Blue Origin's space rocket stacked on launchpad for first time
Jeff Bezos's space venture, Blue Origin, has showcased its orbital-class New Glenn rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The powerful rocket is designed to support various missions, including NASA's Artemis program for lunar exploration. Sharing his enthusiasm on Instagram, Bezos said, "Just incredible to see New Glenn on the pad at LC-36. Big year ahead. Let's go!"
New Glenn's impressive size and capabilities
The sight of the massive New Glenn rocket, standing over 30 stories tall, was described as "incredible" and "humbling" by Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp. With a 7-meter diameter fairing and 487 cubic meters of capacity, the rocket can hold up to three school buses. Its reusable first-stage booster is designed for at least 25 missions and can land on a sea-based platform after launching the expendable second stage.
New Glenn isn't destined for lift-off yet
New Glenn isn't set to launch just yet. The pathfinder rocket will remain grounded for at least a week and undergo a series of tanking tests. Limp said the upcoming tests will proceed without New Glenn's BE-4 rocket engine, which runs on liquefied natural gas. "Eventually, the rocket will be moved from the pad, and then version equipped with engines will be prepared for launch." The test launch is expected to happen later this year.
The development process encountered several delays
New Glenn's development has experienced several setbacks over the years. When Blue Origin unveiled the rocket's design in 2016, Bezos anticipated the inaugural flight to occur before the end of 2020. However, it has taken longer than anticipated to finalize BE-4 engines and Blue Origin's facilities in Florida for operational readiness. This slower progress has led to unfavorable comparisons with Elon Musk's SpaceX, founded two years after Blue Origin, yet swiftly emerging as the world's leading space launch company.
Customer manifest and upcoming missions
New Glenn already has a full customer manifest, with launches scheduled for Telesat, Eutelsat, and other telecom providers. NASA is also relying on New Glenn for the launch of its twin ESCAPADE Mars probes this year. Additionally, Amazon, another Bezos-founded company, has reserved at least 12 New Glenn launches for its Project Kuiper broadband internet satellites.
Blue Origin is about to purchase United Launch Alliance
According to Ars Technica, Blue Origin is the sole finalist to purchase United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint space venture currently co-owned by Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Two unnamed sources expect the sale to be announced within a month or two, with a speculated price between $2-3 billion. ULA's next-generation Vulcan rocket, which debuted last month, uses Blue Origin's BE-4 engines on its first stage.
