Bezos’ Blue Origin has efficiently launched its New Glenn rocket to orbit, a feat 15 years within the making

Simply previous 2 a.m. Japanese time on Jan. 16, 2025, a brand new rocket blasted off from the Cape Canaveral House Pressure Station in Florida. By reaching orbit, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket launch has marked a milestone for a business house firm that has large ambitions.

As a house coverage professional, I see New Glenn’s success as an enormous leap ahead for Blue Origin and a superb signal for an increasing, formidable business house business.

Step-by-step

Though SpaceX could be the most well-known business house firm, Blue Origin is older by two years. Based in 2000 by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, the firm envisions a time when thousands and thousands of persons are residing and dealing in house.

To advance that imaginative and prescient, the corporate is growing its personal line of reusable rockets, which may enhance entry to house.

Blue Origin’s motto is gradatim ferociter, Latin for “step-by-step, ferociously.” Bezos has defined that this displays the corporate’s method to spaceflight.

“Should you’re constructing a flying automobile, you may’t lower any corners. Should you do, it’ll be an phantasm that it’ll make it quicker,” Bezos stated on the Pathfinder Awards in 2016.

With this step-by-step method, it took 15 years for Blue Origin to launch its first rocket. New Shepard, which launched in 2015, is known as after Alan Shepard, the primary American to succeed in house.

New Shepard is just not highly effective sufficient to succeed in orbit. As an alternative, it flies a suborbital trajectory. Which means it flies to the sting of house, experiencing low gravity for only a few minutes, earlier than returning to its launch website.

What makes New Shepard distinctive is that it will possibly carry passengers. It did so for the first time on July 20, 2021, when it carried three individuals, together with Bezos, to house. Since then, there have been eight crewed flights of New Shepard and 21 uncrewed flights. Notably, it carried Star Trek’s William Shatner to house on Oct. 13, 2021.

New Shepard has not been with out its points, nevertheless. In 2022, it skilled an engine failure a minute after liftoff. With no people on board, the launch escape system activated, permitting the capsule to securely return to Earth. This touchdown additionally meant that had individuals been on board, they too would have returned safely.

Increasing the envelope

Whereas Blue Origin has discovered lots from New Shepard’s flights, the corporate wants a extra highly effective rocket. Named after John Glenn, the primary American to succeed in orbit, New Glenn is designed to be that rocket.

Blue Origin began growing New Glenn in 2013 however solely introduced it publicly in 2016. It’s made up of two sections referred to as phases. The primary stage has seven engines. As soon as this stage has used up all its gas, the purpose is for it to detach and return to a barge at sea, very similar to SpaceX’s Falcon 9.

At that time, the second stage’s three engines mild up, taking the rocket the remainder of the way in which to house.

Sadly, on Jan. 16’s maiden launch, the primary stage booster was destroyed because it tried to return to the touchdown barge. Earlier than the launch, firm officers had said that they weren’t positive they might get better the booster on this flight, however had been going to attempt anyway.

At over 320 toes tall (98 meters), New Glenn is shorter than an Apollo-era Saturn V (363 ft., or 111 m) however taller than each the house shuttle when it was absolutely stacked (184 ft., or 64 m) and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 (229 ft., or 70 m). It is going to have double the facility of the house shuttle however half the facility of the Saturn V.

Along with New Glenn, the corporate is growing Blue Moon, a lunar lander to be used on a future NASA lunar mission. It is usually growing Blue Ring, an in-space servicing platform that may refuel and transfer satellites.

Blue Origin can be a key a part of Orbital Reef, a deliberate business house station in low Earth orbit. Blue Origin has likened Orbital Reef to a “mixed-use enterprise park” that may present house for analysis, improvement and manufacturing in orbit.

Implications for business house

Blue Origin’s success reaching orbit with New Glenn is a crucial step for the bigger business house business. Importantly, it’s going to create competitors for SpaceX, which some argue has a close to monopoly on launch providers in america.

Competitors for launch providers is a helpful factor. It gives incentive for each corporations to ship the most effective service on the lowest value. Having a number of launch suppliers can be an indication of a wholesome business market.

Competitors additionally gives choices for accessing house in case one firm should floor its fleet of rockets. This occurred a number of occasions to SpaceX in 2024 when three of its rockets skilled issues throughout launch. The scenario left no possibility for patrons besides to attend till SpaceX investigated and stuck the problems.

Whereas New Glenn can be launching uncrewed missions for the subsequent few years, Blue Origin signed a House Act Settlement with NASA in 2023 to develop extra business initiatives, together with a crew automobile.

A Blue Origin crew automobile would supply NASA with extra choices when transporting people to and from low-Earth orbit and even the moon.

Although this launch of New Glenn has been 25 years within the making, for Blue Origin it’s a main accomplishment—and a crucial one if it desires to “ferociously” proceed its targets for house journey.

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