Challenges of space conquest

The image that usually remains in memory when we talk about space exploration is always the same, a rocket cutting through the sky, engines roaring and a gigantic machine leaving the earth behind, but the reality of the space race is very different, before each historic launch there are thousands of silent tests and sometimes some end in a huge fireball.

That was exactly what happened with the New Glenn, the new generation rocket from Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, during a ground test carried out in Florida, the ship suffered a catastrophic failure that resulted in an impressive explosion still on the platform. Fortunately, no one was injured, but the incident caught the attention of the entire space industry, because the New Glenn is not just another rocket, with almost 100 m high, it represents one of the main bets of the United States for the transport of heavy loads, satellites and future missions related to the return of humanity to the Moon.

The test that ended in explosion was a relatively common procedure in aerospace development, known as static testing, it keeps the rocket attached to the platform while the engines are turned on to verify the behavior of the systems under real operating conditions, in theory, it is precisely at that moment when the problems should appear and they did appear.

Although the causes are still being investigated, the failure interrupted preparation for the program's next flights and will force Blue Origin engineers to analyze an enormous amount of data before authorizing new operations. The curious thing is that for those who work with rockets, accidents like this are not only seen as defeats, they are also part of the learning process. SpaceX itself accumulated numerous explosions before turning Falcon 9 into one of the most reliable vehicles in history.

The development of reusable rockets requires pushing these giant machines to the limit, discovering flaws that often only appear when everything is put to the test. New Glenn was created precisely to operate at that limit, its objective is to compete directly with the largest launchers on the planet, transporting increasingly heavier loads to Earth orbit and in the future, participating in the construction of the necessary infrastructure for long-term lunar emissions, therefore, despite the impressive images of the explosion, perhaps the most important thing about this event is not the fire, but the amount of information that the engineers managed to collect.

Thank you for visiting my blog. If you like posts about #science, #planet, #politics, #rights #crypto, #traveling and discovering secrets and beauties of the #universe, feel free to Follow me as these are the topics I write about the most. Have a wonderful day and stay on this great platform :) :)

! The truth will set us free and science is the one that is closest to the truth!

---