Blue Origin achieved a major milestone on Thursday with the successful second flight of its massive New Glenn rocket, carrying two NASA spacecraft destined for Mars. It was only the second flight of the rocket that Jeff Bezos’ company and NASA are counting on to ferry people and supplies to the moon.
The 321-foot (98-meter) New Glenn blasted into the afternoon sky from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, sending NASA’s twin Mars orbiters on a long journey to the red planet. Liftoff was stalled for four days by inclement local weather as well as solar storms strong enough to paint the skies with auroras as far south as Florida.
In a first for the fledgling company, Blue Origin recovered the booster following its separation from the upper stage and the Mars orbiters, an essential step in recycling and slashing costs, similar to how SpaceX rockets work. Company employees cheered wildly as the booster landed upright on a barge 375 miles (600km) offshore. An ecstatic Bezos watched the action from launch control.
“Next stop, moon!” employees chanted following the booster’s bull’s-eye landing. Twenty minutes later, the rocket’s upper stage deployed the two Mars orbiters in space, the mission’s main objective.
Blue Origin’s New Glenn to send orbiters to Mars
The New Glenn’s inaugural test flight in January delivered a prototype satellite to orbit but failed to land the booster on its floating platform in the Atlantic.
The identical Mars orbiters, named Escapade, will spend a year hanging out near Earth, stationing themselves one million miles (1.5 million kilometers) away. Once Earth and Mars are properly aligned next fall, the duo will get a gravity assist from Earth to head to the red planet, arriving in 2027.
Once around Mars, the spacecraft will map the planet’s upper atmosphere and scattered magnetic fields, studying how these realms interact with the solar wind. Observations should shed light on the processes behind the escaping Martian atmosphere, helping to explain how the planet went from wet and warm to dry and dusty. Scientists will also study how best to protect astronauts against Mars’ harsh radiation environment.
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