Although Blue Origin’s rockets have only reached orbit twice so far, and Jeff Bezos’s lunar ambitions are still far from being realized, the Amazon founder is already preparing for scenarios like something out of a Hollywood blockbuster. Last week, the company unveiled the Near-Earth Objects Hunter mission concept, developed in collaboration with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The main goal of the project is to test methods for deflecting potentially hazardous asteroids. And while humanity once relied solely on brute force, Blue Origin now offers some more sophisticated solutions.
Blue Ring
The Blue Ring multifunctional platform will be the central component of the future defense system. This spacecraft, which is currently under active development, was originally designed as a versatile “tug”: it is intended to refuel, transport, and deploy satellites into various orbits.
Now there are proposals to turn Blue Ring into a base for hunting asteroids. This is how the plan works: the platform launches a fleet of tiny CubeSats that conduct “reconnaissance”—measuring the object’s mass and density. Only after a thorough analysis, the team decides exactly how to neutralize the threat.
Space billiards
Blue Origin proposes two main approaches to dealing with asteroids: ion deflection and kinetic impact. This latest method is inspired by NASA’s successful DART mission, which demonstrated that we can deflect an asteroid from its orbit using a kinetic impact.
However, scientists warn that playing this kind of “space billiards” is an extremely risky business. The destruction of an asteroid could trigger a chain reaction, resulting in thousands of small fragments hurtling toward us instead of a single large one.
Calendar of events
Although the exact launch date has not yet been announced, Blue Origin is moving forward steadily. A prototype of the Blue Ring platform was successfully launched aboard the first 90-meter New Glenn rocket in 2025. This year, Blue Ring underwent structural testing at a NASA facility. The platform’s first official mission is scheduled to launch later this year.
In 2027, NASA plans to launch its own infrared telescope, NEO Surveyor, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. This spacecraft will search for “invisible” asteroids that do not reflect light but emit light in the infrared spectrum due to heating by the Sun.
While Blue Origin is developing its anti-asteroid weapon, competition in the field of planetary defense is heating up. The partnership with NASA gives Bezos a significant advantage. However, scientists emphasize that protecting Earth is a team effort. The combination of NEO Surveyor’s reconnaissance capabilities and Blue Ring’s “muscle” could be exactly the duo that prevents humanity from suffering the same fate as the dinosaurs.
We previously reported on how 15,000 unseen asteroids could destroy cities on Earth.
According to NASA Spaceflight
