Blue Origin, the spaceflight services provider founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, is working on a new launch vehicle that will revolutionize the space industry. The rocket, named New Glenn after the first American astronaut to orbit Earth, is designed to be reusable, powerful, and versatile. It will be able to carry payloads and people to low Earth orbit, geostationary transfer orbit, and beyond.
What Makes New Glenn Different?
New Glenn is not just another rocket. It has several features that make it stand out from the crowd. Here are some of them:
- Reusable first stage: New Glenn’s first stage, which is powered by seven BE-4 engines that use liquid oxygen and liquefied natural gas as propellants, is designed to fly at least 25 times. After each launch, the first stage will land vertically on a ship in the ocean, ready to be refurbished and reused. This will reduce the cost and waste of launching rockets, and increase the availability and reliability of space access.
- Large payload fairing: New Glenn’s payload fairing, which is the part of the rocket that protects the payload during ascent, has a diameter of 7 meters (23 feet). This is twice the size of most other rockets and gives customers more flexibility to package their payloads in new ways. For example, larger satellites, space stations, or lunar landers can fit inside the fairing.
- Single configuration: New Glenn has only one configuration, which means it can launch any payload to any destination with the same rocket. This simplifies the design and manufacturing process and reduces the cost per launch. Customers do not have to worry about choosing the right rocket for their mission, as New Glenn can do it all.
- Liquid hydrogen-powered upper stage: New Glenn’s upper stage, which is powered by two BE-3U engines that use liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen as propellants, is optimized for performance in space. Liquid hydrogen is the most efficient rocket fuel and allows New Glenn to launch payloads to the most energetic orbits, such as geostationary transfer orbit or lunar orbit. The upper stage is also restartable, which means it can perform multiple burns to deliver multiple payloads to different orbits in a single mission.
- Human-rated: New Glenn is engineered with the safety and redundancy required to fly humans. Blue Origin’s vision is to enable millions of people to live and work in space, and New Glenn is the first step towards that goal. The rocket will be able to launch Blue Origin’s crew capsule, which can accommodate up to six astronauts, as well as other human spaceflight vehicles.
What Is the Status of New Glenn?
New Glenn is currently in development and is expected to make its first flight in August 2024. The rocket will launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, where Blue Origin has leased Launch Complex 36. The company is also building a launch site at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, to enable launches to polar and sun-synchronous orbits.
Blue Origin has already secured several customers for New Glenn, including NASA, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, Telesat, and others. These customers have chosen New Glenn for its reusability, capacity, flexibility, and performance. New Glenn will support a variety of missions, such as scientific exploration, broadband internet, national security, and commercial spaceflight.
The first launch of New Glenn will carry NASA’s EscaPADE spacecraft, which is a dual spacecraft mission to study the solar wind energy on Mars. This will be the first time that NASA launches a mission to Mars on a commercial rocket.
How Much Does New Glenn Cost?
According to Blue Origin, the project has received an investment of $2.5 billion to date. The company has not disclosed the cost per launch of New Glenn, but it is expected to be competitive with other heavy-lift rockets in the market. For comparison, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, which can lift 63.8 metric tons (140,660 pounds) to low Earth orbit, costs $90 million per launch.
One of the factors that will affect the cost of New Glenn is the reusability of the first stage. Blue Origin claims that the first stage can fly at least 25 times, which means that the cost of the rocket can be amortized over multiple launches. The company also plans to make the second stage reusable in the future, which will further reduce the cost and increase the availability of the rocket.
How Does New Glenn Compare to Starship?
Starship is the reusable rocket being developed by SpaceX, the leading private space company founded by Elon Musk. Starship is designed to be a fully reusable launch system that can carry up to 150 metric tons (330,693 pounds) to low Earth orbit, and also transport humans and cargo to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Starship consists of two stages: a reusable booster called Super Heavy, and a reusable spacecraft called Starship.
Starship and New Glenn share some similarities and a lot of differences. Both rockets are planned to be fully reusable, the biggest each company has ever made, and very cost-effective. Some of the main differences include size, development progress, overall plan, and more. Here is a table that summarizes some of the key aspects of both rockets:
| Aspect | New Glenn | Starship |
|---|---|---|
| Height | 98 m (322 ft) | 120 m (394 ft) |
| Diameter | 7 m (23 ft) | 9 m (30 ft) |
| Mass | 1,815 metric tons (4,001,000 lb) | 5,000 metric tons (11,000,000 lb) |
| Payload to LEO | 45 metric tons (99,208 lb) | 150 metric tons (330,693 lb) |
| Payload to GTO | 13 metric tons (28,660 lb) | 150 metric tons (330,693 lb) (with refueling) |
| Payload to the Moon | Unknown | 150 metric tons (330,693 lb) (with refueling) |
| Payload to Mars | Unknown | 150 metric tons (330,693 lb) (with refueling) |
| First stage engines | 7 BE-4 (liquid oxygen and liquefied natural gas) | 33 Raptor (liquid oxygen and liquid methane) |
| Second stage engines | 2 BE-3U (liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen) | 6 Raptor (liquid oxygen and liquid methane) |
| Reusability | First stage only (planned to fly 25 times) | Both stages (planned to fly 100 times) |
| Production cost (to date) | $2.5 billion | $5 billion |
| Cost per launch | Unknown | $2 million |
| First flight | August 2024 (planned) | 2022 (planned) |
As the table shows, Starship is bigger, more powerful, and more ambitious than New Glenn. Starship aims to be a universal launch system that can replace all of SpaceX’s existing rockets, and enable interplanetary colonization and exploration. New Glenn, on the other hand, is more focused on serving the existing and emerging markets for orbital launches and enabling a space economy with millions of people living and working in space.
However, both rockets face significant technical and regulatory challenges before they can achieve their goals. Starship has been undergoing a series of high-altitude test flights, but none of them have landed successfully so far. New Glenn has not yet performed any test flights and has been delayed several times due to various issues. Both rockets also need to obtain approval from the Federal Aviation Administration and other agencies before they can launch commercially.
Why Should You Care About New Glenn?
New Glenn is more than just a rocket. It is a game-changer for the space industry and humanity. By making space access more affordable, reliable, and frequent, New Glenn will enable new opportunities and discoveries in space. Whether you are a scientist, an entrepreneur, a student, or a space enthusiast, New Glenn will open new doors for you to explore, learn, and innovate in space.
New Glenn is also a testament to the vision and ambition of Blue Origin and its founder, Jeff Bezos. As Bezos said, “We are not in a race, and there will be many players in this human endeavor to go to space to benefit Earth. New Glenn is a very important step. It won’t be the last of course. Up next on our drawing board: New Armstrong. But that’s a story for the future.”
If you are interested in learning more about New Glenn, you can visit Blue Origin’s website which shows the full vehicle on a launch pad for the first time. You can also follow Blue Origin on Twitter or Facebook for the latest updates and news.
New Glenn is the giant, reusable rocket for bigger things. Are you ready to join the journey?
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