Why does Jeff Bezos's rocket look like that? An inquiry

[Jilly_in_VA]

Jeff Bezos’s 11-minute trip aboard a Blue Origin rocket to the edge of space on Tuesday left the world’s richest man feeling “unbelievably good” and his crew “very happy”. But afterwards, as he wondered aloud how fast he could refuel, the rest of the world was left pondering just why the New Shepard rocket had such a distinctive shape.

As social media erupted with innuendo, we contacted a few experts to find out why it looked, in the words of one astrophysicist, so “anthropomorphic”. At one major research institution, the press officer referred us to the gender studies department, but Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, was able to shed some light on the topic.

New Shepard consists of a mushroom-like crew capsule that flares out over a long shaft, called a booster. The rounded top appears more bulbous than that of many other rockets, but it’s not unique. “There’s a long history of what we call hammerhead rockets,” on which the capsule’s diameter is wider than the booster, said McDowell. “If you’re careful, it actually has perfectly fine aerodynamics.”

Just like the tips of passenger and military jets, capsules come in all different shapes, New Shepard’s interior is designed to “maximize the interior volume” to hold six passengers, said Laura Forczyk, the owner of Astralytical, a space analytics company. It also needs a “big, flat bottom” for stable re-entry, McDowell said.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jul/20/jeff-bezos-rocket-design-an-inquiry
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And please, not the obvious.......

[Mrs. Claw]

1. Apparently he tried to

get a $10 billion infusion from NASA for his project.

[BannonsLiver]

2. I still get a chuckle when the passengers on the rocket are referred to as crew.

Later this week, I’m “crewing” a flight to Saint Lucia from seat 1A.

I’ll have about as much to do with the technical aspects of the flight as they did yesterday.

[zipplewrath]

3. No pilot

There was no pilot because there was no way for anyone on board really do anything.

[Dial H For Hero]

14. Interestingly, while the first spacecraft to carry a human into orbit (Vostok) had manual controls,

they were to be used only in an emergency. The flight was controlled entirely by the ground.

[Foolacious]

4. I want to know about those huge windows.

They're amazingly large for a hypersonic craft. How did they do that?

[iemanja]

5. It looks like the obvious

Men deliberately build rockets that way. Their goal is to literally penetrate space.

[elias7]

6. Well, if a woman built it, would it look like a vagina?

Seriously, how would anyone design a rocket that could not be construed as a phallus.

[iemanja]

8. No, it would have to be aerodynamic

but dicks aren't the only shapes that fly.

[elias7]

16. Triangular? Like a fighter jet. Sort of boob-like...

Sci-fi crafts are certainly not phallic, but we don’t have that kind of technology, like impulse power and warp speed. Until then, I’m afraid most objects built for getting into space are going to be cylindrical by nature.

[iemanja]

17. NASA's rockets

while phallic don't look like a literal bulbus dick. You can't tell me that Bezos' is more aerodynamic than Artemis 1. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-54156798

I'm not an engineer, but I tend to think that if women were in charge of the space program, rockets overall might look different.

[Dial H For Hero]

7. Am I the only one here who finds the constant dick jokes tiresome?

Just wondering.

[iemanja]

11. there is an easy solution to that

They don't need to build the things to look like dicks. This one is more so than a typical rocket.

[Jilly_in_VA]

13. That's why I said

"Please, not the obvious". Apparently some people can't take a hint.

[Dial H For Hero]

15. It wasn't directed at you, but rather DU on the whole. I apologize for not making that clear.

[Wounded Bear]

9. The pod is designed to fit on a larger booster, one that would actually go sub-orbital...

or maybe eventually orbital. Thus, the diameter of the passenger pod is larger than the booster. The current booster is not capable of that, but I assume future designs will be.

All rockets end up being phallic shaped. Some are less 'mushroom-like' but all are cylindrical due to aerodynamics. When he wants to break the 100 mile altitude line he'll need a lot more oomph than that guy. The current one will be suffiecient for more tourist flights like the one yesterday.

[brooklynite]

10. Because people look for patterns...

New Sheperd flies, lands and is reusable. I don't care what it looks like.

[Worried2020]

12. well duh - He's was chasing the Virgin Galactic!

.



W

[Sneederbunk]

18. Appealing to an international female audience.

[Me.]

19. Why Was He Wearing That Too Big Hat?