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Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin beats key rival to rocket engine deal
Blue Origin is best known for its own rocket programs, but it just scored a deal that could make it an important name in the spaceflight industry. United Launch Alliance has chosen Blue Origin's BE-4 engine (two of them, to be exact) to power the booster stage its next-generation Vulcan Centaur rocket, which is due to launch in mid-2020. Jeff Bezos' outfit won't be the only rocket vendor involved, but it crucially beat out Aerojet Rocketdyne -- a behemoth in the industry that had tried to pressure ULA into avoiding Blue Origin tech altogether.
NASA pours $67 million into solar electric spacecraft engines
NASA is big on solar electric propulsion (the Dawn spacecraft uses it, for instance) for a good reason: while the engines aren't powerful, they supply thrust for a very long time before giving up the ghost. And it now looks like the agency is ready to double down on that super-efficient tech. It just awarded a $67 million, 3-year contract to Aerojet Rocketdyne in hopes of developing an advanced solar electric propulsion system. The new technology could deliver twice as much thrust, and would be up to 10 times more efficient than chemical engines -- both big deals for deep space missions.
NASA successfully tests rocket engines designed for deep space
NASA says that its latest tests are a milestone towards the next stage of space exploration — and Mars. It successfully fired an RS-25 rocket engine for 500 seconds on Thursday March 10th. This is the same engine that will eventually send astronauts on the first deep-space mission in more than 45 years. It's a key part of NASA's new Space Launch System (SLS), aimed at taking humans to nearby asteroids and, after that, the red planet. Four of these engines power the SLS — making up a combined thrust of two million pounds.
$2 billion rocket company merger could create giant SpaceX rival
United Launch Alliance is a joint-venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing that launches spy and navigation satellites for the Pentagon and Air Force. Now, the firm is the subject of a $2 billion bid from engine business Aerojet Rocketdyne, a company that's been snubbed in its attempts to power the Atlas V. If the government's shadowy army of intelligence analysts and accountants approve the deal, it could create a new aerospace behemoth that could leave Elon Musk shivering out in the cold.
Watch NASA test its main deep space rocket in a cloud of steam
If you thought NASA's recent booster rocket test for the Space Launch System was full of sound and fury, just wait until you see what happens with the main engines. The agency recently conducted a nearly 8-minute burn test for the RS-25 rocket providing the SLS' core thrust, and the machinery isn't exactly subtle -- as you'll see in the video below, it produced a gigantic steam cloud that seemingly dwarfed the complex. Of course, this dry run wasn't really for show. NASA needed to prove that the RS-25's automated propulsion (which adjusts things like fuel mixture based on throttle demands) will work without a hitch when it's lifting payloads destined for places like Mars. And it's important to note that this is just one of four primary rockets in the SLS. When the finished rocket launches in 2018, it'll put out a fierce 1.6 million pounds of thrust that could make this demo seem timid by comparison. [Image credit: NASA]
