Deep Blue Aerospace
A Chinese language house startup performed what it known as a “high-altitude” take a look at flight of its Nebula-1 rocket on Sunday, launching the car to an altitude of about 5 km or so earlier than making an attempt to land it again on the Ejin Banner Spaceport in Interior Mongolia.
The take a look at flight went effectively for about two and a half minutes earlier than the car skilled an issue simply earlier than touchdown and erupted right into a fireball.
This isn’t the primary vertical rocket touchdown take a look at by a Chinese language firm, however what units Deep Blue Aerospace aside from its opponents is its transparency. Inside hours the corporate launched an in depth assertion concerning the take a look at flight, its aims, and a preliminary evaluate of what went unsuitable.
Drone footage from Deep Blue Aerospace’s VTVL try right this moment. Nice view of the touchdown and explosion. https://t.co/jlZhrYRLMI pic.twitter.com/rne1aT5566
— Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI) September 22, 2024
Along with this assertion, the corporate launched pictures and video—together with that from close by drones—that included the fiery touchdown try and its aftermath. That is among the most unbelievable rocket footage I’ve ever seen, and a welcome new pattern towards transparency from Chinese language house firms.
The corporate stated it realized quite a bit from the take a look at, finishing 10 of its 11 main aims. It plans to try one other high-altitude take a look at flight as early as November.
Deep Blue Aerospace is considered one of a number of Chinese language aerospace startups—together with Linkspace, iSpace, Galactic Power, and House Pioneer amongst others—looking for to emulate the success that US-based SpaceX has had with vertical take off and vertical touchdown of rockets. These experiments mimic the groundbreaking experiments SpaceX carried out with its Grasshopper take a look at car greater than a decade in the past on the firm’s engine take a look at website in McGregor, Texas.
That is simply probably the most unbelievable footage of a rocket touchdown I’ve ever seen. Video is by Deep Blue Aerospace pic.twitter.com/PxmU7ugBIS
— SpaceBasedFox 𝖕𝖊𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖊𝖊𝖆𝖊𝖗𝖔.𝖈𝖔𝖒 (@SpaceBasedFox) September 22, 2024
Deep Blue’s Nebula-1 rocket has a diameter of three.35 meters (11 toes) which is barely smaller than SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket (12 toes in diameter). Will probably be powered by kerosene-liquid oxygen fueled engines, just like the Falcon 9. Given the setback this weekend, an orbital take a look at flight of Nebula-1 is unlikely to happen earlier than someday in 2025.
Whereas SpaceX performed its vertical touchdown exams after the Falcon 9 had begun launching clients into orbit, Deep Blue Aerospace is testing previous to orbital launches in an try to start touchdown its first levels from the very starting. Given what we have seen up to now, it needs to be enjoyable to look at.
