The Blue Origin space company, founded by Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos, will take the first-ever woman to the moon. The spacecraft they have could possibly use the moon’s ice as fuel for the rocket to bring her back to Earth.
Early 2020, NASA outlined their plan to put two people – a man and the first woman, to the moon by 2024. The plan costs a whopping £22 billion.
This will be the second moon-landing mission since Apollo in 1972, the Artemis mission. The astronauts will travel in a capsule very much like the Apollo one, called Orion, that will launch on the Space Launch System (SLS). The engine will be provided by Blue Origin, founded in 2000 by the richest man in the world.
Jeff Bezos has posted regarding the engine on his Instagram account.
Blue Origins has also said that they will be using the moon’s ice resources as rocket propellant.
“This thrust chamber test measured the ability to extract energy out of the hydrogen and oxygen cooled combustor segments that power the engine’s turbopumps – the key to achieving high engine performance,” said John Vilja, senior vice president, Engines, Blue Origin.
“The high specific impulse, deep throttling, and restart capabilities of the BE-7 make it the ideal engine for large lunar payload transport as well as many other in-space applications,” he continued.
“Thanks to the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center team for their support in this testing. We value this partnership and are looking forward to more test campaigns with them,” added the senior vice president.
Within the National Team’s Human Landing System architecture, the BE-7 is used on both the Descent Element and Transfer Element.
“The BE-7, a turbomachinery-based engine using the most efficient propellants, is optimal for deep-space maneuvers and landing on the Moon,” said Brent Sherwood, vice president, Advanced Development Programs, Blue Origin.
“Our engine test series is steadily maturing what’s needed to get Americans safely on the lunar surface as soon as possible,” he continued.
“We are positioning to use the Moon’s ice resources for rocket propellant, which will make exploration sustainable and open the Moon for commerce,” added Brent.
Source: Daily Star UK, Jeff Bezos