A patent challenge could create difficulties for Blue Origin, the Kent-based space launch company owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
Bezos’ competitor Elon Musk, whose SpaceX rockets have been carrying cargo to the International Space Station, is challenging a Blue Origin patent filing for landing spent launch vehicles on floating sites at sea.
The technology is especially important for Blue Origin, which from the beginning has based its program on a fully reusable system, which means the booster has to be recoverable. Recovery at sea would keep the landing site away from populated areas and reduce the possibility of mishaps.
Elon Musk, speaking to CNBC about how the future of humankind is rather closely tied to our ability to get off this planet, is “hopeful that the first people could be taken to Mars in 10 to 12 years” — with SpaceX rockets and spacecraft, of course. This lines up with some of his previous comments about establishing a Mars colony in the 2020s. Meanwhile, NASA recently announced that it would try to put a human on Mars in 2035 — and only if it can secure the necessary funding and carry out a number of important milestone missions beforehand. Tantalizingly, Musk also spoke about SpaceX going public on the stock market — perhaps to raise the necessary funds to fly (and establish a colony?) on Mars.
Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, has long been an advocate of setting up a Mars colony. Way back in early 2012 he said he’d worked out a way of sending an “average person” on a round-trip to Mars for $500,000. His tune seems to be a little more muted now, but his new estimate of 10-12 years — before 2026 — is still fairly optimistic. To get there, SpaceX would probably use the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle (basically the Falcon 9 but with two huge booster rockets stuck onto it), and a variant of the recently announced manned Dragon spaceship. NASA’s Mars mission would use the Orion spacecraft (which is finally almost ready for testing), and the new Space Launch System (which isn’t expected to be ready for a few years yet).
Actually getting humans to Mars isn’t all that difficult. Yes, the journey is quite long (around 200 days) and there’s a risk of radiation exposure, but these are fairly small problems compared to a) landing on Mars, b) surviving on Mars, and c) getting back to Earth. This is the area where NASA — which has landed and taken off from the Moon, and landed a huge rover on Mars — has a lot more experience than SpaceX. SpaceX hasn’t yet landed on the Moon — and, at least publicly, it has shared very few plans about how or when it would attempt such a landing. The upcoming manned Dragon capsule will ferry astronauts to the ISS, but it isn’t equipped for a lunar landing or takeoff. This isn’t to say that SpaceX couldn’t develop and test the various, exceedingly complex systems required for a Martian landing and takeoff, but 10-12 years is a pretty tight timeline.
Musk also spoke about SpaceX going public on the stock market — perhaps to raise the necessary funds to fly (and establish a colony?) on Mars.
or cash in on the hype. Tesla is a car company but valued like google in its price/earnings.
That's probably also the reason he is giving a 10-12 year Mars timeline, hype is good for business whereas NASA is being more realistic which while smarter doesn't exactly get you the funding you need.
The private spaceflight company Boeing has been hard at work designing a capsule that could deliver NASA astronauts to the International Space Station sometime in the next three years. And pretty soon, everyone will find out if all that hard work has paid off.
NASA is expected to announce its pick (or picks) for a contract that will enable a commercial company (or companies) to fly manned missions to the International Space Station by 2017 any day now, and Boeing's astronaut-carrying CST-100 capsule is in the running. People working with the commercial spaceflight company's capsule have been working diligently to make sure that they meet their goals ahead of the commercial crew announcement.
On September 17 2014 03:00 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: There is rumblings about Blue Origin and Boeing being the picks for the Contracts, if so then it will be utterly revolting and a clusterfuck.
The smart move would be SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corporation. One capsule and one winged vehicle.
Isn't SpaceX known for missing their deadlines (even if they do deliver in the end)?
On September 17 2014 03:00 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: There is rumblings about Blue Origin and Boeing being the picks for the Contracts, if so then it will be utterly revolting and a clusterfuck.
The smart move would be SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corporation. One capsule and one winged vehicle.
Isn't SpaceX known for missing their deadlines (even if they do deliver in the end)?
Better than Blue Origin which doesn't have anything flying and Boeing whose replacement is a cardboard model, and has esseinally said they will stop everything NASA related if they are not chosen.
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Jeff Bezos, the founder of Blue Origin and Amazon.com, and Tory Bruno, the new chief executive of United Launch Alliance, will announce a strategic partnership between Blue Origin and ULA at a Sept. 17 event in Washington, a source said Sept. 16.
And while there is no mention of ULA or Blue Origin in the listing, the National Press Club’s day book shows an event called “Igniting the Future” scheduled for Sept. 17 at 12:30 p.m. EDT.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the announcement would position ULA to develop an engine with Blue Origin to potentially replace the Russian-made RD-180, which currently powers the workhorse Atlas 5 rocket and faces an uncertain future as tensions with Russia rise.
On September 17 2014 03:00 {CC}StealthBlue wrote: There is rumblings about Blue Origin and Boeing being the picks for the Contracts, if so then it will be utterly revolting and a clusterfuck.
The smart move would be SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corporation. One capsule and one winged vehicle.
Isn't SpaceX known for missing their deadlines (even if they do deliver in the end)?
Aren't they already ahead of Boeing on this though? I think CST-100 is mostly a paper spaceship.
EPT
Seems to be going well, as most of them do.
