Blue Origin has finally figured out what went wrong with their New Shepard rocket during the flight last September. They discovered that a part called the engine nozzle had a thermo-structural failure. This means that the operational temperatures got too high because of changes to its cooling system, which caused it to misalign and activate the crew capsule’s emergency escape system.
The engineers are making changes to the engine design and its working conditions. Blue Origin is also modifying the shape of the nozzle to make it strong like never before. The capsule was not harmed in any way and can still be used for flights.
Blue Origin, a company, is planning to start flying again very soon. However, the exact date hasn’t been given. It wants to restart flights by carrying out the same research payload from the earlier mission that was cancelled. Before this can happen, it has to get approval a special organization called Federal Aviation Administration which will look over all the details involved in this incident.
Blue Origin is feeling a lot of pressure to make sure they reach their goals. They have signed a deal with NASA to use one of their rockets (called the New Glenn) for a mission to Mars, as well as trying to get an agreement for a lunar lander. In order to bring on more customers such as governments and space tourists, Blue Origin needs to prove that its rocket technology is safe and reliable.
When you subscribe to Engadget, you are agreeing to follow their Terms and Privacy Policy. Other companies that make rockets have been running into issues lately too. Relativity Space had a rocket that didn’t reach orbit recently. SpaceX is having trouble getting all of the engines in Starship to fire at the same time. Rocket Lab has had some problems before that as well. Trying to explore space privately isn’t easy, and Blue Origin just showed that it can be tough.
