Why Blue Origin’s engine explosion matters

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There’s a reason they say “that’s why we test.” I’ve seen that a lot in my signals the past few days. Unfortunately, it crucially ignores that tests occur for various reasons.

Let’s get into that, especially in light The recently revealed explosion of a BE-4 rocket engine during a Blue Origin test in Texas. The engine was destined for the second launch of the United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket.

It is worth understanding the three main phases of rocket engine testing: development, qualification, and acceptance. Industry professional with over ten years of experience in this type of test Post a helpful summary about how these phases differ. here ll; Dr. version:

1. Development: Prototypes and smaller versions of the engine. You push them hard, and accept failure as part of the process of finding boundaries and flaws.
2. Qualification: Basically final design. You are now checking the engine power margins. Engine destruction may happen, but it shouldn’t be common.
3. Acceptance: A production engine being screened for launch. You might nudge it a bit as necessary to launch, but it’s not hard and tumble anymore, because you make sure it’s good.

Not every rocket engine explodes. Most people I’ve heard of are in the first two stages. But more importantly, the BE-4 is years behind schedule (the first aviation engines were contracted for delivery in 2017), and this was the third production engine. Of course, it’s better to lose an engine in a test than in a launch, especially on a rocket that can’t lose an engine for success, but that’s a very dismissive way of viewing the loss of expensive production hardware—not to mention another setback.

Downstream effects are why this is particularly important. The first pair of BE-4 engines recently passed a critical test on Vulcan for the first time. ULA CEO Tory Bruno insists that it is “very unlikely” that the incident will push back the schedule for Cert-1, currently scheduled for the fourth quarter. (Bruno will sit down with the reporters Thursday for a roundtable, which was on the schedule before the BE-4 incident was announced. I’ll be listening — so stay tuned for any other possible details on the Vulcan situation.)

But ULA doesn’t just need a Cert-1 to fly: The company needs a Vulcan to successfully complete two launches before the US Space Force can sign it up for valuable national security missions. SpaceX dominates the launch market and many in the industry, both competitors and customers, fear a monopoly. All six of ULA’s recently designated Space Force missions are scheduled to fly on Vulcan, since the company’s currently operational rockets are being retired.

So maybe this doesn’t affect Cert-1, but what about Cert-2? Bruno believes that the failure of the BE-4 acceptance test does not affect previous qualification tests carried out by Blue Origin. Even if they don’t need to rehabilitate the engine, they still need to close the investigation – Blue Origin says they’ve already found a possible cause of the explosion – check future production engines for the same faults or defects, and alternate testing.

As one payment engineer wrote on social media: “You learn a lot in development testing. You learn little in qualifying testing. Blessed are those who continue to learn in acceptance testing.”

Which brings us to another refrain I’ve seen in my signs the past few days: “Space is hard.” It’s more like “thoughts and prayers” these days.

• Astranis signs deal for the first dedicated internet satellite in the Philippines: The company will provide capacity to local Philippine internet service provider HTechCorp through a long-term deal with Orbits Corp. Astranis expects to launch the satellite as part of a group of five next year, and estimates the service will help connect up to two million people. – CNBC
• China’s Earth space is the first to orbit a methane-fueled rocket: The “private” project launched its Zhuque-2 rocket and announced that it had successfully reached orbit, a feat verified by US Space Force tracking data. – Space news
• Saudi and Chinese representatives meet to discuss space cooperation: The head of the Saudi Space Agency hosted meetings with top Chinese space officials in Riyadh, as part of an effort to strengthen political and economic ties between the two countries. – Arab News
• Maxar introduces a new satellite imagery platform, in an effort to expand access to the company’s capabilities in the field of Earth observation. The Maxar Geospatial Platform (MGP) includes imagery, 3D models, change detection, and more. – via satellite
• Virgo galaxy Announces the target schedule for the second commercial assignment, with a window opening on August 10 for “Galactic 02”, carrying three passengers privately. – Virgo galaxy
• NASA cancels the small asteroid Janus mission, which was to fly on the delayed Psyche asteroid mission. The agency plans to put the spacecraft into long-term storage. – Space news
• Astra doing spacecraft work, Establishment of Astra Spacecraft Engines as a subsidiary. The move will reportedly give Astra greater flexibility in hiring and financing the unit. – Techcrunch
• re-wiring to build a microgravity payload development facility in Indiana, With construction of a 30,000 square foot facility to begin in the fourth quarter. – re-wiring
• British rocket builder Orbex announces expansion: The company is building its facilities in Scotland and Denmark, to increase missile production and thrust manufacturing capacity. – Orbex

• Dish And EchoStar It is said about the analysis of a possible merger, a move that would see Charlie Ergen re-merge the companies after the latter was dismantled 15 years ago. – Traffic lights
• Private equity and defense firms buy Ball Aerospace, which CNBC previously reported is for sale from parent company Ball. According to a report, Blackstone and Veritas Capital are competing against defense firms BAE Systems, General Dynamics and Textron for the acquisition of Ball Aerospace. – Reuters
• HawkEye 360 ​​satellite intelligence project raises $58 million from BlackRock, as well as Manhattan Venture Partners, Insight Partners, Night Dragon, Strategic Development Fund (SDF), Razors Edge, Alumni Ventures, and Adage Capital. The company plans to use the funds to develop new systems and expand its analytics capabilities, especially to “support high-value defense missions.” The company currently has 21 satellites in orbit. – HawkEye 360
• Satellite propulsion company Benchmark Space Systems raises $33 million, in from unnamed investors. CEO Ryan McDevitt said the increase was “not directly related” to the Vermont-based company’s recent layoffs. – Space news
• Axiom and Collins each awarded $5 million in contracts for NASA spacesuits that fall within the scope of deals previously granted by the Agency. The new awards are intended to fund Axiom’s development of a spacesuit for use in low Earth orbit, and Collins’ development of a spacesuit for use on the lunar surface. – NASA
• HawkEye 360 ​​has awarded Australian hunting monitoring contractsFor an undisclosed amount. The contract is part of Australia’s pilot program to improve marine awareness across the country and surrounding islands. – HawkEye 360

• viasat Stocks are headed for their worst trading day ever After detecting a malfunction in the deployment of the large reflector on the recently launched ViaSat-3 Americas satellite. The company said it was working with the reflector’s manufacturer to try to resolve the issue, but said the issue “could materially affect” the satellite’s performance. Northrop Grumman appears to be the manufacturer. On Thursday, Viasat stock headed for its worst drop in a single trading day since the company’s December 1996 IPO. CNBC
• The Astra board approves a 1-15 reverse stock split, with the company previously outlining the move as part of its plan to avoid a Nasdaq delisting. Astra is also seeking to raise up to $65 million through an “on-the-market” placement of common stock through Roth Capital, and has finalized a prior agreement with B. Riley to sell up to $100 million in common stock that the company signed in August. – CNBC

• Garrett Reisman joins Vast as a consultant on human spaceflight: A retired astronaut and former CEO of SpaceX comes to Vast as the company looks to build its human spaceflight and space habitat capabilities. – wide
• Hired Mike Kerrigan as Chief Commercial Officer of Meriota, an Australian satellite Internet of Things company. Kerrigan was previously Vice President of Strategy at Palo Alto Networks. – Miriota

• July 14: India’s LVM-3 launched the Chandrayaan-3 mission to the moon From Sriharikota.
• July 14: Rocket Lab Electron launches satellites From New Zealand, Telesat carries LEO 3, two Spire satellites and four NASA’s Starling satellites.
• July 14: SpaceX Falcon 9 launches Starlink satellites from Florida.
• July 18: SpaceX Falcon 9 launches Starlink satellites from ca.