Everyday Astronaut, Tim Dodd, got a tour from Blue Origin Executive Chariman Jeff Bezos of the Blue Origin New Glenn rocket production facilities.
00:00 – Intro
00:40 – Interview Starts [Lobby]
05:20 – Recovering Saturn V Engines
08:35 – Tank Production
16:40 – Second Stage
23:50 – Aft Section
33:15 – Forward Section
42:08 – Machine Shop
51:35 – Payload Adapter and Fairings
1:00:00 – Engines
1:11:20 – Outro
The New Glenn Rocket would be comparable in payload to a SpaceX Falcon Heavy. The Falcon Heavy has had ten successful launches and has about eleven more scheduled through 2029.
The New Glenn rocket by Blue Origin is in the final stages of preparation for its maiden flight, with significant activities ramping up towards a possible September 29, 2024 launch.
Here’s what is known:
Launch Preparations: New Glenn hardware, including stages, has been undergoing testing at Launch Complex 36 (LC-36). This includes cryogenic testing, pad testing, and integration tests without engines, which are being hotfired elsewhere. The rocket’s first stage is designed to be reusable, aiming for landings on a sea-based platform.
BE-4 Engine: The BE-4 engine, crucial for both New Glenn and ULA’s Vulcan rocket, has been in development and testing. Recent updates indicate:
Testing: BE-4 engines continue to be tested at facilities in Huntsville, Alabama, and West Texas. There’s been mention of successful hotfire tests, indicating progress in engine reliability and performance.
Production Rate: While specific numbers for the current production rate of BE-4 engines aren’t provided, Blue Origin has been scaling up its production capabilities to meet the demands for both New Glenn and Vulcan. The focus has been on ensuring engine delivery for Vulcan’s needs, suggesting a robust production line, but exact rates haven’t been disclosed.
Engine Anomaly: There was an incident where a BE-4 engine exploded during a test in June 2023, but this seems to have been resolved with investigations pointing towards remedial actions being implemented.
First Flight: The first flight of New Glenn is targeted for later in 2024, with NASA’s ESCAPADE mission to Mars as its payload, marking a significant milestone for Blue Origin in launching national security satellites and contributing to space exploration.
BE-3U: Alongside BE-4, the BE-3U engines for New Glenn’s second stage have also been in testing, with successful duration tests reported, indicating progress on that front as well.
Blue Origin and New Glenn have goals of flying 12-24 times per year.
Rocket Labs has test fired a new Archimedes engine for a mostly reusable Neutron rocket which would be a SpaceX Falcon 9 class rocket. Rocket Labs has had dozens of successful orbital missions. Blue Origin has not had a successful orbital mission. Blue Origin did supply an engine used by ULA for an orbital mission.
Relativity Space had an unsuccessful Terran 1 launch attempt and are trying to make a Falcon 9 class Terran R rocket. They plan to reach orbit by 2026.
There are several chinese rocket companies hoping to launch larger reusable rockets in the 2025-2026 timeframe.
Recently, Tim Dodd was given a tour of the SpaceX Starbase by Elon Musk.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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Rocket lab is more serious company.
I remember, years ago, taking my son to visit the Cape, and we drove past BO’s new building, still being constructed. It’s hard to believe it’s been this long and they STILL haven’t made orbit. God, how embarrassing that must be, if they’re capable of embarrassment.
In fact, it’s insane: There are hobbyists out there who could have made orbit by now just using the salary of some of BO’s employees! Because they’d be trying to, I guess.
How pessimist of you. As soon as New Glenn makes it first flight, it will dominate the market. Anybody that buys New Glenn launches will win 10 Amazon Prime subscriptions to watch the awesome Rings of Power materpiece.
It’s a STEAL!!
Ps: from Wikipedia – Blue Moon is a family of lunar landers and their associated infrastructure, intended to carry humans and cargo to the Moon, under development by a consortium led by Blue Origin and including Lockheed Martin, Draper, Boeing, Astrobotic, and Honeybee Robotics.
BOEING AND BLUE ORIGIN! What can go wrong? The Sun expanding into a red giant before they finish it?
Took my son to visit the Cape, pointed out the BO building, told him they are owned by Amazon and compete with SpaceX. He asked how they are doing and I said that nobody knows because they haven’t launched anything.
That’s an exaggeration. They have in fact launched a lot of sounding rockets, even manned ones. They just haven’t made the slightest effort to achieve orbit.
Their assumption is that they can take their time, get everything right, do a bunch of testing in the lab, and everything will automatically go perfectly when they decide to launch to orbit.
Maybe they’ll be right, but that’s not how any engineering project ever went in MY 40 year career.
Annual update on the number of kilograms that Bezos has put into orbit: 0