Blue Origin, the space company of Jeff Bezos, is launching its new rocket New Glenn this week. The rocket has been in development for years and should compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX's Starship.
New Glenn is a two-stage rocket with a diameter of 7 metres. Blue Origin's rocket has been in development for years. The company has reportedly been working on New Glenn since at least 2013, which was officially announced in 2016. The first stage is powered by seven BE4 engines, designed and manufactured in-house by Blue Origin.
First stage reusable
A feature of New Glenn is that this first stage is reusable. The stage is to land on a platform in the sea called Landing Platform Vessel 1 after launch. The first stage is designed to perform a minimum of 25 flights.
This is a similar approach to that of SpaceX, which has successfully landed its first stage several times on also a platform in the sea. Both Blue Origin and Space X aim to use the approach to lower the cost of rocket launches and also reduce the amount of waste generated.
The second stage should also eventually be reusable, by the way; Blue Origin has been working on this since 2021 under the code name Project Jarvis. For now, however, New Glenn is equipped with a second stage that is not reusable.
Loads up to 45 MT
New Glenn is designed to carry payloads up to 7 metres in diameter. It can carry a payload of up to 45 metric tonnes (MT) into low earth orbit (LEO) and a payload of 13 MT into geostationary orbit.
To carry these payloads to space, the New Glenn is equipped with seven BE4 engines, designed and manufactured in-house by Blue Origin. These engines provide a total of 17,000 kN of thrust for launch. The second stage is additionally equipped with two BE-3U engines, optimised for use in space.
Contracts
Several parties have already entered into contracts for launches with New Glenn. They include Eutelsat, Thai startup mu Space Corp and SKY Perfect JSAT, which all want to put communication satellites into orbit. Contracts have also been signed with OneWeb and Telesat, both of which are working on their own satellite networks. Amazon, also owned by Blue Origin founder Bezos, also wants to operate at least 12 flights with New Glenn.
Blue Origin has also been contracted by the US airline for the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) contract. This involves the launch of two spacecraft to Mars, which will study solar wind in Mars' unique hybrid magnetosphere.
The launch of New Glenn had already been scheduled, but has been postponed several times. It appears that the rocket will finally be launched this week. At the time of writing, the launch is scheduled for Wednesday 8 January. Further information is available here.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Image: Blue Origin
