Blue Origin successfully tests crew capsule escape motor
OCT 23, 2012
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.026467
Wired : Blue Origin, one of the companies participating in NASA’s Commercial Crew Development program, tested an escape motor on its suborbital crew capsule on 19 October. Launching from the ground, the capsule reached an altitude of 703 m before deploying its parachutes and landing safely. The escape system that Blue Origin tested uses a pusher motor design that fires from beneath the capsule to move it away from the rocket booster in case of an emergency during ascent. SpaceX’s Dragon capsule also uses a pusher motor, but Russia’s Soyuz capsule uses a more traditional “tractor” rocket mounted on a tower on top of the crew capsule. The main benefit of a pusher rocket is that, unlike the tractor system, it does not have to be jettisoned before the capsule can reach orbit.
© 2012 American Institute of Physics
