Can New Glenn Compete Against Starship?
Currently, both Blue Origin and SpaceX are working on their next-generation rockets. Blue Origin is in the early development phase of their first heavy-lift rocket New Glenn. SpaceX, on the other hand, is working on Starship, one of the largest and more powerful rockets in the world.
New Glenn and Starship share a few similarities and a lot of differences. Both rockets are planned to be fully reusable, the biggest each company has ever made, and overall very cost-effective. Some of the main differences include size, development progress, overall plan, and more.
Once both rockets are complete they will compete against each other for launch contracts, commercial missions, and more. In this article, we will look at the pros and cons of each rocket. Additionally, we will figure out what each of the companies is doing differently while developing the rockets of the future.
Key Differences
Size – One of the most obvious differences between the two rockets is their size. New Glenn is going to be 98m tall and 7m wide. Starship on the other hand will be 120m tall and 9m wide. While it doesn’t seem like a very big difference, the difference in power and payload to low Earth orbit is quite significant. New Glenn is supposed to bring around 50 tons into low Earth Orbit. Starship is estimated to bring anywhere from 100 to 150 tons. This big difference means Starship will be capable of possibly bringing 3x the cargo into orbit than New Glenn.
Cost – Right now the only accurate number we have for the cost per launch is for Starship. Blue Origin has not given out any information and it’s hard to guess exactly what New Glenn’s launch cost will be with all the changes. SpaceX and Elon have stated that the goal of Starship is for each launch to cost $2 million. In the rocket industry, this is unbelievably cheap. If SpaceX is successful in getting launch costs that low it will be very hard for Blue Origin to compete. Blue Origin keeps a lot of development and information to themselves rather than make it all public. For this reason, we will have to wait and see what New Glenn is capable of in the future.
Landing – Both launch vehicles have a very unique way of landing their booster and second stage. SpaceX originally planned to land their booster similar to the Falcon 9 and have the second stage land by itself. This has recently changed and SpaceX now is working to catch both the booster and second stage out of mid-air. SpaceX did it to speed up the landing and launch process as well as reduce weight on the rocket. Using massive arms attached to the launch tower they want to catch the booster and second stage after doing a landing burn.
Blue Origin has some different plans. To land the booster after launch Blue Origin is working on a large ship with a landing pad. Similar to SpaceX’s drone ships but bigger. New Glenn’s booster will complete multiple landing burns and touch down on the mobile landing pad. In terms of the second stage, we are not sure what Blue Origin is planning as they just recently decided to make New Glenn fully reusable.
Similarities
Reusability – In even earlier development of Blue Origin’s New Glenn, they were planning on the rocket being partially reusable similar to the Falcon 9. Recently Blue Origin changed their mind and are now working on making the second stage fully reusable as well. If you want to learn more about the decision to switch and why they did it check out another one of my articles here.
Now both Starship and New Glenn are working towards becoming fully reusable rockest. This similarity is a necessity as the future of the space industry is reusable rockets. As I mentioned above, if SpaceX is able to get Starship’s launch cost down to $2 million then nobody would be able to compete. The only rockets that could have a comparable price would be other fully reusable rockets. This is why the development of these rockets is very likely to have a big impact on what the rest of the space industry does in the future.
Design – When looking at both rockets there are some similarities in design. Both have gone for a wide and uniform width across the entire length of the rocket. Additionally, both rockets have either grid fins or regular fins on the booster. The reason for this is both boosters need to be able to orient themselves while falling back towards Earth. One last similarity is the upper stage of the rocket. Photos came out of Blue Origin testing their new second stage. Just like Starship, it was made of stainless steel and the testing tank looked a bit like a grain silo.
Development Progress
The development progress is where SpaceX and Starship easily stand out. Starship has been developed in record time. Just a few years ago SpaceX started construction in Boca Chica. Now they have constructed a massive production site, orbital launch pad, and more. Not only that but they have done non-stop testing of Starship. SpaceX is now just a few months away from the first orbital test flight.
Blue Origin on the other hand has not been so fast. We have seen very little of New Glenn overall. Blue Origin has released some marketing videos and you can see them starting to work on components of New Glenn. Other than that the only thing we have seen is their newest work on the second stage called project Jarvis. Right now it is looking like Starship will end up finishing development a lot sooner than New Glenn.
SpaceX & Blue Origin’s Plan
While both companies are making next-generation heavy-lift rockets, they have a different plan for the purpose of the rocket. SpaceX is dead set on Mars. Elon has made clear his intentions and is not wasting any time. This goal of putting humans on Mars is one of the main reasons why Starship is developing so fast. Crews at the launch and production site have been working 24/7 on Starship development. All this work is for the goal of colonizing the red planet. Elon has said, “We don’t want to be one of those single planet species, we want to be a multi-planet species.” This goal has helped push him and the SpaceX team. Blue Origin and Jeff Bezos are not interested in Mars. In fact, one of Bezos and Blue Origin’s mottos is doing things in space to improve life on Earth. Both companies have very different plans for the future and how they are going to get there.
Conclusion
New Glenn and Starship can be the future of the space industry. If both companies are successful it will provide the world with the cheapest access ever to space. However, Blue Origin and SpaceX both still have a lot of work to do if they want to succeed. Both rockets are planning to be fully reusable and have some similar design features. On the other hand, Starship is going to be a lot bigger and is much farther in development. We will have to wait and see if these ambitious rockets will succeed in their plans throughout space.