Blue Origin launches New Shepard rocket to test lunar landing system

Today's test marked the 13th launch of the New Shepard program and the seventh overall flight of this particular

rockets.But it's been a while since the New Shepard fleet has participated in any testing, with the last flight (launching the same rocket) taking place back in December 2019. In April, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US, the company hoped to conduct another test run of New Shepard, despite concerns raised by employees at the time. Ultimately, that launch was delayed, and Blue Origin waited until late September to try again. The company ended up having to delay the launch again until this week due to a power supply issue.

This time during the launch the rocket was equippedpayload from NASA that includes sensors, instruments and software to help future manned and robotic spacecraft land on the Moon. Throughout New Shepard's flight, NASA will determine how well the technology works as the rocket flies into space and then attempts to softly land back on Earth. This is all part of the SPLICE program, a NASA technology that allows precision landing on the Moon or Mars without a pilot.

New Shepard's flight profile makes it greata test bed for testing lunar landing technologies, NASA says. The rocket takes off vertically from the ground, taking off to an altitude of about 100 km, where any passengers inside will experience microgravity (just like lunar vehicles before landing on the moon). Upon reaching space, the crew capsule separates from the rest of the rocket, and both vehicles fall back to Earth. A series of parachutes deploy to safely land the crew capsule on the ground, while the rocket re-fires its engine to land in an upright position. Lunar craft also use similar lunar landing techniques, using inboard engines to slow down and softly land on the lunar surface. During this descent and landing, NASA's SPLICE experiment will collect a wealth of data.

A New Shepard rocket with an externally mounted NASA SPLICE system. Attached to the bottom of the annular rib are two white sensor packages. Image: Blue Origin

Today's launch includes developmentsystems for testing elements of NASA's Deorbit, Descent and Landing Sensor technology, which will provide key automation for use in future lunar and Mars lander, which can intelligently identify and avoid potential hazards in target landing zones.

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