KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — Blue Origin is upgrading its New Glenn rocket with a new first-stage engine and a hydrogen- and oxygen-fueled third stage. The changes are intended to reduce manufacturing costs while expanding the rocket’s ability to deliver payloads to geostationary orbit and the Moon. The company says the improvements could eventually help New Glenn support more than 1,000 launches per year.
Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp announced the plans Thursday at the UP.Summit conference at the Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida.
“The demand for launches has never been this high,” Limp said.
The company has already begun test-firing the new engine, called Northstar, which is intended eventually to replace the BE-4 engines that power New Glenn’s first stage. Separately, Blue Origin is developing a hydrogen- and oxygen-fueled third stage known as GS3, which the company says will provide additional capabilities.
A new first-stage engine
Limp described Northstar as a simplified but more powerful version of the BE-4. The new engine has half as many parts, is 30 percent lighter, and is expected to be about 65 percent 3D printed.
Blue Origin believes it can manufacture Northstar at 25 percent of the cost of a BE-4 engine. The company also aims eventually to assemble each engine in a single day. Development and testing are well underway, and Blue Origin has begun a Northstar test-firing campaign.
“To access space at a lower cost, we need to look at every part of the spacecraft,” Limp said. “This is going to be a game changer.”
The BE-4 currently powering New Glenn produces 640,000 pounds of thrust. Limp said Northstar will initially produce 715,000 pounds of thrust. Like the BE-4, Northstar uses an oxygen-rich staged-combustion cycle and a single-shaft turbopump architecture to burn methane and liquid oxygen.
Blue Origin will continue manufacturing existing BE-4 engines for United Launch Alliance. Two BE-4 engines will power ULA’s Vulcan rocket.
Source: arstechnica.com
