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Blue Origin did not immediately disclose what thrust level the pair of BE-3U engines powering the New Glenn upper stage achieved during the hot fire.
Credit: Blue Origin
Blue Origin on Sept. 23 conducted a 15-sec. hot fire of the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen-fueled upper stage for its first New Glenn rocket, in what the company called a critical milestone on the road to flight.
The static test fire at Space Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral SFS marked Blue Origin’s first fueling of a New Glenn rocket stage with flight propellants, and the first engine burn of an integrated flight stage.
The company did not immediately disclose what thrust level the pair of BE-3U engines powering the New Glenn upper stage (GS2) achieved during the hot fire, which took place shortly after 4:00 p.m. EDT. The engines are a variant of the BE-3PM that powers the company’s New Shepard suborbital boosters.
"The purpose of the hot-fire test was to validate interactions between the subsystems on the second stage, its two BE-3U engines and the ground control systems," Blue Origin said in a status update.
The test also served to demonstrate the second-stage tank pressurization control system, which uses helium to pressurize the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen tanks during flight, as well as its thrust vector control system, which gimbals the engines and steers the rocket during flight.
The test also demonstrated the start-up and shut-down sequences for the BE-3U systems, which can be restarted up to three times during a mission, Blue Origin said.
In addition to testing the flight hardware, the static engine firing also provided an opportunity for the launch operations team to practice launch day procedures on console and to verify timing for several critical operations, the company noted.
GS-2 will now be refurbished and mated with the first stage (GS1) for an integrated vehicle hot fire of the seven methane-fueled BE-4 main engines. A target date for the GS1 hot fire has not been released.
Documents filed with the FCC for frequency authorization show Blue Origin is targeting a window from Nov. 8-Dec. 31 for New Glenn-1’s prelaunch test campaign and first flight.
If New Glenn does not make a successful flight before the end of the year, the company would be ineligible to compete for the first round of missions under the U.S. Space Force’s National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3, Lane 1 program.
The service in June selected Blue Origin, United Launch Alliance (ULA) and SpaceX for a multiple-award, firm, fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract worth a combined $5.6 billion, covering a minimum of 30 launches between 2024 and 2029, with an option to extend the agreement to 2034.
Blue Origin also is expected to join ULA and SpaceX as vendors for the Space Force’s NSSL Phase 3, Lane 2 contract, with awards expected this fall. A Lane 2 award would include additional launch vehicle certification requirements for New Glenn.
NASA in February 2023 awarded Blue Origin a $20 million contract to launch a pair of small Mars science satellites on the debut New Glenn mission. However, NASA on Sept. 20 halted the satellites’ launch preparations due to the expectation that Blue Origin would miss its Oct. 13-21 launch window.
Instead, Blue Origin plans to fly technology for its Blue Ring orbital space tug and hosting spacecraft. The goals for the first flight are to reach orbit and to land the first stage on a barge that will be stationed off the Florida coast.
The company is aiming to operate a fleet of four reusable New Glenn first stages by the end of 2025, according to Jarrett Jones, Blue Origin senior vice president for New Glenn. An additional two to four boosters should join the fleet each year beginning in 2026, he said during a panel discussion on Sept. 16 at the World Space Business Week conference in Paris.
The reusable first stage is designed for 25 flights. Blue Origin will begin launch services with an expendable upper stage. The rocket is designed to carry more than 14 tons to geostationary transfer orbit and about 50 tons to low Earth orbit.
In addition to NASA, Blue Origin has sold New Glenn launch services to Amazon, which is developing the Kuiper broadband satellite constellation, as well as Telesat and Eutelsat.
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