Ottimo, gran bella notizia. Certo, 3 secondi sono solo una frazione della missione nominale ma gradatamente ci arriveranno.
Quali sono i vantaggi del metano? L’economia?
Ho letto che il metano permette di aumentare la densitĂ nei serbatoi con perdite di impulso specifico relativamente modeste, ma non ho chiaro il concetto. Permette un razzo meno grande?
E’ meno efficiente dell’idrogeno, ma comunque meglio del kerosene. Mi sfugge perchè finora non sia stato praticamente usato.
Da quello che ho letto (a parte la questione di Musk per cui la scelta del metano sarebbe stata dettata dalla possibilità di sintetizzarlo su Marte) altre ragioni per la scelta sarebbero la relativa facilità di stoccaggio rispetto all’idrogeno liquido e le proprietà chimiche della sua combustione, che lo rendono adatto ad un sistema riutilizzabile.
@Marco il motivo ci sarĂ sicuramente, sarebbe interessante capirlo 
.
Per Marte sono stati ipotizzati degli estrattori atmosferici di metano per il refueling dei serbatoi, e quindi i thruster relativi debbono pur essere costruiti prima o poi; ma non credo che questa sia stata una motivazione alla base della scelta.
Sembra che i test vadano a gonfie vele…
Nuovo test al 65% di potenza e per quasi 2 minuti
Ed ecco le ultime notizie sui motori BE-4 arrivate tramite mail. Iniziati ad Huntsville (Alabama) la costruzione dell’impianto che produrrà i motori BE-4 e BE-3U della Blue Origin.
Pictured left to right: Greg Canfield, Alabama Secretary of Commerce; Kim Lewis, Huntsville/Madison County Chamber 2019 Board Chair; Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle; Alabama Governor Kay Ivey; United Launch Alliance CEO Tory Bruno; Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith; Madison County Commission Chairman Dale Strong; U.S. Senator Doug Jones; U.S. Congressman Mo Brooks; Clayco CEO Bob Clark.
Today we broke ground on the construction of a world-class rocket engine production facility in Huntsville, Alabama, extending the city’s rich legacy in liquid rocket engines.
Here are excerpts from today’s groundbreaking ceremony given by Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith:
It’s a great day here in Rocket City. Thanks to the votes of confidence from United Launch Alliance, from the Air Force for national security missions, and from Huntsville and the state of Alabama, we are breaking ground on a facility to produce our world-class engines and power the next generation of spaceflight.
Last September, United Launch Alliance (ULA) selected our BE-4 engine to power the Vulcan rocket. Then in October, both our New Glenn launch vehicle and Vulcan were selected by the United States Air Force in its Launch Services Agreement contract. This means two out of the three major launch systems flying national security space missions will be powered by engines produced in our Huntsville facility.
New Glenn will be a competitive launch vehicle that can serve all the needs of the civil, commercial and national security space markets for years to come.
We’re excited to provide safe, reliable access to space and – in the case of United Launch Alliance – end the dependency our nation has on using Russian RD-180 engines for critical national security launches.
The BE-4 is an incredibly sophisticated and powerful engine. It will be a true marvel of engineering when we complete its development later this year and it is currently rocking our test stands out in West Texas. Each ULA Vulcan first stage will have two of these BE-4 engines and they will be integrated into the vehicle just across the river at their Decatur facility. Seven BE-4s, with a combined thrust of nearly 4 million pounds, will also power the fully reusable first stage of Blue Origin’s New Glenn launch system.
We’ll also be building our BE-3U engine in Huntsville. It’s an upper-stage variant of our BE-3 liquid oxygen-liquid hydrogen engine that we’re already flying on New Shepard. It’s the first completely new liquid hydrogen engine developed for production in the United States in more than a decade and New Shepard is giving us hours of experience operating it.
This project has been in the works for several years and we’re thankful to everyone who made it happen.
Thanks to Governor Kay Ivey, Senator Richard Shelby, Secretary of Commerce Greg Canfield, Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, Commission Chairman Dale Strong, and the entire Huntsville Madison County Chamber of Commerce for their commitment to bringing us to northern Alabama and making this day possible.
We’d also like to recognize Senator Doug Jones, Representative Mo Brooks, and Marshall Space Flight Center Director Jody Singer for their continued support.
This engine production facility demonstrates our commitment to the state of Alabama. It also demonstrates our confidence that the highly-skilled workforce, deep aerospace history and strong business climate in Huntsville will play a critical role in advancing our vision of millions of people living and working in space.
Additionally, we are in final negotiations with Marshall Space Flight Center to acceptance test both BE-4 and BE-3U engines at Test Stand 4670, the historic site for testing the Saturn V first stage and the Space Shuttle main engines. Through this agreement, we’ll provide for the refurbishment, restoration and modernization of this piece of American history.
When we open our doors in Huntsville in March 2020, we will add more than 300 jobs to the local economy, invest over $200 million in the facility and ensure a new generation of engines will rumble to life and send us into the heavens.
Click here to read the press release from the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber.
If you were forwarded this e-mail, you can receive it directly by signing up for updates at blueorigin.com
Tanta roba direi
sembra imminente un nuovo test del BE-4. Questa nuova iterazione verrĂ scatenata al 100% della potenza. Quindi il BE-4 si approccia alla fase finale di testing.
Nel frattempo Blue Origin ha inaugurato la fabbrica dove produrre i motori BE-4 e BE3-U.
https://www.blueorigin.com/news/blue-origin-opens-huntsville-engine-factory
interessante video con tanto di profilo di potenza
come riporta Eric Berger su Arstechnica , Blue Origin ha dovuto smontare il Flight Engine 1 dal test stand in Texas e rispedirlo in fabbrica a causa di un problema di montaggio/assemblaggio non riparabile direttamente sul test stand. Questo ha provocato un ritardo di ulteriori 6 settimane sulla consegna dei 2 motori che servono a ULA per il lancio del Vulcan che doveva avvenire NET Q4 2022.
Ora si slitterĂ quasi sicuramente al 2023, con probabile giramento di pelotas del DOD che sta facendo da mesi pressione su ULA.
Il problema però potrebbe non essere solo derivato dai ritardi di BO, ma anche del lander lunare Peregrine di Astrobotic che è il primo cliente del Vulcan, che ha ritardi di assemblaggio e di test motori
Per non parlare di quelle di Tory Bruno…
Questo setback di BE-4 proprio non ci voleva e fa il paio con il lancio fallito di NS-23 il quale sembra (al momento) causato dal BE-3.
Proprio un momentaccio per BO dal punto di vista propulsivo…
Grazie Tory.