After years of development and mounting anticipation, Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company, Blue Origin, is set to launch its New Glenn rocket for the first time, marking a pivotal moment in its bid to enter the competitive orbital launch market, Bloomberg reports.
The mission is scheduled for Sunday, with a launch window opening at 1 a.m. local time from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The launch aims to propel a Blue Origin test satellite into orbit, and then recover the rocket’s first-stage booster on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean, a feat only accomplished by SpaceX to date. This maiden flight represents a critical test for Blue Origin, which has so far focused on suborbital tourism while its rival, SpaceX, has dominated the orbital launch landscape.
While Blue Origin has successfully sent paying customers to the edge of space, it has lagged far behind SpaceX in its ability to deliver satellites and other payloads to orbit, placing it firmly behind Elon Musk’s space venture. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket has become a staple of global space access. This debut launch for New Glenn has become essential for Bezos’ ambitious goals for space exploration.
Long Winding Road
Bezos first unveiled plans for New Glenn back in 2016, though the rocket had been under development for years prior. The project faced numerous delays and hurdles, most notably the development of its BE-4 engines. While these engines were ultimately finished years later than planned, they have proven successful in powering the United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket.
Unlike SpaceX’s iterative approach of frequent test flights and accepting failures as learning opportunities, Blue Origin has taken a more traditional approach, emphasizing meticulous behind-the-scenes development to minimize risks during this critical test. Despite the long road, a successful first flight will validate Blue Origin’s engineering prowess and put them in position to finally compete with SpaceX.
Reusability, Future Missions
Like the Falcon 9, New Glenn is designed for reusability. Its first stage will return to Earth and land on a barge, nicknamed “Jacklyn”. Blue Origin aims to reuse each booster at least 25 times. While a successful landing is a secondary objective of this first mission, achieving it would highlight Blue Origin’s ability to land a large rocket after launch, joining SpaceX as the only company to have done so.
The satellite that will be launched is designed to test technology for Blue Origin’s Blue Ring initiative. This is an effort to develop satellites capable of servicing other spacecraft already in orbit.
Commercial, National Security Ambitions
While early plans called for the rocket’s maiden flight to take satellites to Mars for NASA, the mission was reconfigured after delays. Blue Origin plans to use this launch as one of a handful of flights required to achieve certification from the US Department of Defense, enabling them to launch sensitive national security payloads.
Even with the launch delays, Blue Origin has already secured significant commercial contracts with companies including Telesat, AST Space Mobile, and even Amazon. Though the company has not disclosed the price for a New Glenn launch, executives stated it’s been “priced competitively with SpaceX.”
New Glenn also offers some advantages over the Falcon 9. It can launch more mass to orbit and has the capacity to deliver payloads to higher orbits than SpaceX’s workhorse rocket.
However, SpaceX is not resting on its laurels. The company continues the development of its more powerful Starship rocket, which could eclipse New Glenn in terms of its capabilities.
