Simply previous 2 a.m. Jap time on Jan. 16, 2025, a brand new rocket blasted off from the Cape Canaveral House Drive Station in Florida. By reaching orbit, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket launch has marked a milestone for a industrial house firm that has massive ambitions.
As an area coverage knowledgeable, I see New Glenn’s success as a giant leap ahead for Blue Origin and a superb signal for an increasing, bold industrial house trade.
Blue Origin’s New Glenn lifted off for its first flight on Jan. 16.
Step-by-step
Though SpaceX could be the most well-known industrial house firm, Blue Origin is older by two years. Based in 2000 by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, the corporate envisions a time when tens of millions of individuals are dwelling and dealing in house.
To advance that imaginative and prescient, the corporate is creating its personal line of reusable rockets, which might enhance entry to house.
Blue Origin’s motto is gradatim ferociter, Latin for “step by step, ferociously.” Bezos has defined that this displays the corporate’s method to spaceflight.
“If you’re building a flying vehicle, you can’t cut any corners. If you do, it’s going to be an illusion that it’s going to make it faster,” Bezos mentioned on the Pathfinder Awards in 2016.
With this step-by-step method, it took 15 years for Blue Origin to launch its first rocket. New Shepard, which launched in 2015, is known as after Alan Shepard, the primary American to achieve house.
New Shepard isn’t highly effective sufficient to achieve orbit. As a substitute, it flies a suborbital trajectory. Meaning it flies to the sting of house, experiencing low gravity for just some minutes, earlier than returning to its launch website.
What makes New Shepard distinctive is that it might carry passengers. It did so for the primary time on July 20, 2021, when it carried three folks, together with Bezos, to house. Since then, there have been eight crewed flights of New Shepard and 21 uncrewed flights. Notably, it carried Star Trek’s William Shatner to house on Oct. 13, 2021.
New Shepard, New Glenn’s predecessor, is Blue Origin’s rocket for suborbital flights.
AP Picture/Tony Gutierrez, File
New Shepard has not been with out its points, nevertheless. In 2022, it skilled an engine failure a minute after liftoff. With no people on board, the launch escape system activated, permitting the capsule to soundly return to Earth. This touchdown additionally meant that had folks been on board, they too would have returned safely.
Increasing the envelope
Whereas Blue Origin has realized so much from New Shepard’s flights, the corporate wants a extra highly effective rocket. Named after John Glenn, the primary American to achieve orbit, New Glenn is designed to be that rocket.
Blue Origin began creating New Glenn in 2013 however solely introduced it publicly in 2016. It’s made up of two sections known as phases. The primary stage has seven engines. As soon as this stage has used up all its gas, the purpose is for it to detach and return to a barge at sea, very like SpaceX’s Falcon 9.
At that time, the second stage’s three engines gentle up, taking the rocket the remainder of the way in which to house.
Sadly, on Jan. 16’s maiden launch, the primary stage booster was destroyed because it tried to return to the touchdown barge. Earlier than the launch, firm officers had acknowledged that they weren’t positive they’d recuperate the booster on this flight, however have been going to strive anyway.
At over 320 ft tall (98 meters), New Glenn is shorter than an Apollo-era Saturn V (363 ft., or 111 m) however taller than each the house shuttle when it was totally stacked (184 ft., or 64 m) and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 (229 ft., or 70 m). It’ll have double the ability of the house shuttle however half the ability of the Saturn V.
New Glenn is smaller than SpaceX’s Starship however bigger than the house shuttle.
Jurgenspacerocket/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
Along with New Glenn, the corporate is creating Blue Moon, a lunar lander to be used on a future NASA lunar mission. It is usually creating Blue Ring, an in-space servicing platform that may refuel and transfer satellites.
Blue Origin can also be a key a part of Orbital Reef, a deliberate industrial house station in low Earth orbit. Blue Origin has likened Orbital Reef to a “mixed-use business park” that may present house for analysis, growth and manufacturing in orbit.
Implications for industrial house
Blue Origin’s success reaching orbit with New Glenn is a crucial step for the bigger industrial house trade. Importantly, it should create competitors for SpaceX, which some argue has a close to monopoly on launch companies in america.
Competitors for launch companies is a precious factor. It offers incentive for each corporations to ship the most effective service on the lowest price. Having a number of launch suppliers can also be an indication of a wholesome industrial market.
Competitors additionally offers choices for accessing house in case one firm should floor its fleet of rockets. This occurred a number of occasions to SpaceX in 2024 when three of its rockets skilled issues throughout launch. The scenario left no choice for patrons besides to attend till SpaceX investigated and stuck the problems.
Whereas New Glenn will probably be launching uncrewed missions for the following few years, Blue Origin signed a House Act Settlement with NASA in 2023 to develop extra industrial tasks, together with a crew automobile.
A Blue Origin crew automobile would supply NASA with extra choices when transporting people to and from low-Earth orbit and even the Moon.
Although this launch of New Glenn has been 25 years within the making, for Blue Origin it’s a main accomplishment – and a crucial one if it desires to “ferociously” proceed its targets for house journey.