While SpaceX has captured headlines with its first test flight of Starship, Blue Origin, the corporate founded by rival billionaire Jeff Bezos, is ramping up work by itself reusable heavy-lift rocket and a reusable Starship-like vehicle.
The Latest Glenn rocket, listed as having a payload capability of 13 metric tons to geostationary transfer orbit or 45 metric tons to low Earth orbit, is Blue Origin’s entry into the heavy-lift launch services arena. Latest Glenn has been seen to make visible progress recently, captured by imagery from NSF’s photographers over the Cape Canaveral area.
Latest Glenn is coming:
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A Latest Glenn first stage – or a part of one – is seen here within the TCAT. (Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF/L2)
A test article – though not necessarily a flight article – of the Latest Glenn first stage, or considered one of its tanks, was recently seen on the Tank Cleansing and Testing (TCAT) constructing on the grounds of Blue Origin’s Exploration Park campus. This campus is within the Cape Canaveral area, not removed from the corporate’s launch facility at LC-36 on the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The Latest Glenn’s first stage, powered by seven BE-4 engines, is being designed for landings and reusability from the beginning. It’s believed that Blue Origin will attempt to land Latest Glenn on a barge within the Atlantic on its first flight, and reuse is a component of the plan for Latest Glenn operations.
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A Latest Glenn second stage on the 2CAT facility on Blue Origin’s campus (Credit: Max Evans for NSF/L2)
On the second stage Cleansing and Testing tank facility (2CAT), a second stage – possibly a test article as well – was recently seen. It is assumed the stage will undergo pressure testing, and can receive its insulation on the surface coating facility.
Testing hardware for second stages was also seen on the pad at LC-36, which might allow the corporate to check the stages on site before being stacked to the Latest Glenn rocket.
The Latest Glenn second stage just isn’t initially planned to be returned to Earth for reuse, but a project code-named “Jarvis” has been underway for a while. Jarvis, also generally known as Clipper, is regarded as a reusable second stage for Latest Glenn, though not many details have come out regarding the project.
A test article seen on the northern side of LC-36 looks remarkably like early Starship testbeds akin to SN5. The test article could undergo pressure and cryogenic fluid testing in the longer term on the LC-36 test site, in the same manner to Starship articles in Boca Chica, Texas.
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The Project Jarvis – also generally known as Clipper – stage seen on the correct side of this image. (Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF/L2)
Testing of Latest Glenn’s seven-meter wide fairing has also been conducted, and Blue Origin may intend to get better these.
This might make sense because the fairings, larger than another fairings ever flown, are product of expensive carbon composite material. Recovery procedures were demonstrated for these fairings on the Kennedy Space Center turn basin last 12 months.
A transporter was seen with a barrel section of Latest Glenn on the warehouse on the campus. This might indicate that some production of launch vehicle segments is underway on the factory, situated on site at Exploration Park.
Production activity can also be reported to be high at Blue Origin’s Huntsville, Alabama, and Kent, Washington facilities.
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An article regarded as a Latest Glenn segment seen on a transporter. (Credit: Max Evans for NSF/L2)
Blue Origin can also be working on additions to its South Campus that may support space vehicle manufacturing. A maintenance support facility, chemical process facility, warehouse expansion, and a short lived office compound have been mentioned in an environmental resource management plan filed with the state of Florida.
Blue Origin hopes to conduct the primary flight of Latest Glenn next 12 months, though it stays to be seen whether the schedule holds. The version of the BE-4 slated for Latest Glenn, with reuse capability, must be ready, and the BE-4 must prove itself on the ULA Vulcan rocket later this 12 months.
The flight engines for the primary Vulcan launch were delivered and installed on the rocket’s first stage, and tanking tests on each stages were conducted. Nonetheless, there was a problem with the GSE hooked to the Centaur V upper stage during its test.
As well as, the investigation right into a test that resulted in an explosion at Marshall Space Flight Center has caused the primary Vulcan launch to be pushed back to a minimum of the tip of July. The wet dress rehearsal for Vulcan is currently set for early July. A launch within the late summer of 2023 would likely be the primary realistic opportunity for the inaugural flight.
In other Blue Origin news, Latest Shepard is preparing for a return to flight. Latest Shepard flight NS-23 failed last 12 months resulting from a structural fatigue failure on the engine nozzle, and work has been done to forestall a reoccurrence. The stage lost on the flight had been reused a variety of times, and material fatigue issues, normally, can bear watching as extra space vehicles are reused in the approaching years.
The return to flight mission is planned to be a repeat of NS-23 with the identical experiments, and just like the failed flight, with no crew on board. The schedule for Latest Shepard’s return to flight, or the return of crewed flights, just isn’t currently known. Nonetheless, the corporate hopes to return to flight before the tip of 2023.
While Blue Origin works on returning Latest Shepard to flight, and Latest Glenn flying, projects just like the Blue Moon lander and Orbital Reef – in cooperation with Sierra Nevada – are underway. These projects are more long-term in nature, while the corporate is working on securing additional business for Latest Glenn within the nearer term.
Payloads akin to NASA’s ESCAPADE mission to Mars, built by Rocket Lab, and Project Kuiper have signed on for Latest Glenn launches. Project Kuiper, a broadband constellation designed to supply web service to individual users as a competitor to Starlink, has signed up for 12 Latest Glenn launches with 15 options.