Month: December 2021

With further delays to BE-4 rocket engine, Vulcan may not make 2022 debut

“These are really big, heavy, complicated pieces of machinery.”

A full-power test of the BE-4 rocket engine in April 2019 in West Texas.

Enlarge / A full-power test of the BE-4 rocket engine in April 2019 in West Texas. (credit: Blue Origin)

Blue Origin is unlikely to deliver two flight-ready versions of the BE-4 rocket engine to United Launch Alliance (ULA) before at least the second quarter of 2022, two sources say. This increases the possibility that the debut flight of ULA's much-anticipated new rocket, Vulcan, could slip into 2023.

Vulcan's first stage is powered by two BE-4 engines, which burn methane and are more powerful than the space shuttle's main engines. The sources said there recently was a "relatively small" production issue with fabrication of the flight engines at Blue Origin's factory in Kent, Washington.

As a result of this, the engines will not be completed and shipped to the company's test stands in West Texas until next year. Once there, each engine must be unpacked, tested, and then re-configured to be moved to ULA's rocket assembly facility in northern Alabama. A reasonable "no-earlier-than" date for the engines' arrival at the rocket manufacturer is now April 2022, and this assumes a smooth final production and testing phase.

Read 14 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Energiepreise, Nord Stream 2 und die Ukraine-Krise

Putin dürfte kaum vorhaben, die Ukraine zu erobern. Er will verhindern, dass sie zum Aufmarschgebiet der Nato wird. Ein Mittel wäre ein Gasembargo

Putin dürfte kaum vorhaben, die Ukraine zu erobern. Er will verhindern, dass sie zum Aufmarschgebiet der Nato wird. Ein Mittel wäre ein Gasembargo

Don’t Look Up is fiction. Here’s the real science of that doomsday scenario

Ars chats with Amy Mainzer about why we don’t need comet and asteroid insurance just yet.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence co-star as low-level astronomers in <em>Don't Look Up</em>

Enlarge / Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence co-star as low-level astronomers in Don't Look Up (credit: Netflix)

Two low-level astronomers discover a "planet killer" comet hurtling toward Earth but struggle to get anyone to pay attention in Don't Look Up, a new satirical sci-fi from Netflix. Directed by Adam McKay (The Big Short), it's a mostly amusing, star-studded confection that ably skewers science denial and cynical politicking even in the face of almost certain annihilation.

(Mildest of spoilers for the film below.)

Per the film's official synopsis:

Read 29 remaining paragraphs | Comments