BLU
E OR
IGIN
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aster subtitle style
New
Shepard
Suborbital Vehicle
for Research M
issions
Gary Lai
Next-G
eneration Suborbital R
esearchers Conference
Boulder, C
OFebruary 18, 2010
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BLU
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IGIN
Our P
urpose
•C
ompany Purpose: Space Launch
–B
lue Origin is developing vehicles and technologies to help enable hum
an space transportation
•O
ur focus is on: –
Reusable launch vehicle system
s–
Safety systems and hum
an factors–
Frequent launch operations
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Locations•
Kent, W
A (Seattle area)–
All design, developm
ent, fabrication, assembly and initial ground testing is done in our
244,000 ft2 facility
•C
ulberson County, TX
–W
e flight test our vehicles at our own dedicated launch site in the W
est Texas desert (the only privately-ow
ned dedicated launch site in the US
A)
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BLU
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New
Shepard Vehicle
•D
esigned to safely and routinely carry 3 or more astronauts to above 325,000 ft.
•Propulsion M
odule–
Vertical take-off, vertical powered landing booster stage
–N
early vertical trajectory–
Fully reusable and optimized for rapid turnaround w
ith small ground crew
•C
rew C
apsule–
Fault tolerant design for safety-critical functions–
Crew
escape capability–
Separates from the Propulsion M
odule and lands separately under parachutes–
Fully reusable and optimized for rapid turnaround w
ith small ground crew
•Flight testing of prototype vehicles began in 2006
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New
Shepard R
esearch Capabilities
•B
lue Origin is developing a m
odular Cabin Payload System
(CPS) w
ith standard m
echanical and electrical interfaces and data services for experiments
–C
PS Racks can be sw
itched out in place of seats in crew cabin
–B
lue Origin also plans to accom
modate custom
ers who w
ant to bring their own racks
Page 5
Experim
ent Accom
modation
Services P
rovided
Crew
/Payload C
apacity3 or m
ore astronauts or CP
S racks
Experim
ent Mass
120 kg per position (including CP
S rack w
eight)
Window
sO
ne per crew position
Pow
er28 V
DC
provided
In-Flight Com
munications
Voice and telemetry for experim
ent monitoring and control
VideoC
ameras provided for experim
ent use
Data Interfaces
Analog I/O
, Digital I/O
, RS
-232, Ethernet
Data recording onto onboard solid-state drives
Control S
oftware
Blue O
rigin developed GU
I for scripting experiment control
Microgravity Levels
< 0.001 g for approximately 3 m
inutes
Pointing A
ccuracy±5° per axis during coast
Turning Capability
Yes
BLU
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New
Shepard R
esearch Applications
Types of InvestigationsExam
ple Applications
Rem
ote Sensing
Atm
ospheric scienceE
arth observations
In-Situ S
cienceA
tmospheric sam
plingM
agnetospheric measurem
ents
In-Cabin S
cienceP
hysiologyG
ravitational biologyM
icrogravity physics
Instrument Test / D
emonstrations
Gain flight experience
Raise TR
L levels
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BLU
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Phase 1 Flight D
emonstration P
rogram•
Blue O
rigin has selected three research payloads from experienced scientists
to fly on the New
Shepard suborbital vehicle as part of Phase 1 of a Research
Flight Dem
onstration Program–
Serves as a pathfinder to help develop New
Shepard experiment
accomm
odations and integration process while accom
plishing real science
•Program
Status–
RFP issued in June 2009, proposals due in July 2009
–W
inning proposals selected in September 2009
–Payload U
ser’s Guide issued to experim
ent teams
–Selected team
s currently designing and fabricating their experiments
–B
lue Origin currently building and testing prototype C
abin Payload System
hardware and softw
are
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Selected P
ayloads (1 of 3)•
Three-Dim
ensional Critical W
etting Experiment in M
icrogravity
–P
rincipal Investigator: Steven C
ollicott, Purdue U
niversity
–R
esearch Goal: D
r. Collicott plans to use the N
ew S
hepard vehicle’s m
icrogravity environment to probe capillary fluid m
ovement in three
dimensions. Various types of devices rely on w
icking fluid, or capillary fluid physics, including spaceflight life-support and fuel system
s, and, for applications operated in ordinary E
arth gravity, small fuel cells and m
iniature sensors and instrum
entation for health sciences. How
ever, capillary action can be difficult to study in E
arth laboratories, and mathem
atical models of the
critical wetting that takes place in these devices are based largely on tw
o-dim
ensional data. Dr. C
ollicott plans to measure w
etting in three dimensions in
the New
Shepard vehicle’s zero-gravity environm
ent. These measurem
ents can then be used to create three-dim
ensional mathem
atical models of w
etting that can be used in a variety of applications.
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Selected P
ayloads (2 of 3)•
Microgravity Experim
ent on Dust Environm
ents in Astrophysics (M
EDEA
)
–P
rincipal Investigator: Joshua Colw
ell, University of C
entral Florida–
Co-P
I: Dan D
urda, Southw
est Research Institute
–C
o-PI: Jürgen B
lum, Institut für G
eophysik und extraterrestrische Physik
Technische Universität B
raunschweig
–R
esearch Goal: D
r. Colw
ell and his team plan to use the N
ew S
hepard m
icrogravity environment to study early form
ation of planets, focusing on the behavior and interaction of dust particles and regolith m
aterial. These observations w
ill help fill in some of the gaps in know
ledge of the early stages in the form
ation of solar systems, w
hen clouds of loose dust aggregate into protoplanetary bodies. The m
icrogravity environment aboard the N
ew S
hepard vehicle allow
s the team to study m
ultiple collisions among free-flying dust
particles at slow speeds. These collisions are im
possible to perform in E
arth laboratories due to the overw
helming effect of gravity.
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Selected P
ayloads (3 of 3)
•Effective lnterfacial Tension lnduced C
onvection (EITIC)
–P
rincipal Investigator: John Pojm
an, Louisiana State U
niversity–
Co-P
I: Patrick B
unton, William
Jewell C
ollege
–R
esearch Goal: D
r. Pojm
an and Dr. B
unton are investigating how m
iscible fluids, i.e., fluids that dissolve com
pletely in each other, such as honey and w
ater; can act like imm
iscible fluids, such as oil and water. The researchers
plan to use the New
Shepard vehicle’s m
icrogravity environment to observe
fluid flow caused by a tem
perature variation at the boundary between tw
o m
iscible fluids.
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