All articles tagged with #blue origin
As Artemis 2 heads home, NASA says Artemis 3 is on track for 2027 to test docking and a crewed lunar landing with SpaceX Starship HLS and Blue Origin's Blue Moon, while orbit choices and lander readiness remain under discussion and a recent Inspector General report flags gaps in testing and crew-survival analyses.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said on the Lex Fridman Podcast that he would love to see a trillion humans living in the solar system, with giant rotating space stations capable of hosting cities, farms, and industry. He argues more people could drive breakthroughs—“1,000 Mozarts and 1,000 Einsteins”—and emphasizes moving beyond planetary surfaces while Earth remains a protected base. The plan centers on reducing the cost of getting materials into space (via Blue Origin and related efforts) to enable this long‑term expansion, though no timeline is provided.
Blue Origin has filed with the FCC seeking authority to launch up to 51,600 low-Earth-orbit satellites for orbital data centers under Project Sunrise, supplementing its 5,408-satellite TeraWave plan and using laser links to serve terrestrial data centers and government customers; the move intensifies the space data-center race, drawing objections from SpaceX while other players like Starcloud eye the market and Amazon’s Leo/AWS could intersect in the future.
Blue Origin has filed with the FCC to pursue Project Sunrise, a megaconstellation of up to 51,600 satellites in sun-synchronous orbits (500–1,800 km) to host space-based data centers that would supplement terrestrial AI computing, joining ongoing industry pushes by SpaceX and Nvidia-backed teams in the race for orbital compute.
Blue Origin, in collaboration with NASA's JPL and Caltech, introduced the NEO Hunter mission concept to defend Earth from hazardous near-Earth objects, leveraging the Blue Ring platform. The plan envisions a two-phase approach: first deploying cubesats to study and characterize the target asteroid to guide deflection, including an ion-beam method; if needed, a second phase would perform a robust direct kinetic disruption (inspired by NASA’s DART) with a Slamcam to document the impact. The mission is planned to launch its first phase in spring 2026.
Blue Origin is teaming with NASA's JPL/Caltech on the NEO Hunter mission to defend Earth from hazardous asteroids. The plan uses Blue Ring, a modular satellite bus, to deploy cubesats that characterize a threat and, if indicated, redirect its trajectory with an ion-beam emitter; if the rock is too big, a Robust Kinetic Disruption phase could strike it to alter course. The concept builds on NASA's DART approach and also envisions Blue Ring supporting other missions (e.g., Mars telecom) in deep space.
NASA’s OIG finds that fixed-price HLS contracts kept costs in check but allowed schedule slips: SpaceX’s Artemis III Starship is delayed by about two years and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon by around eight months, with cryogenic fluid-management and in-space propellant transfer tests behind schedule (SpaceX’s key transfer test moved from March 2025 to March 2026). NASA’s Feb. 27 plan to accelerate Artemis architecture adds uncertainty, and the OIG cannot yet quantify cost or schedule impacts; it urges flight-like testing before crewed landings.
NASA’s Office of the Inspector General warns the Artemis Human Landing System program has serious gaps in testing and crew-survival analyses for SpaceX’s Starship HLS and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon landers, meaning a failure could leave astronauts stranded without a feasible rescue. The report calls for clearer funding rules, contract updates, and enhanced risk analyses as NASA pushes toward 2028 crewed Moon landings (Artemis 4/5), though the technical feasibility and cost impacts remain uncertain.
The NASA Office of Inspector General warns gaps in the agency’s plan to test and validate SpaceX- and Blue Origin–built lunar landers for Artemis missions, including crew-survival analyses and non-fatal-emergency scenarios, noting there would be no in-space rescue capability; as Artemis II nears launch and Artemis III is planned with orbital refueling and lander in-flight checks, NASA aims to mitigate hazards but the report says significant gaps remain.
NASA’s Artemis 3 plan has been redesigned to stay in low Earth orbit, focusing on testing rendezvous and docking with potential SpaceX and/or Blue Origin landers, rather than a lunar touchdown. The shift aims to accelerate the program, maintain competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin, and keep the Space Launch System architecture close to current specs while moving toward a phased, faster cadence for returning humans to the Moon.
NASA unveils a revised Artemis plan: a 2027 Artemis 3 in‑orbit test to rendezvous with lunar landers and trial a new spacesuit, moving the first lunar landing to Artemis 4 in 2028 (with Artemis 5 potentially later that year). The upgrade to the Space Launch System is canceled in favor of a near‑Block 1 configuration to boost flight rate, as NASA and industry push for faster cadence amid competition from China; Boeing and Lockheed Martin expressed support for the changes.
NASA has revised its Artemis roadmap: Artemis II will orbit the Moon without landing, Artemis III is being repurposed into Artemis IV for a Moon landing in 2028 (with a potential second landing later that year), and the agency plans an initial crewed Earth-orbit test in 2027 docking with a private lunar lander. NASA is also moving away from the planned Block 1b upgrade in favor of a simpler, standardized Space Launch System. Oversight questions persist about whether the 2028 schedule is achievable given development risks with SpaceX and Blue Origin landers, but the agency aims to accelerate Moon missions overall.
Tory Bruno, the former United Launch Alliance CEO, says he joined Blue Origin to pursue urgent national-security space projects, highlighting the Blue Ring spacecraft’s high maneuverability and plans to add AI autonomy and advanced ground control to enable dynamic space operations as geopolitical rivals expand their orbital capabilities.
The US and China are racing to extract water ice from Shackleton crater to enable a sustained lunar presence and in-space fuel production; Blue Origin is testing its MK1 cargo lander in a demonstration flight this year to support NASA’s VIPER rover in 2027, while China’s Chang’e 7 will deliver an orbiter, lander, rover and hopper to Shackleton, potentially giving Beijing a head start in lunar resource extraction and setting standards for a new space-race economy.
Blue Origin says it will pause New Shepard flights for at least two years to accelerate lunar capabilities and shift resources toward orbital launches and satellite networks, leveraging the larger New Glenn rocket for payloads and satellites. The move positions the company as a stronger rival to SpaceX, with NASA's Artemis program and future lunar lander contracts in play, while expanding its Leo Kuiper constellation and a new Terawave network aimed at enterprise and government customers, signaling a broader pivot beyond tourist spaceflight.