It’s the day after Christmas and the neighborhood is fairly quiet but for the occasional bicyclist, baby carriage, golf cart, electric scooter-riding boy or girl. And a sight-seeing helicopter whomp-whomping over the beach, giving paying tourists some thrilling moments at 500 feet.
And… we have this on the Space Coast, specifically involving both Port Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center. (A very interesting juxtaposition.) Jeff Bezos of The WaPo, is in the race to space too. When the rocket of his dreams, coupled with Elon’s fevered dream to get us on Mars (why?)
A very important milestone for Blue Origin and the space industry. The importance of landing the first stage of New Glenn on a barge is:
1. Real rocket reuse This means that New Glenn can be reused multiple times, reducing costs — exactly what made the Falcon 9 so dominant in the market.
2. Direct competition with SpaceX Until now, only SpaceX dominated precise landings on barges in the ocean. Blue Origin has finally entered the “real” game in the orbital launch market (stocks).
3. Greater Safety and Precision Landing a rocket over 90 meters long on a barge in the open sea requires: extremely advanced propulsion control, high-precision GPS, autonomous navigation intelligence. It’s a huge technological leap.
4. Heavier Payloads in Orbit Landing at sea allows: using more fuel to ascend higher, carrying larger satellites, heavier missions. In other words, Blue Origin could offer services similar to SpaceX.
5. Market Pressure → Lower Prices With two companies offering reusable rockets and landing at sea, the market tends to: lower launch costs, accelerate innovation.
