Blue Origin has launched and landed successfully its New Shepard spaceflight suborbital system four times in the last seven months. But the New Shepard might come to an end as it is scheduled to have an in-flight escape test on Wednesday.
According to Ars Technica, the test will intentionally trigger the launch abort system at about 45 seconds after its launch at a n altitude of 16,000 feet. The launch abort system of the New Shepard are designed to fire in an instant. And during the emergency, the system will separate the crew capsule from its booster.
Ars Technica also reported that the propulsion module of the New Shepard booster, which was powered by single BE-3 engine, was not built to survive such an in-flight escape test. The outcome of this scenario is that the booster will be smashed with 70,000 pounds of off-axis force. And at its maximum dynamic pressure, it is still unclear whether the propulsion module will be broken into pieces.
If by chance the New Shepard booster survives the impact, it will surely be placed in a museum somewhere. If it doesn't, the booster is expected to display some fireworks around the Texas desert floor.
New Shepard consists of a reusable rocket and a reusable capsule. Space.com describes how the in-flight escape test will be done on Wednesday. The website says that the onboard escape motor will be launch from its capsule 2 seconds after its liftoff. The purpose of the test is to ensure that the astronauts could get out of the New Shepard when an emergency arises during the flight.
Blue Origin is a privately-funded aerospace manufacturer and spaceflight services company developed by Amazon.com's founder Jeff Bezos. Blue Origin is developing the New Shepard vehicle to take people in brief flights to suborbital space. This will give people a chance to have a sneak peek of the space.
The New Shepard vehicle is set to have flights with test passengers no earlier than 2017. And commercial flights are planned to execute as early as 2018, per wikipedia.
Watch the live webcast of the New Shepard in-flight ecape test at the official website of Blue Origin. The webcast begins at 10:45am ET.
