Blue Origin has hot-fired the second stage of New Glenn for the first time, continuing to work toward its inaugural launch. Over the last year, the company has continued to lead New Glenn to its first flight and has confidently and rapidly pushed for a successful mission. The launch date is coming up in only a few months, and although the launch may have been delayed from August to no earlier than November, that has not hindered Blue Origin’s achievements.
New Glenn’s Development
Blue Origin has been working on creating a massive seven-meter-wide orbital rocket to meet the demands of suppliers, who have had only one option with any qualifications near this vehicle for years. New Glenn is expected to lift 45,000 kg to low-Earth orbit (LEO) and 13,600 kg to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) while still being reused. This is higher than Falcon 9’s 17,500 kg to LEO and 5,500 kg to GTO and similar to Falcon Heavy’s performance.
New Glenn stacked on LC-36 for the first time on Feb. 21, 2024 (Credit: Blue Origin)
Seven BE-4 engines running on liquid methane and liquid oxygen (LOX) will propel the first stage with 17,000 kN of thrust at liftoff. Then, when in space, two BE-3U vacuum-optimized engines using liquid hydrogen and LOX as propellant will take the payload the rest of the way to orbit.
New Glenn will be the second heavy-lift launcher after SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy to attempt to land and reuse the first stage. Using the knowledge gained from New Shepard’s landings, Blue Origin will have a better chance to successfully land the booster on the droneship Jackyln on the first attempt. However, it shouldn’t be expected to land; the mission could still succeed without a landing. Like early Falcon recoveries, Blue Origin will be trying to gather as much data as possible on this secondary mission objective.
Welcome home, Jacklyn. This sea-based landing platform is where New Glenn’s reusable booster will return home again and again after each mission to quickly refurbish for its next flight. pic.twitter.com/j0aMorEn9d
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) September 4, 2024
With a seven-meter-wide and nearly 22-meter-long fairing, New Glenn will give unparalleled access to larger and more complex payloads and would also promise reuse. Reusing New Glenn, whenever that happens, would greatly help bring the cost of the launch down while also being streamlined, as Blue Origin has only used four boosters for all of New Shepard’s 26 flights.
The systematic development that has gone into New Glenn brought the vehicle to the launch pad for testing on Monday, Sept. 23, for the brand-new rocket’s first breath of life.
New Glenn’s Hot Firing
New Glenn’s upper stage was rolled out to Launch Complex 36 (LC-36) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Sept. 3 in anticipation of the initial vehicle test. After twenty days of preparation, the Blue Origin team filled New Glenn’s second stage with flight-worthy propellant for the first time and lit its two BE-3U engines, which hot fired for 15 seconds.
This test’s primary purpose was to confirm that the ground control systems, second-stage subsystems, and engines communicate and function as expected.
Water, smoke, and fire from three angles today. GS2 hotfire complete! https://t.co/DUeh6F8Jws pic.twitter.com/qUjxu52XGI
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) September 23, 2024
Blue Origin performed a tank pressurization control system, which uses helium to keep the liquid hydrogen and LOX pressurized throughout the flight. The thrust vector control system was gimbaled, proving that the vehicle had adequate control, and the two BE-3U engines were successfully started and shut down as expected.
The launch operation team at Blue Origin went over what would be expected of them if this hotfire were an actual launch, giving them more instructions on what to do on the day of launch and verifying the timing of each operation.
Blue Origin also announced that the second stage has outperformed what it initially expected the engines to be able to do. It was expected to have 710 kN of vacuum thrust but over-preformed to nearly 770 kN.
Up Next for New Glenn
LC-36 should soon produce more hot firings. The first stage, “So You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance,” will be tested. With launch two months away, the booster rollout and firing of all seven BE-4 engines could happen any day if Blue Origin decides to move on from testing the second stage. However, the second stage may need more firings or fillings before it is ready for flight, which could allow for more testing.
We have a cool history naming key Blue hardware that dates back to New Shepard. We’re calling New Glenn’s first booster “So You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance.” Why? No one has landed a reusable booster on the first try. Yet, we’re going for it, and humbly submit having good… pic.twitter.com/xKxFCBwSgA
— Dave Limp (@davill) September 13, 2024
The full stack of a flight-ready New Glenn will arrive shortly after the booster test. Once this happens, New Glenn will be the largest rocket at Cape Canaveral since the Saturn V. However, this one has the chance to return and launch again.
The current launch timeline is no earlier than November. The New Glenn launch will send a prototype Blue Ring spacecraft, a satellite support system created to host, transport, refuel, relay data, and gather logistics for any satellite up to 3,000 kg. This is a demonstration mission for the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program run by the United States Space Force. Blue Origin will be allowed to launch Space Force payloads if this mission goes well.
(Lead Image: New Glenn second stage testing on Sept. 23. Credit: Blue Origin)
