Only a week after a profitable launch of its heavy-lift New Glenn rocket, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin house enterprise says it is going to make New Glenn even heavier.
The brand new super-heavy-lift variant of Blue Origin’s strongest rocket, often called New Glenn 9×4, will characteristic 9 methane-fueled BE-4 engines on the primary stage, up from seven; and 4 hydrogen-fueled BE-3U engines on the second stage, up from two. The 9×4 rocket may also have an even bigger fairing, or nose-cone part, measuring 8.7 meters (28.5 ft) large, versus 7 meters (23 ft) for the fairing presently in use.
Kent, Wash.-based Blue Origin says it’s working to reinforce the efficiency of the rocket engines on each the New Glenn 9×4 and the usual 7×2 mannequin. Different upgrades will embody a reusable fairing, a lower-cost tank design and a higher-performing thermal safety system.
The upgrades might be phased into upcoming New Glenn missions beginning with the subsequent launch, which is predicted to happen early subsequent yr. “These enhancements will instantly profit prospects already manifested on New Glenn to fly to locations together with low Earth orbit, the moon and past,” the corporate mentioned at this time in an internet replace.
Prospects can select between the variants for missions to low Earth orbit (together with satellite tv for pc launches for the Amazon Leo web mega-constellation); to the moon and deep house (together with subsequent yr’s Blue Moon Mark 1 uncrewed lunar touchdown); and for nationwide safety missions such because the proposed Golden Dome missile protection system.
Blue Origin mentioned the 9×4 mannequin might be able to carrying greater than 70 metric tons to low Earth orbit (vs. 45 tons for the 7×2), greater than 14 tons to geosynchronous orbit, and greater than 20 tons on a visit from Earth to the moon. That may make New Glenn 9×4 extra highly effective than SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket (64 tons to LEO), however much less highly effective than SpaceX’s Starship (100 to 150 tons to LEO).
The enhancements seem more likely to up the ante in Blue Origin’s competitors with SpaceX and United Launch Alliance. New Glenn has been launched solely twice, versus tons of of launches for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and scores of launches for ULA’s Atlas 5. However final week’s profitable launch of dual probes to Mars and the first-ever restoration of an orbital-class New Glenn booster have raised Blue Origin’s profile within the launch trade.
That booster, nicknamed “By no means Inform Me the Odds,” flew itself again to a landing within the Atlantic Ocean atop Blue Origin’s restoration barge, which was named Jacklyn in honor of Jeff Bezos’ mom. This week the booster was introduced again to port and transported to the corporate’s processing facility at Cape Canaveral in Florida, with Bezos wanting on.
