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Can anybody answer me, why BlueOrigin has to detach the passenger module? Can't they just land the passenger module with the booster since the booster have such

Can anybody answer me, why BlueOrigin has to detach the passenger module? Can't they just land the passenger module with the booster since the booster have such controlled landing?

jessriedel 9y ago
I don't know, but one possibility is that they think it's easier to ensure the extremely high degree of safety with a separate parachute capsule. If the boosters can be recovered 99% of the time, but are destroyed 1% of the time, that would be plenty reliable to drastically cut the cost of the trip but obviously not reliable enough for humans. And it might not make sense to bring that reliability to something like 0.1% or 0.01%, which you need for humans, if it doubles the cost of the booster.
shirro 9y ago
Possibly booster landings were judged much less reliable than parachute landings when they originated the concept. Nobody had propulsively landed a booster that had been to space until Blue and SpaceX did it at around the same time. Before that things didn't always go so well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvim4rsNHkQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvim4rsNHkQ SpaceX were going to land Dragon 2 with rockets and it looks like NASA wasn't interested. Parachutes are still the safe, proven option. With orbital class boosters potentially being landed every couple of weeks and Blue having flown their vehicle multiple times I would guess future vehicle generations will benefit from that experience. SpaceX's BFS is going to combine a second stage and crew/cargo vehicle. If successful, competition might be pushed in the same direction.
ekianjo 9y ago
By detaching the passenger module you can effectively give passengers a longer flight.
agildehaus 9y ago
New Shepard has a single engine. If that engine fails to light, either every passenger dies or you escape the passenger module and ... land with parachutes. It's simpler to just separate near apogee and land with parachutes.
ptmcc 9y ago
There are a lot of aerodynamic controls that are integrated into the ring at the top of the booster. The capsule needs to be detached in order for them to work appropriately. Also, safety.

Can anybody answer me, why BlueOrigin has to detach the passenger module? Can't they just land the passenger module with the booster since the booster have such controlled landing?

jessriedel 9y ago

I don't know, but one possibility is that they think it's easier to ensure the extremely high degree of safety with a separate parachute capsule. If the boosters can be recovered 99% of the time, but are destroyed 1% of the time, that would be plenty reliable to drastically cut the cost of the trip but obviously not reliable enough for humans. And it might not make sense to bring that reliability to something like 0.1% or 0.01%, which you need for humans, if it doubles the cost of the booster.

shirro 9y ago

Possibly booster landings were judged much less reliable than parachute landings when they originated the concept. Nobody had propulsively landed a booster that had been to space until Blue and SpaceX did it at around the same time. Before that things didn't always go so well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvim4rsNHkQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvim4rsNHkQ SpaceX were going to land Dragon 2 with rockets and it looks like NASA wasn't interested. Parachutes are still the safe, proven option. With orbital class boosters potentially being landed every couple of weeks and Blue having flown their vehicle multiple times I would guess future vehicle generations will benefit from that experience. SpaceX's BFS is going to combine a second stage and crew/cargo vehicle. If successful, competition might be pushed in the same direction.

ekianjo 9y ago

By detaching the passenger module you can effectively give passengers a longer flight.

agildehaus 9y ago

New Shepard has a single engine. If that engine fails to light, either every passenger dies or you escape the passenger module and ... land with parachutes. It's simpler to just separate near apogee and land with parachutes.

ptmcc 9y ago

There are a lot of aerodynamic controls that are integrated into the ring at the top of the booster. The capsule needs to be detached in order for them to work appropriately. Also, safety.