Forward of testing, Blue Origin raises New Glenn on the launch pad for first time

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin raised a check model of its huge orbital rocket on its launch pad for the primary time Wednesday, inaugurating the beginning of a serious check marketing campaign forward of the primary launch later this 12 months.

The check model of the rocket is all Blue Origin {hardware}, however not all of it should essentially find yourself going to area. The second stage and the payload fairing that sits on the high of the car are each stand-ins throughout testing; the rocket additionally doesn’t have any BE-4 engines, as they’re not wanted for the upcoming suite of assessments. These engines, that are additionally made by Blue Origin, are present process their very own check marketing campaign at NASA’s Marshall House Flight Heart and the corporate’s services in West Texas.

The upcoming assessments with this launch car will let groups apply car integration and transportation to and from the launch pad, and what’s referred to as an built-in tanking check. For that check, the booster shall be fueled with liquid nitrogen (which isn’t used throughout an precise launch) to confirm that the fluid techniques operate correctly. Assessments are anticipated to take a minimum of per week, Blue Origin CEO David Limp said on LinkedIn.

As soon as the assessments are full, the car will return to Blue’s huge storage at Florida’s Cape Canaveral House Drive Base, the place engineers will outfit the reusable first stage with seven BE-4 engines and mate it with a flight-ready second stage. (The BE-4 engines gained flight heritage earlier this 12 months, once they powered United Launch Alliance’s first Vulcan Centaur rocket launch.)

New Glenn rolling to the launch pad. Picture Credit: Blue Origin

Limp expressed confidence that the car will meet its goal launch date by the top of this 12 months: “Manufacturing continues to make progress with multiple boosters, fairings, and second stages in our factory,” he stated. “We’re looking forward to bringing this heavy-lift capacity to our customers later this year.”

Bringing the brand new car to market will mark a brand new chapter for the 24-year-old firm. The corporate is greatest identified for conducting area tourism flights with its suborbital rocket, New Shepard. That car, which is 60 ft tall, solely flies to round 66 miles — above what many think about to be the boundary of area, however far wanting reaching orbital area.

New Glenn is significantly extra highly effective. The 320-foot-tall launch car is Blue Origin’s first heavy-lift rocket, designed to launch greater than 45 tons of payload to low Earth orbit. The reusable first stage will land on a barge within the Atlantic Ocean, much like how SpaceX recovers its boosters, and is designed to fly for a minimum of 25 missions.

The car has already been tapped by a number of prospects — the primary launch will carry a pair of NASA spacecraft referred to as ESCAPADE, which have Mars as their final vacation spot. Amazon, Bezos’ different firm, additionally awarded New Glenn billions for as much as 27 launches for its forthcoming Venture Kuiper satellite tv for pc web constellation. Blue Origin has additionally scored launches for telecom suppliers Telecast and Eutelsat for later this decade.