Blue Origin is wasting no time expanding the New Glenn’s capabilities, with the company revealing its plans to upgrade the rocket and transform it into a new class for a potential mission to the Moon.
Blue Origin Unveils New Glenn Upgrades Coming
Blue Origin has unveiled its latest plans that will take New Glenn to literally new heights, as the company is already drafting a series of upgrades that would completely transform the reusable rocket.
The company aims to bring enhancements to the New Glenn rocket, which focuses on propulsion, structures, avionics, reusability, and recovery operations.
According to Blue Origin, the world may see these upgrades immediately, starting with the NG-3 mission, the next launch coming from the company following the NG-2’s success.
The Jeff Bezos-owned company revealed that one of the primary enhancements of the reusable rocket focuses on improving its engines to deliver even “higher-performing engines” for both stages. In the seven BE-4 booster engines, Blue Origin would increase its total thrust from 3.9 billion lbf (17,219 kN) to a whopping 4.5 million lbf (19,928 kN).
In the recent demonstration by the company, the BE-4 engines already showed that it is capable of pushing out 625,000 lbf on the test stand using current propellant conditions. That said, it plans to achieve 640,000 lbf later this year, “with propellant subcooling increasing the current thrust capability from the existing 550,000 lbf.”
The upper stage of the New Glenn rocket would also undergo an increase from its original design of 320,000 lbf (1,423 kN) to as much as 400,000 lbf (1,779 kN) thrust that would be seen in the next few missions, with customers who are part of its manifest set to benefit from these upgrades.
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Blue Origin Preps New Glenn for a Moon Mission
In Blue Origin’s announcement, the company also revealed its plans to expand New Glenn’s capabilities to perform deep space explorations, highlighting its plans to use the enhanced version for a mission to the Moon.
Blue Origin has reiterated in the past that the New Glenn rocket is meant to go to the Moon’s surface to mine lunar regolith and create solar cells.
The focus on future deeper space explorations centers on Blue Origin’s plans to transform the New Glenn into a “super-heavy class rocket,” which is the next chapter of the ship as part of its roadmap. This would focus on the New Glenn 9×4, designed for a series of missions that require additional capacity and performance.
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