Blue Origin’s New Glenn Races For Military Contracts
New Glenn is a next generation heavy lift launch vehicle under development by Blue Origin. For just over a decade now, the company has been working to design, manufacture, and test the various systems and hardware. Now in 2023, we are getting closer to an expected launch date based on various sources within the industry along with visible progress.
While Blue Origin is not nearly as open about what it’s working on and future timelines compared to other companies, we still can get a good idea of what to expect. Most realistically, a launch in 2025 could happen which would open up quite a lot of opportunities for military contracts. This comes after the military released a new document highlighting upcoming launch requirements and proposals.
However, in order for Blue Origin to qualify for these contracts worth more than $10 billion in total, they have to either launch New Glenn or convince the government that the rocket will be very capable and ready in the near future. Here I will go more in-depth into the future launch date of New Glenn, new launch contracts, what to expect in the coming months, and more.
Contract Timeframe
Not long ago the US military released a document titled National Security Space Launch Phase 3 DRAFT Request for Proposals #1. For the most part, this document highlights the future launch opportunities the government will offer and some of the timelines and requirements in order to win these contracts. In relation to Blue Origin and New Glenn, these are most definitely launches that the company does not want to miss out on.
The Space Systems Command has created two different lanes for bidders. The first will be for cheaper missions and will be open to a lot of different companies. The second lane will be for much more difficult and specific missions, such as heavier and more valuable payloads going to more difficult-to-reach orbits. In this case, the higher-value missions will require rockets to be certified to a much higher standard.
Looking at Lane 1 first, it was stated that Lane 1 missions will be awarded during a five-year period from fiscal year 2025 to 2029. For the most part this lane is primarily targeted at smaller and risker companies and launch options. This being said, Blue Origin and other bigger companies such as SpaceX and ULA can compete for these launches as well.
Lane 2 on the other hand is where Blue Origin really wants to get involved. In Lane 2, there will be about 40 missions awarded during a five-year period beginning in 2025. Here, these are the payloads that require the greatest capabilities from launch providers: the ability to deal with difficult orbits, secure rooms for pre-launch processing, and heavier lift capabilities. In addition, the bidders for Lane 2 must also be capable of sending payloads to all of the reference orbits for the US Department of Defense. New Glenn is expected to be able to do this it just has to launch and be ready by the timeframe. Unfroutnely, this is much easier said than done. Other vehicles that qualify for this lane such as SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy are already up and operational with a history of successful flights. If Blue Origin truly wants to compete and win some significant contracts, a New Glenn launch would need to happen soon and with impressive results.
It’s also important to point out that the company is not necessarily required to have flown its rocket by the time the awardees are announced next summer. In reality, they will just have to have agreed on a roadmap with the military regarding details on the company’s rocket being certified. Overall, Blue Origin has a lot of work ahead of them but if they work fast and produce a capable system, these contracts are not out of the question going forward.
New Glenn Launch
With all this in mind, it brings up the question of what is a realistic launch date for New Glenn. As partially mentioned before, one downside of Blue Origin is that they keep most information to themselves and rarely provide updates on the rocket’s timeline and future. Either way, we still can estimate based on various progress when a launch attempt could happen. Just days ago Eric Berger tweeted saying, “Per a good source, it sounds like a realistic NET launch for Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket is now 2025. This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise given the amount of work yet to be done, and priority on delivering BE-4s to Vulcan in the near term.”
The BE-4 development and testing is a very big part of New Glenn’s program. Rocket engines are responsible for getting the launch vehicle off the ground, and determine various features such as payload capacity, reusability, and more. That is why Vulcan’s upcoming maiden flight is a big deal for New Glenn’s program. About one month ago, ULA technicians successfully stacked the rocket atop the Vulcan Launch Platform (VLP) in the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in preparation for the first launch, called Certification Flight-1. At the time, in a report ULA mentioned, “Integrated testing of the rocket stages, VLP and ground systems will be conducted within the VIF over the next few weeks before Vulcan rolls out to Space Launch Complex (SLC)-41 to undergo a series of fuel-loading and countdown exercises. The testing culminates with a Flight Readiness Firing (FRF) to practice the full day-of-launch timeline complete with a brief ignition of the rocket’s main engines.”
With it now being March, we can expect to see Vulcan roll out to the launch pad very soon for final testing. If the results are good then a launch in early May is possible. Here the two BE-4 engines will attempt their first ever launch. If they perform as intended it will give Blue Origin the confidence needed to continue ramping up BE-4 production. It will also check off a big box in what the engine is capable of before it’s integrated onto a New Glenn test article.
The whole point of BE-4 is to make a powerful and capable engine that doesn’t destroy itself after a single mission. BE-4 was designed to be a medium-performing version of a high-performance architecture. A conscious design choice hoping to lower development risk while meeting performance, schedule, and reusability requirements. This engine in particular is also trying something new within the industry that more companies are switching to. Blue Origin chose LNG because it is highly efficient, low cost, and widely available. Not to mention unlike kerosene, LNG can be used to self-pressurize its tank. Known as autogenous repressurization, this eliminates the need for costly and complex systems that draw on Earth’s helium reserves. LNG also possesses clean combustion characteristics even at low throttle, simplifying engine reuse compared to kerosene fuels.
The restartable BE-4 engines are meant to provide precision thrust vector control and continuous deep throttle capability to support propulsive deceleration and landing maneuvers, while featuring long design life. As far as what we can expect to see in the future, the 8.5 m (28 ft) diameter engine skirt protects the engines from atmospheric reentry conditions and contains six stowed landing gear. The mid module of the booster houses the fuel (LNG) and oxidizer (LOX) tanks. The tanks are made of orthogrid aluminum and are designed to withstand the high g-loads realized during reentry. Large aerodynamic strakes on the aft end of the tanks give the returning first stage enhanced cross-range during descent and reentry. The forward module of the booster features four actuated aerodynamic control fins for attitude control during descent. This section of the booster also provides ground umbilical connections for New Glenn and interstage housing of the two second stage vacuum-optimized BE-3U engines. The forward module houses various guidance navigation & control avionics, including an autonomous flight safety system. The pneumatic pusher stage separation system, which provides positive separation before second stage ignition, is located in the forward module.
Higher up, the second stage also has a tank diameter of 7 m (23 ft) and uses common tooling with the first stage to reduce recurring cost. The length of the second stage tank is 16.1 m (52.9 ft) and the overall length including the two high expansion ratio nozzle BE-3Us is 23.4 m (76.9 ft). Similar to the first stage, the second stage has aft, mid, and forward sections. The aft section consists primarily of the two BE-3U engines, associated load bearing cross-bar thrust structure, and tankage/equipment for long duration operations. The reaction control system (RCS)/settling system uses tri-axial thrusters distributed in four places along the thrust structure. The second stage aft section integrates with the first stage forward section and provides one of two second stage umbilical interfaces. The mid-section contains all propellant tankage including a forward LH2 tank and an aft LOX tank, separated by a common insulated bulkhead. The tank barrels are orthogrid aluminum construction, and the domes are constructed from welded aluminum. A single external insulated LH2 supply line passes around the LOX tank. As time goes on, we can hope to see more physical progress on this launch system in preparation for an actual launch attempt.
Conclusion
Blue Origin is hoping to get involved with new military launch contracts in the future. Here, multiple lanes offer companies that are higher risk with fewer launch capabilities contracts and bigger companies like Blue Origin opportunities as well. Based on current progress, the most realistic launch date for New Glenn would be around 2025. We will have to wait and see how it progresses and the impact it has on the space industry.