for research missions ehicle new shepard

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E OR

IGIN

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New

Shepard

Suborbital Vehicle

for Research M

issions

Gary Lai

Next-G

eneration Suborbital R

esearchers Conference

Boulder, C

OFebruary 18, 2010

BLU

E OR

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

BLU

E OR

IGIN

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)

BLU

E OR

IGIN

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

BLU

E OR

IGIN

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

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

E OR

IGIN

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

BLU

E OR

IGIN

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

BLU

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IGIN

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.

BLU

E OR

IGIN

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.

BLU

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IGIN

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.

for research missions ehicle new shepard

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