Blue Origin, the
private space company set up by Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos, will begin repurposing its rockets so that NASA can use them to simulate lunar gravity.
NASA has signed an agreement with the company that will see Blue Origin’s New Shepard rockets simulate lunar gravity for up to two minutes at a time by using their thrusters to turn the rockets into a giant centrifuge.
Simulation of lower gravity environments has so far been limited to short, 30-second windows caused by aircraft flying parabolic trajectories.
The new flights using repurposed Blue Origin rockets are set to begin in late 2022, NASA said in a statement.
Closer links with NASA could hand Mr Bezos’ Blue Origin an advantage over Elon Musk’s rival SpaceX business as they compete for lucrative space contracts.
“One of the constant challenges with living and working in space is reduced gravity,” said Christopher Baker, the program executive of NASA’s Flight Opportunities technology demonstration program. “A wide range of tools we need for the moon and Mars could benefit from testing in partial gravity, including technologies for in situ resource utilisation, regolith mining, and environmental control and life support systems.”
