If you think about space travel and the means of escaping the confines of the Earth then most people, currently, are likely to think about the new Artemis project and the Space Launch System. That’s not the only new development though, Blue Origin have been working on their New Glenn rocket and finally we have got a glimpse of their new offering. The rocket was finally rolled onto the launch pad at Cape Canaveral for testing to commence and we may even see a launch later this year.
Blue Origin was founded in 2000 by the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos. It is American aerospace manufacturer based in Washington, USA and specialises in producing rocket engines for the Vulcan rocket and manufactures satellites, spacecraft and a variety of space based tech. Securing the deal to become the second provider of the Lunar lander for Artemis project, Blue Origin has most certainly become a major player in the space industry.
Their latest announcement came with the incredible sight of the New Glenn vehicle rolling out onto Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral. This was the first glimpse the world got of their new advanced heavy-lift vehicle which promises to support a number of different commercial customer missions and NASA’s Artemis program to get humans back to the Moon.
Space lovers will perhaps recognise the name Glenn from the first American to orbit the Earth, John Glenn. It stands an impressive 98m tall (only about 12m shorter than Saturn V used by the Apollo astronauts). It has an impressive 7m payload bay which is double the volume of most commercial launch capabilities available today. I don’t know about you but I struggle to visualise what that means but to give it context, Blue Origin state that it could accommodate three school busses!
Apollo 11 launch using the Saturn V rocket
The first stage, like the Falcon rockets, are reusable and designed to be used for at least 25 launches. They will land on a sea-based platform almost 1,000km downrange from the launch site. As with the Falcon systems, the reusability of the first stage helps to keep costs per launch down.
Before the New Glenn could be lifted up onto the pad the journey started toward the end of 2023 when the first stage module was transported to the Integration Facility 15km away. The facility allowed the modules to be assembled in preparation for installing on the launch pad. Now the rocket is vertical, the coming weeks will see a series of tests from loading the cryogenic fuel into the seven BE-4 engines. These are the most powerful liquid oxygen and liquefied natural gas engines developed since Saturn V’s F1 engines. They will test pressure control and launch and ground systems in preparation for its first launch later this year.
Blue Origin are rather confident these tests will be a success though as they are already manufacturing several New Glenn vehicles with a full set of customers queueing up to use them. They include NASA, Project Kuiper (another global internet project to launch over 3,000 satellites into low Earth orbit), Telesat, Eutelsat and the US Space Force for National Security Space Launch programs.