New Shepard Flight Simulates Moon's Gravity For 1St Time
Date
1/29/2025 12:08:25 AM
(MENAFN- AzerNews)
By Alimat Aliyeva
The American private company Blue Origin has announced its next
flight of the New Shepard rocket, which is used for suborbital test
flights and the transportation of space tourists,
Azernews reports.
The launch is scheduled for January 28 at 20:00 Baku time from
the "First Launch Pad" in Texas. The mission, called NS-29, will be
one of the flights dedicated to unmanned experiments.
The launch will carry 30 payloads, the primary purpose of which
is to simulate the gravity of the Moon and test technologies that
could be used on Earth's natural satellite in the future.
During the NS-29 mission, Blue Origin's New Shepard capsule will
simulate lunar gravity for the first time, thanks to its Reaction
Control System (RCS). During the flight, the capsule will rotate at
about 11 revolutions per minute, generating gravity equivalent to
one-sixth of Earth's for two minutes.
Experts believe this is a significant improvement over
traditional methods such as descending towers or parabolic flights,
which only provide brief seconds of gravity simulation.
More than half of the NS-29 payload is funded by NASA's Flight
Capability Program, which is used to conduct scientific experiments
in support of the Artemis lunar program. When Blue Origin announced
the mission, it revealed that it had three capsules for New
Shepard. Two of these are designed for carrying astronauts, while
one is dedicated to conducting unmanned experiments. These capsules
are operated by two separate boosters.
In addition to the NS-29 mission, earlier reports indicated that
NASA might use private companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin to
transport Martian soil samples back to Earth. At an online
briefing, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson mentioned that the initial
phase of the joint project between NASA and the European Space
Agency (ESA) to deliver Martian rock samples, collected by the
Perseverance rover, will not be feasible until the 2040s.
Blue Origin's NS-29 mission represents a significant milestone
in private spaceflight's contribution to advancing scientific
knowledge and preparing for future lunar exploration. The ability
to simulate lunar gravity is crucial for testing technologies that
could help astronauts survive and work on the Moon. As private
companies like Blue Origin and SpaceX continue to collaborate with
NASA, we are witnessing a shift in the way space exploration is
conducted, with private enterprises playing an increasingly
important role in global space missions, including those aimed at
Mars and beyond.
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