Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin successfully mimicked the moon’s gravity during a recent spaceflight experiment for NASA, spinning a capsule 11 times a minute to achieve two minutes of artificial lunar gravity. The company launched 29 lunar technology experiments from West Texas and confirmed that their efforts were successful. This achievement aims to help NASA test equipment on short spaceflights before sending them to the moon.
The goal is to identify and resolve any issues at lower costs, allowing future missions to closely mirror Mars and other solar system gravity environments. Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp stated that mimicking lunar gravity can accelerate research with reduced costs. The New Shepard rocket landed as planned after a 10-minute flight, with the capsule parachuting back to Earth.
This experiment is part of Blue Origin’s ongoing efforts to support NASA’s lunar missions and provide valuable testing opportunities for equipment designed for space exploration.
Source: https://apnews.com/article/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-moon-15de48c78c48a19d80973be3cbf7e5d0