Spectacular start to the year in space, with the scheduled launches of two giant American rockets: the New Glenn from Blue Origin, the company founded by Jeff Bezos, and the Starship from SpaceX, created by Elon Musk. The planned shots, at the earliest respectively on Sunday January 12 and Monday January 13, illustrate the ambitions of the two billionaires in this field and the competition they have been engaged in for almost a quarter of a century against the backdrop of the conquest of Mars, Blue Origin having been created in 2000 and SpaceX in 2002.
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-The New Glenn rocket should thus make its first flight. Departing from the Cape Canaveral base in Florida, this 98 meter high reusable launcher will carry the Blue Ring Pathfinder, which should remain in orbit. Funded by the Ministry of Defense, this prototype platform will test the capabilities of the flight systems that will equip future transfer vehicles from one point to another in space. The first stage of the rocket should return to land in the Gulf of Mexico, on the barge Jacklynnamed after Jeff Bezos’ mother.
It will then be Starship’s turn to make its seventh attempt. Taking off from Boca Chica, Texas, this 120 meter high rocket will carry replicas of Starlink satellites which will be put into orbit. In theory, the first stage should return to its launch pad and the second stage should land in the Indian Ocean. This launcher – the largest in the world – will be capable of carrying up to 150 tonnes of loads to low orbit, between 200 and 500 kilometers from Earth, three times more than New Glenn and almost ten times more than New Glenn. Ariane-6.
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