Recently, Jeff Bezos’ company, Blue Origin, has officially announced plans for its super-heavy-lift launch vehicle, the New Glenn 9×4. The upgrade adds higher-performing engines to ease missions requiring additional capacity and performance. With the improvements, the goal for this new launch vehicle is to support demand for “larger commercial mega constellations, lunar and deep space exploration and national security missions.”
The upgrade
For the New Glenn 9×4, it takes its name from the upgrades on the engines. For this version, it has nine BE-4 engines and four BE-3U upper stage engines. BE-4 is an oxygen-rich staged combustion engine that utilizes liquefied natural gas and can produce 640,000 pound-force (lbf). Meanwhile, the liquid hydrogen engine, BE-3U, can produce about 200,000 lbf that could propel a rocket to geostationary orbit.
The BE-4 and BE-3U act as the upgrade to the existing New Glenn 7×2. For comparison, the 7×2 variant is capable of carrying a 50 metric ton payload. Meanwhile, the New Glenn 9×4 will have the capacity to carry 70 metric tons to low-Earth orbit, over 14 metric tons to geosynchronous orbit, and over 20 metric tons to trans-lunar injection. It will also include a reusable, larger fairing measuring 8.7 meters. This would improve flight rates, an updated, lower-cost tank design, and a higher-performing, reusable thermal protection system to improve turnaround time.
New heights
The announcement of the updated 9×4 engines comes after the successful second mission of the New Glenn earlier last month. This was carrying NASA’s ESCAPADE twin spacecraft to a loiter orbit for a Mars mission with the 7×2 variant, which shows the progression of the project. With both engine variants, Blue Origin is hoping to deepen its presence in the super-heavy lift market by providing options to its customers as they explore the vastness of space.
YouTube: New Glenn-2 Launch Recap
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Photo credit: The images used are owned by Blue Origin and have been used for press usage.
