Corn Ranch

Corn Ranch is a spaceport in the West Texas town of Van Horn, Texas. The 670-square-kilometer (165,000-acre) land parcel was purchased by Internet billionaire Jeff Bezos. Current launch license and experimental permits from the US government Federal Aviation Administration authorize flights of New Shepard rocket.[1] The first flight test took place on November 13, 2006 with the goal of providing commercial tourist flights.[2]

Corn Ranch
Aerial view of Corn Ranch
LocationVan Horn, Texas
Coordinates31°25′24″N 104°45′32″W
OperatorBlue Origin
Launch history
StatusActive
Launches15
First launchNovember 13, 2006
Goddard
Last launchDecember 11, 2019
New Shepard
Associated
rockets		Goddard (retired) and New Shepard
Landing history
StatusActive
Landings14
First landingNovember 13, 2006
Goddard
Last landingDecember 11, 2019
New Shepard
Associated
rockets		Goddard (retired) and New Shepard

As of May 2015, Blue Origin has a staff of approximately 50 supporting the West Texas facility.[3]

The launch pad is located at 31.422927°N 104.757152°W / 31.422927; -104.757152, about 2.9 km (1.8 mi) north of the check-out building. The landing pad is located at 31.4517°N 104.7628°W / 31.4517; -104.7628, about 6.1 km (3.8 mi) north of a check-out building and 3.2 km (2 mi) north of the launch pad.

In addition to the suborbital launch pads, the West Texas site includes a number of rocket engine test stands. Engine test cells to support both hydrolox, methalox and storable propellant engines are present.

Included are three test cells just for testing the methalox BE-4 engine alone: two full test cells that can support full-thrust and full-duration burns, as well as one that supports short-duration, high-pressure preburner tests, to "refine the ignition sequence and understand the start transients."[4]

See also

References
  1. Final Supplemental Environmental Assessment for the Blue Origin West Texas Launch Site (Report). Federal Aviation Administration. February 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  2. "Space Dreams Boost Tiny Town". MSNBC.
  3. "Local engineers aim high for cheaper spaceflight". Seattle Times. 31 May 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  4. "BE-4 Engine Testing Update From Jeff Bezos – Parabolic Arc". Parabolic Arc.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.