blue origin
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Former Blue Origin Employees Want to Harvest Helium-3 From the Moon
Over billions of years, the surface of the Moon has been bombarded by solar wind, carrying high-energy particles that include a highly coveted resource, helium-3. Although the element is scarce on Earth, it has recently become in demand by several industries, including those working on quantum computing and nuclear fusion reactors. Helium-3 has been deemed…
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Could Blue Origin Actually Beat SpaceX to the Moon?
Blue Origin, the aerospace company founded by Jeff Bezos, is finally setting some ambitious timelines, saying it plans to conduct an uncrewed Moon landing in as little as a year from now, deploying a demonstration version of its Blue Moon Mark 1 (MK1) cargo lander. This ramps up the space rivalry big time, putting Bezos…
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Sierra Space Built an Inflatable Space Module the Size of a House, Then Blew It Up
You can’t fly an inflatable module to space without bursting a few on Earth. Sierra Space watched its giant, 20-foot-tall space station module explode in dramatic fashion, but the company wasn’t too stressed about it. In fact, it marked a successful test on the road to building the first commercial space station in low Earth…
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The Soaring Highs and Stark Lows of Spaceflight in 2023
It’s time to look back at spaceflight in 2023, a real “two steps forward, one step back” kind of year, filled with highs, lows, and everything in between. The New Space Race is in full swing, and with both public and private entities pushing the limits of what’s possible, failures are an inevitability, as is…