Blue Origin targets late spring for New Glenn’s second launch

Blue Origin plans to attempt its second New Glenn launch in late spring after resolving issues that prevented the booster from landing during its first launch in January.

At the 27th Annual Commercial Space Conference on February 12, Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp suggested that a propulsion issue may have caused the booster’s failure to land during the January 16 NG-1 launch, Caliber.Az reports per foreign website.

“We had most of the right conditions in the engine but we weren’t able to get everything right to the engine from the tanks,” he explained. “We think we understand what the issues are.” Telemetry from the booster was lost around T+7:55, during a reentry burn by three of the seven BE-4 engines, according to data shown on the company's webcast.

Blue Origin has not disclosed what happened to the booster at that time, and Limp declined to provide further details. However, he noted that one of the challenges was demonstrating the in-flight relight of the BE-4 engines, which had not been tested before the launch.

“It was a combination of a couple of things,” Limp stated. “This was our first attempt at it. I don’t want to go into too much detail because we’re still going through the anomaly investigation. I feel like the team has a really good handle on it and modifications are not complicated.” A second booster is currently being produced. “I don’t think it’s going to delay our path to flight,” Limp said regarding the investigation. “I think we can still fly late spring.”

Blue Origin has not yet disclosed the payload for the second New Glenn launch, but Limp mentioned the company has “a couple of different options.” “We sort of treat the first three flights as development flights. If we can get commercial payloads on them, we will do so,” he added. “If it came to it and we just had to fly a mass simulator, we’ll fly a mass simulator.” Limp did not provide details on plans beyond New Glenn’s second launch but hinted that one upcoming mission would feature the Mark 1 version of Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lunar lander.

This robotic lander serves as a technology demonstrator for the larger, crewed Blue Moon Mark 2, which Blue Origin is developing for NASA’s Human Landing System program.

“I’m still very confident that we can get on the moon this year,” Limp remarked, emphasizing that the Mark 1 lander, capable of carrying three metric tons of cargo, would be the largest spacecraft ever to land on the moon.

Limp stressed the importance of continuing lunar exploration despite the new US administration’s focus on Mars. 

“I think the last thing we want is another Sputnik moment, where another nation puts boots on the moon before we do,” he said. However, he also pointed out that the architecture developed for lunar exploration by Blue Origin and companies like SpaceX is adaptable for Mars missions.

“It turns out that those systems, and the concept of operations for them, are highly reusable for a Mars mission.” Blue Origin was selected by NASA last year to conduct concept studies for Mars Sample Return (MSR), building on its work with Blue Moon. NASA revealed on January 7 that it would choose unspecified “commercial landers” for further study as part of a revised MSR architecture. 

Limp highlighted that the capabilities being developed for Blue Moon, such as engines, in-space refueling, and a tug to transport the lander to lunar orbit, are transferable to Mars missions. He compared these components to LEGO bricks that can be reassembled for different purposes.

By Naila Huseynova