CAPE CANERVAL — Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket completed a hotfire test Friday. The reusable, heavy-lift orbital rocket is powered by seven of Blue Origin’s BE-4 engines which are produced at Blue Origin’s Huntsville facility.
The seven-engine hotfire lasted 24 seconds and marked the first time operating the entire flight vehicle as an integrated system, according to a statement from Blue Origin Friday night.
“This is a monumental milestone and a glimpse of what’s just around the corner for New Glenn’s first launch,” said Jarrett Jones, senior vice president New Glenn. “Today’s success proves that our rigorous approach to testing–combined with our incredible tooling and design engineering–is working as intended.”
On Friday, the FAA granted the launch license for the New Glenn rocket. NG-1 will carry a Blue Ring Pathfinder as its first manifested payload and will launch in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
New Glenn stands more than 320 feet tall and features a seven-meter payload fairing, enabling twice the volume of standard five-meter class commercial launch systems. Its reusable first stage aims for a minimum of 25 missions and will land on Jacklyn, a sea-based platform several hundred miles downrange. Reusability is integral to radically reducing cost-per-launch.
The vehicle is powered by seven of Blue Origin’s BE-4 engines, the most powerful liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fueled, oxygen-rich staged combustion engine ever flown. LNG is cleaner-burning and higher-performing than kerosene-based fuels, and the seven BE-4s generate over 3.8 million lbf of thrust. The vehicle’s second stage is powered by two BE-3Us, liquid oxygen (LOX)/liquid hydrogen (LH2) engines designed to together yield over 320,000 lbf of vacuum thrust.
In addition to the BE-4 and BE-3U, Blue Origin manufactures BE-7 engines for our Blue Moon lunar landers and New Shepard’s BE-3PM engine.
Blue Origin has several New Glenn vehicles in production and a full customer manifest. Customers include NASA, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, AST SpaceMobile, several telecommunications providers, and a mix of U.S. government customers. Blue Origin is certifying New Glenn with the U.S. Space Force for the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program to meet emerging national security objectives.
