Blue Origin Announces Next-Gen Space Tug for In-Space Deliveries
- by Gizmodo
- Jun 17, 2024
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Read more: Know Your Orbits: Where We Keep Our Most Important Stuff in Space
Blue Origin is targeting the first Blue Ring launch for 2024 or 2025, and despite its size, the system will fit within the fairings of conventional rockets such as SpaceX’s Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy and eventually Blue Origin’s New Glenn, according to Aviation Weekly.
Blue Ring is tapping into the latest push for more flexibility and capability in the space environment. Its forthcoming skills in the cislunar zone are a potential game-changer, bringing the Moon increasingly within reach. And with NASA diving deep into partnerships with the commercial side and pushing its Artemis program, the space agency might just hop on board as a major customer. But we’ll have to wait and see.
Blue Ring, along with Blue Origin’s brand new business unit, adds to the company’s growing catalog. There’s the space tourism offering with its New Shepard rocket, and it’s in the process of developing its New Glenn heavy lift launch vehicle. Blue Origin is also under a $3.4 billion contract with NASA to develop a second human landing system
, called Blue Moon (Blue Origin says the total cost of the program could exceed $6.8 billion, with the company absorbing the excess costs). Blue Moon would stay in the lunar environment and will be periodically refueled by a Lockheed Martin-built space tug. It’s not clear if Blue Ring could perform this task and/or eventually replace the Lockheed Martin tug, but that seems likely, given the platform’s skillset.
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