity for New Shepard flight

Blue Origin has sent its reusable New Shepard rocket on another suborbital lob, this time simulating lunar gravity for capsule payloads. The rocket launched this week following delays due to thick clouds and vehicle avionics issues. Liftoff occurred at 1600 UTC, and the capsule reached 105 km above sea level before returning …

  1. steelpillow Silver badge

    flight time

    Cool. Glad Blue Origin are finding customers.

    A shame the flight is quite so sub-orbital, as sustaining the gees comes for free once you have spun up. Wonder if a kind of hybrid suborbital spaceplane thingy might last longer.

    1. that one in the corner Silver badge

      Re: flight time

      > sustaining the gees comes for free once you have spun up

      Just so long as nothing runs around the spin equator for too long or too fast.

      If you want to test a Lunar Rover's traction (not necessarily adult-human-sized Rover, might get crowded) then you need to make sure it reverses direction regularly (or you run two, one spinwards, one anti-spin).

      Although, at 11 RPM, your Rover's are going to have to go slow to avoid affecting their effective weight too much.

      1. the spectacularly refined chap Silver badge

        Re: flight time

        It's more than that, it ceases to be "free" the instant anything moves, i.e. if something "falls" under the simulated gravity the natural tendency is to slow the rotation unless that is compensated for. Conservation of angular momentum.

  2. beast666 Silver badge

    A safety critical system severely underperformed.

    I hope the FAA is looking into BO's mishap report very carefully.

  3. STOP_FORTH Silver badge
    Boffin

    Expensive solution

    Are centrifuges not a thing?

    1. IGotOut Silver badge

      Re: Expensive solution

      Sure, just lob one into space and off you go.

      1. steelpillow Silver badge

        Re: Expensive solution

        Which is basically what Blue Origin did. Just didn't quite lob hard enough.

        For those who are basic-physics challenged, a ground-based centrifuge can only do G-forces above 1.0. To get lower than that, you have to at least go on a semi-ballistic trajectory.

        1. STOP_FORTH Silver badge

          Re: Expensive solution

          I apologize. Are jelly filled mineshafts not a thing?

          1. STOP_FORTH Silver badge

            Re: Expensive solution

            Actually, forget the jelly. Just dig a really deep mineshaft.

            1. Flocke Kroes Silver badge

              Re: Deep mine shaft

              Although Kola is 12km deep much of that is full of water. Towers are cheaper than holes. Fallturm delivers about 9 seconds of free fall, does not fill up with water but does need vacuum pumps. Aircraft can counter air resistance with a little thrust and score 25 seconds of weightlessness. New Shepard gets about 60km of unpowered flight which should last 220 seconds.

              1. STOP_FORTH Silver badge

                Re: Deep mine shaft

                I have rethought this. All we need to do is drop a centrifuge from a Zeppelin. If we drop it into a deep mineshaft, so much the better.

                This means we can simulate any gravitational field up to the breaking point of the centrifuge.

                Am just off to the Patent Office.

                1. steelpillow Silver badge

                  Re: Deep mine shaft

                  The jelly is still important, so the centrifuge doesn't break up when it lands.

                  Grading the jelly from thin and wobbly at the top to stiff and trifle-like at the bottom would help reduce the depth needed.

                  In fact it doesn't have to be a gee simulator for this to work. I have now patented the graded-jelly-filled shaft for all vertical landers.

                  1. STOP_FORTH Silver badge
                    Unhappy

                    Re: Deep mine shaft

                    Now I know how Elisha Gray felt.

                    1. steelpillow Silver badge
                      Happy

                      Re: Deep mine shaft

                      And porridge. Porridge at the bottom.

                      If you go through all the jelly and trifle, you get a second helping of porridge.

        2. werdsmith Silver badge

          Re: Expensive solution

          You can get simulated zero G for part of the revolution on a ground based centrifuge with its axis parallel to the ground. Old fashioned amusement park rides do it, I don't recommend them though, because you can get barfed on.

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Expensive solution

          Why can't you just run it backwards?

          1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
            Joke

            Re: Expensive solution

            I think you got down voted due to posting AC and there lacked the ability to attach the joke icon.

            FWIW, that my first thought too and patently a ridiculous statement and therefore a joke :-)

            Have an icon on me.

  4. David M

    Extremely unique...

    "New Shepard's ability to provide a lunar gravity environment is an extremely unique..."

    Sorry, but something can't be extremely unique. It's either unique (i.e. there's only one of it) or it isn't.

    1. TDog

      Re: Extremely unique...

      So far, a unique response. But should someone reply to you too, it's uniquity shall disapear with the sands of time. So limited temporal uniqueness. Almost almost unique.

    2. nautica Silver badge
      Headmaster

      Re: Extremely unique...

      "I have to be firm on this: unique is not to be modified. Adding very or absolutely is like putting a propeller on a rabbit to make him hop better. It won't work, and he won't be a rabbit anymore."--Roy Blount, Jr.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Extremely unique...

        Propellers are carefully balanced to minimize vibration. Rabbits rely on a significant off axis mass to deliberately produce vibration on demand.

        Or am I thinking of the wrong kind of rabbit.

    3. John Robson Silver badge

      Re: Extremely unique...

      It can be unique and extremely unusual...

  5. PerlyKing
    Boffin

    Spin gravity

    You'll get lunar gravity at a precise distance from the axis ("at the midpoint of the crew capsule lockers"), but at every other distance it will be either lesser or greater than that. In such a small capsule the difference will be pretty noticeable, and the Coriolis force will probably also be apparent. So I suspect that this is only going to be useful for pretty small experiments.

    Still pretty cool though :-)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Spin gravity

      This could be a good thing. If you want to know what G force your process works best at, line a set of experiments up at different distances from the centre.

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