Recently, Blue Origin has accomplished several milestones in its programs, because it inches closer to a debut flight of its Latest Glenn rocket. The successful BE-4 firings below the Vulcan rocket, modifications on pad and infrastructure, and winning the contract for the Artemis V lander have put Blue Origin in a greater position than their previous situation, with a delayed rocket and a struggle to secure contracts. Ongoing efforts also include the opportunity of a fully-reusable Latest Glenn.
Infrastructure
Work on the vertical assembly constructing and the Reef Pathfinder constructing has progressed over the previous few months. The Reef Pathfinder constructing is expounded to the assembly and work on Blue Origin’s Orbital Reef space station and is situated on the corporate’s campus on the Cape.
Orbital Reef is an area station that’s being built by Blue Origin and Sierra Space. It’s planned to start out operation in 2027. Blue Origin will mainly contribute launch services to the station, as Latest Glenn can be the rocket used to position the station into orbit and to hold people and cargo to it once operational.
![](https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/IF3A0056-wmarked-scaled.jpg)
The Reef pathfinder constructing (Left) and the vertical assembly constructing (Right) in construction on the cape. (Credit: Max Evans for NSF)
While it’s unclear what the precise purpose of the vertical assembly constructing is, it is going to likely be related to Latest Glenn’s construction efforts on the cape. The constructing incorporates a fully constructed frame at this point. Blue has not yet confirmed the precise purpose of the constructing in updated plans.
Approved development plans show that Blue Origin is resulting from add more buildings to the southern side of its Exploration Park campus. This features a Chemical Processing Facility, Composite Assembly Constructing, and more. These buildings have yet to start out construction.
Testing on the Cape
Blue Origin recently began to conduct fairing drop tests again, having initially aborted these tests in January. Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) and Marine Safety Information Bulletins (MSIBs) were posted, which confirmed drop testing near the Cape between June 27 and June 30.
Blue Origin is ready to re-try fairing drop test operations off the coast from the Cape this week. A Temporary Flight Restriction and a Marine Safety Information Bulletin have been published in relation with it.
TFR link: https://t.co/NH2XD3WZZ5
MSIB: https://t.co/KeZx3c5j8e https://t.co/vfPwPLvbPg pic.twitter.com/3A2TMwNmjJ— Alejandro Alcantarilla Romera (Alex) (@Alexphysics13) June 26, 2023
In these tests, a helicopter is used to drop certainly one of the halves of a Latest Glenn payload fairing, to splash down and be scooped from the ocean. These tests are early stages of preparing the fairing for a possible recovery in upcoming Latest Glenn missions, just like the approach SpaceX has taken with recovering their payload fairings. The tests haven’t been confirmed yet on the time of writing.
Moreover, a Latest Glenn upper stage test tank has been spotted within the second stage Tank Cleansing and Testing Facility at Blue’s Exploration Park campus. It’s unclear what form of testing has been conducted with the test tank, because it could possibly be anything from fit checks or tank cleansing, to pressure tests. A primary stage related tank was spotted within the Tank Cleansing and Testing Facility, with similar uncertainty about where within the testing process this text is.
![](https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/IF3A3277-wmarked-scaled.jpg)
A Latest Glenn second stage test tank within the 2CAT constructing. (Credit: Max Evans for NSF)
One other test that Blue Origin conducted was a full vertical erection of the Latest Glenn transporter erector at Space Launch Complex 36 (SLC-36). It featured additional installed hardware in comparison with what was seen last time. This included a circular frame at the bottom of the T/E with a big hexagonal cutout in the center. This frame was also visible on previous renders, posted by the corporate.
In fact, Blue Origin’s Cape facility’s biggest testing project is its reusable second stage development program, also called Project Jarvis. The Jarvis test tanks were constructed and tested on the tent area next to SLC-36, where they were spotted with header tanks and normal tanks.
NSF’s recent flyover also spotted ring sections for a possible latest Jarvis tank. This development could see Latest Glenn grow to be certainly one of the world’s first fully-reusable launch vehicles, with SpaceX also aiming for full reusability with its Starship program.
Different tests could possibly be conducted using the newly constructed test stand on the Glenn Stage 1 test area next to the pad. The realm is connected to ground support equipment (GSE) tanks and will serve a task in the continued first stage tank test efforts of Blue Origin on the Cape.
BE-4 successfully fired below Vulcan
In accordance with reports from United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Blue Origin, the BE-4 engine performed flawlessly on the flight readiness firing (FRF) of ULA’s Vulcan rocket. While the rocket may not fly in 2023 resulting from issues with the Centaur upper stage, this test clears Blue Origin’s contributions to the rocket for flight. The identical engines can be used to power Latest Glenn’s first stage.
![](https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/52960007186_6303129416_c.jpg)
Two BE-4 engines firing below Vulcan. (Credit: ULA)
Blue has not confirmed if similar specs can be used for Vulcan and Latest Glenn BE-4s, because the initial Vulcan rockets is not going to pursue a reusable first stage engine. Latest Glenn can be equipped for reusability from the beginning, based on the data provided by Blue Origin, so a specification difference is a possibility.
Contracts and Artemis V
NASA recently assigned the Artemis V lander contract to the National Team, led by Blue Origin. This represents the most important contract that Blue Origin has ever won, at over three billion dollars. Blue may also invest a major sum of money in the development of their lander, to be ready for the third crewed lunar landing mission of the Artemis program, currently planned around 2029.
The lander will give you the chance to hold 20 metric tons in a reusable configuration to the lunar surface and can be launched aboard a Latest Glenn rocket. Northop Grumman’s cislunar transporter will perform the refueling of the lander in orbit. The Artemis III and IV landing missions are expected to make use of SpaceX’s Starship as their landing vehicles.
Latest Shepard return-to-flight
Latest Shepard was grounded after a failure throughout the uncrewed NS-23 flight in September 2022. During that launch, the engine nozzle of the BE-3 engine failed, which resulted in a lack of control and, ultimately, termination of the flight. Since then, Blue Origin has been working on restarting Latest Shepard flight operations, and in keeping with an interview with Bob Smith on the Investing in Space event by the Financial Times, the corporate looks set to resume operations of the suborbital rocket in the approaching weeks.
![](https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/UnZOSCt.png)
Latest Shepard performing an abort on the NS-23 mission. (Credit: Blue Origin)
Once a date for Latest Shepard’s return to flight is confirmed, it is going to start the campaign for mission 24 of the Latest Shepard program, which thus far has only suffered one major anomaly.