Blue Origin

Blue Origin, LLC is an American aerospace, defense, space exploration company and launch service provider headquartered in Kent, Washington, United States.[1] Blue Origin makes rocket engines for United Launch Alliance and other customers as well as manufactures its own rockets, spacecraft and heavy-lift launch vehicles. In early 2021, the company received over $275 million[2] from the U.S Government (NASA) for lunar lander projects and sub-orbital research flights. Blue Origin has three engines in production including the BE-3U, BE-3PM and BE-4. The company is working on a fourth rocket engine, called the BE-7, which is still under development and when completed, will be used on planetary bodies other than Earth.[3]

Blue Origin, LLC
TypeLimited liability company
IndustryAerospace, defense and space exploration
FoundedSeptember 8, 2000
FounderJeff Bezos
Headquarters
Kent, Washington, United States
Number of locations
10 (5 production facilities & 5 field offices)
Area served
United States of America
Key people
Bob Smith (CEO)
ProductsSpace components, rockets & heavy-lift launch vehicles
Revenue$1,500,000,000 USD
OwnerJeff Bezos
Number of employees
>4000
SubsidiariesHoneybee Robotics
WebsiteBlueOrigin.com

History

Blue Origin was founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos, the founder and current executive chairman of Amazon.[4][5] Rob Meyerson joined Blue Origin in 2003 and served as the company's president before leaving the company in 2018.[6] The current CEO is Bob Smith.

The company primarily employs an incremental approach from suborbital to orbital flight,[1] with each developmental step building on its prior work. Blue Origin moved into the orbital spaceflight technology development business in 2014, initially as a rocket engine supplier via a contractual agreement to build the BE-4 rocket engine, for major US launch system operator United Launch Alliance (ULA). ULA has said that the first flight of its Vulcan Centaur heavy-lift launch vehicle is scheduled to launch in Q3 of 2023. The heavy-lift launch vehicles main power is supported by two BE-4 engines.

After initiating the development of an orbital rocket system prior to 2012, and stating in 2013 on their website that the first stage would perform a powered vertical landing and be reusable, Blue Origin publicly announced their orbital launch vehicle intentions in September 2015. In January 2016, Blue Origin indicated that the new rocket would be many times larger than New Shepard. Blue Origin publicly released the high-level design of the vehicle and announced its name in September 2016 as "New Glenn". The New Glenn heavy-lift launch vehicle can be configured in both two-stage and three-stage variants. New Glenn is planned to launch in Q3 of 2024.

On July 20, 2021, the company successfully completed its first crewed mission, Blue Origin NS-16, into space using its New Shepard launch vehicle. The flight was approximately 10 minutes and crossed the Kármán line. New Shepard performed six crewed flights between July 2021 and August 2022, taking a mix of sponsored celebrities such as Wally Funk, William Shatner as well as paying customers. New Shepard ticket sales brought in $50 million through June 2022. On July 20, 2021, the New Shepard performed its first crewed mission into space. The flight lasted approximately 10 minutes and crossed the Kármán line. The passengers were Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos, Wally Funk, and Oliver Daemen, after the unnamed auction winner (later revealed to have been Justin Sun) dropped out due to a scheduling conflict. The second and third crewed missions of New Shepard took place in October and December 2021. The Fourth crewed flight happened in March 2022. On June 4, 2022, New Shepard completed its fifth crewed mission launch and the sixth crewed flight took place on August 4, 2022. In September 2022, an uncrewed mission of the New Shepard had an anomaly due to a failure of the BE-3 main engine. The launch escape system triggered and the capsule landed safely. The remaining New Shepard launch vehicles were grounded pending an FAA investigation into the incident. After a six-month investigation, Blue Origin pinpointed the cause of the anomaly as a thermal-structure failure of the BE-3 engine nozzle which caused a thrust misalignment that triggered the capsule's emergency escape system to activate. Blue Origin said in its press release that New Shepard flights would resume as soon as possible.[7]

Launch vehicles

New Shepard
Main article: New Shepard
New Shepard booster landing, "Launch Site One", Van Horn, TX, US

New Shepard is a fully reusable suborbital launch vehicle developed for space tourism. The vehicle is named after Alan Shepard, the first American astronaut in space. The vehicle is capable of vertical takeoff and landings and can carry humans and customer payloads to the edge of space.

The New Shepard launch vehicle is one-stage and consists of a booster rocket and a crew capsule. The capsule can seat six passengers. The booster rocket is powered by a 1-BE-3 engine, which sends the capsule to an altitude of over 100 km and flies above the Kármán line where passengers can experience a few minutes of weightlessness before the capsule returns to Earth.

The launch vehicle is designed to be fully reusable, with the capsule returning to Earth via parachute and the booster landing vertically on the same launchpad it took off from. New Shepard allows Blue Origin to significantly reduce the cost of space tourism, making the experience more accessible to the general public. Blue Origin has successfully launched and landed the New Shepard launch vehicle 22 times.

New Glenn
Main article: New Glenn
New Glenn heavy-lift rocket, Illustration of atmospheric trajectory

New Glenn is a heavy-lift launch vehicle that is in the development stage and will be ready for Launch in Q3 of 2024. The launch date has been set back because of numerous delays. Named after NASA astronaut John Glenn,design work on the vehicle began in early 2012. Illustrations of the vehicle, and the high-level specifications, were initially publicly unveiled in September 2016. New Glenn is a heavy-lift launch vehicle with a diameter of 7 meters (23ft). Its first stage will be powered by seven BE-4 engines. The 7 meter-diameter fairing is claimed to have twice the payload volume of "any commercial launch system" and to be the biggest payload fairing in the world.[8]

Like the New Shepard, New Glenn's first stage is also designed to be reusable. In 2021, the company initiated conceptual design work on approaches to potentially make the second stage reusable as well, with the project codenamed "Project Jarvis".[9]

NASA announced on February 9, 2023, that it had selected the New Glenn heavy-lift launch vehicle for the launch of two Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) spacecraft. The New Glenn rocket will launch ESCAPADE[10][11] in Q3 of 2024 with the ESCAPADE spacecraft entering Mars's orbit approximately one year after its launch.

Rocket engines
BE-3PM Engine, Labeled

BE-3 (BE-3U and BE-3PM)

Blue Origin publicly announced the development of the Blue Engine 3, or BE-3, in January 2013. BE-3 is a new liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen (LH2/LOX) cryogenic engine that can produce 490 kN (110,000 lbf) of thrust at full power, and can be throttled down to as low as 110 kN (25,000 lbf) for use in controlled vertical landings.[12] Early thrust chamber testing began at NASA Stennis[13] in 2013.[14] By late 2013, the BE-3 had been successfully tested on a full-duration suborbital burn, with simulated coast phases and engine relights, "demonstrating deep throttle, full power, long-duration and reliable restart all in a single-test sequence."[12] NASA has released a video of the test.[14] As of December 2013, the engine had demonstrated more than 160 starts and 9,100 seconds (2.5 h) of operation at Blue Origin's test facility near Van Horn, Texas.[12][15]

BE-3U Engine, Labeled

The BE-3 has two variants. The BE-3U and BE-3PM.

BE-4 Engine, Labeled
  1. The BE-3U is an open expander cycle variant of the BE-3. Two of these engines will be used to power the New Glenn heavy-lift launch vehicle's 2nd second stage. The amount of thrust the BE-3U produces is 710 kilonewtons (160,000 lbf).[16]
  2. The BE-3PM, uses a pump-fed engine design, with a combustion tap-off cycle to take a small amount of combustion gases from the main combustion chamber to power the engines turbopumps. The amount of thrust the BE-3PM produces is 490 kilonewtons (110,000 lbf).[17]

BE-4

Blue Engine 4, or BE-4, combusts liquid oxygen and liquified natural gas (LOX/NG). The engine has been designed to produce 2,400 kN (550,000 lbf) of thrust.

In late 2014, Blue Origin signed an agreement with United Launch Alliance (ULA) to develop the BE-4 engine, for ULA's upgraded Atlas V and Vulcan Centaur rockets replacing the RD-180 Russian-made rocket engine. The newly developed heavy-lift launch vehicle will use two of the 2,400 kN (550,000 lbf) BE-4 engines on each first stage. The engine development program for the BE-4 began in 2011.[18]

On October 31, 2022, a Twitter post by the official Blue Origin account announced that the first two BE-4 engines had been delivered to ULA and were in the process of being integrated on a Vulcan rocket. In a later tweet, ULA CEO Tory Bruno said that one of the engines had already been installed on the booster, and that the other would be joining it momentarily.[19]

BE-7 Engine, Labeled

BE-7

The BE-7 engine, currently under development, is being designed for use on a lunar lander.[20] Its first ignition tests were performed June 2019.[21] On March 20, 2023, the BE-7 had a successful Thrust Chamber Assembly (TCA) hot fire test[22] at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Test Stand 116 which lasted over 30 seconds bringing the total hot fire testing time to over 4000 seconds. The propellent is liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The amount of thrust the BE-7 produces is 44.5 kilonewtons (10,000) lbf).[17]

Pusher escape motor

Blue Origin partnered with Aerojet Rocketdyne to develop a pusher launch escape system for the New Shepard suborbital crew capsule. Aerojet Rocketdyne provides the Crew Capsule Escape Solid Rocket Motor (CCE SRM) while the thrust vector control system that steers the capsule during an abort is designed and manufactured by Blue Origin.[23][24]

Facilities
Production facilities near the Kennedy Space Center, Florida

Blue Origin has facilities across the United States. Blue Origin has five main locations and five field offices:[25]

  • Kent, Washington
  • Van Horn, Texas
  • Cape Canaveral Spaceforce Station, Florida
  • Huntsville, Alabama
  • Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama
  • Arlington, Virginia
  • Denver, Colorado
  • Los Angeles, California
  • Phoenix, Arizona
  • Washington DC

Blue Origin's headquarters is in Kent, Washington. Rocket development takes place at its HQ. Blue Origin has continued to expand its Seattle-area office and rocket production facilities in 2016 – purchasing an adjacent 11,000 m2 (120,000 sq ft)-building[26] – and 2017, with permits filed to build a new 21,900 m2 (236,000 sq ft) warehouse complex and an additional 9,560 m2 (102,900 sq ft) of office space.[27] The company's established a new headquarters and R&D facility, dubbed the O'Neill Building, in Kent, on June 6, 2020.[28][29]

The OLS (Orbital Launch Site) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, develops rockets and does extensive testing. Since 2016, Blue Origin converted Launch Complex 36 (LC-36) to launch its New Glenn to orbit[30] at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Blue Origin's New Shepard launch site is located 30 miles north of Van Horn, Texas. The facility also test fires the companies engines. Engine production is located in Huntsville, Alabama, at a 600,000sqft facility at a facility called, "Blue Engine". The Blue Origin website states that, "The world-class engine manufacturing facility in The Rocket City will conduct high rate production of the BE-4 and BE-3U engines. These engines will undergo testing at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center on the historic Test Stand 4670. BE-7, [is the] lunar landing engine, [which] is also currently in test at NASA Marshall." Blue Engine has over 1000 employees and works 24/7.

Other projects

Blue Moon

In May 2019, Jeff Bezos announced plans for a crew-carrying lunar lander known as Blue Moon.[31] The standard version of the lander is intended to transport 3.6 t (7,900 lb) to the lunar surface whereas a stretched tank variant could land up to 6.5 t (14,000 lb) on the Moon, both making a soft landing. The lander will use the BE-7 hydrolox engine.[32]

Orbital Reef (commercial space station)

Blue Origin and its partners Sierra Space, Boeing, Redwire Space and Genesis Engineering Solutions won a $130 million award to jump-start the design of their Orbital Reef commercial space station. The project is envisioned as an expandable business park, with Boeing's Starliner and Sierra Space's Dream Chaser transporting passengers to and from low Earth orbit for tourism, research and in-space manufacturing projects.

Project Kuiper
Main article: Kuiper Systems

Project Kuiper is the name for Amazon's satellite project. The company plans to build a network of 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) to provide high-speed internet around the world. The technology giant signed launch contracts with three companies for what it claims is the biggest rocket deal in commercial space history.[33] Blue Origin received a contract for 12 launches with an option for 15 more. Amazon's Kuiper contracts are estimated to be worth billions of dollars and Blue Origin is expected to receive more contracts once its New Glenn heavy-lift launch vehicle becomes available.

Nuclear rocket program

NASA plans to test spacecraft, engines and other propellent systems powered by nuclear fission no later than 2027 as part of the agency's effort to demonstrate more efficient methods of traveling through outer space for space exploration.[34] One benefit to using nuclear fission as a propellent for spacecraft is that nuclear-based systems can have less mass than solar cells which means a spacecraft could be much smaller while absorbing and using the same amount of energy more efficiently. Nuclear fission concepts that can power both life support and propulsion systems could greatly reduce the cost and flight time during space exploration.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded General Atomics, Lockheed Martin and Blue Origin contracts to fund and build nuclear spacecraft under the agency's Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations program or DRACO program. Blue Origin was awarded $2.9 million to develop spacecraft component designs.[35]

In partnership with Blue Origin, Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp., GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, GE Research, Framatome and Materion, USNC-Tech won a $5 million contract from NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a long range nuclear propulsion system called the Power Adjusted Demonstration Mars Engine, or PADME.[36]

Blue Origin flight data
1
2
3
4
5
6
2005
2010
2015
2020
Timeline of Space­Ship­One, Space­Ship­Two, CSXT and New Shepard sub-orbital flights. Where booster and capsule achieved different altitudes, the higher is plotted. In the SVG file, hover over a point to show details.
New Shepard and test vehicle flight data
Flight No. Date Vehicle Apogee Outcome Notes
1 March 5, 2005 Charon 315ft (0.05mi) Success Test Flight
2 November 13, 2006 Goddard 279ft (0.05mi) Success First rocket-powered test flight[37]
3 March 22, 2007 Goddard ♺[38] N/A Success Test Flight
4 April 19, 2007 Goddard ♺[39] N/A Success Test Flight
5 May 6, 2011 PM2 (Propulsion Module)[40] N/A Success Test Flight
6 August 24, 2011 PM2 (Propulsion Module) ♺ N/A Failure Test Flight
7 October 19, 2012 New Shepard capsule N/A Success Pad escape test flight[41]
8 April 29, 2015 New Shepard 1 307,000ft (58mi) Partial success Flight to altitude 93.5 km, capsule recovered, booster crashed on landing[42]
9 November 23, 2015 New Shepard 2 329,839ft (62mi) Success Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing[43]
10 January 22, 2016 New Shepard 2 ♺ 333,582ft (63mi) Success Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing of a reused booster[44]
11 April 2, 2016 New Shepard 2 ♺ 339,178ft (64mi) Success Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing of a reused booster[45]
12 June 19, 2016 New Shepard 2 ♺ 331,501ft (63mi) Success Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing of a reused booster: The fourth launch and landing of the same rocket. Blue Origin published a live webcast of the takeoff and landing.[46]
13 October 5, 2016 New Shepard 2 ♺ Booster:307,458ft (58mi)

Capsule:23,269ft (4mi)

 Success Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing of a reused booster. Successful test of the in-flight abort system. The fifth and final launch and landing of the same rocket (NS2).[47]
14 December 12, 2017 New Shepard 3 Booster:322,032ft(61mi)

Capsule:322,405ft(61mi)

 Success Flight to just under 100 km and landing. The first launch of NS3 and a new Crew Capsule 2.0.[48]
15 April 29, 2018 New Shepard 3 ♺ 351,000ft (66mi) Success Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing of a reused booster.[49]
16 July 18, 2018 New Shepard 3 ♺ 389,846ft (74mi) Success Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing of a reused booster, with the Crew Capsule 2.0–1 RSS H.G.Wells, carrying a mannequin. Successful test of the in-flight abort system at high altitude. Flight duration was 11 minutes.[50]
17 January 23, 2019 New Shepard 3 ♺ 351,000ft (66mi) Success Sub-orbital flight, delayed from December 18, 2018. Eight NASA research and technology payloads were flown.[51][52]
18 May 2, 2019 New Shepard 3 ♺ 346,000ft (65mi) Success Sub-orbital flight. Max Ascent Velocity: 2,217 mph (3,568 km/h),[53] duration: 10 minutes, 10 seconds. Payload: 38 microgravity research payloads (nine sponsored by NASA).
19 December 11, 2019 New Shepard 3 ♺ 343,000ft (64mi) Success Sub-orbital flight, Payload: Multiple commercial, research (8 sponsored by NASA) and educational payloads, including postcards from Club for the Future.[54][55][56]
20 October 13, 2020 New Shepard 3 ♺ 346,000ft (65mi) Success 7th flight of the same capsule/booster. Onboard 12 payloads include Space Lab Technologies, Southwest Research Institute, postcards and seeds for Club for the Future, and multiple payloads for NASA including SPLICE to test future lunar landing technologies in support of the Artemis program[57]
21 January 14, 2021 New Shepard 4 350,858ft (66mi) Success Uncrewed qualification flight for NS4 rocket and "RSS First Step" capsule and maiden flight for NS4.[58]
22 April 14, 2021 New Shepard 4 ♺ 348,753ft (66mi) Success 2nd flight of NS4 with Astronaut Rehearsal. Gary Lai, Susan Knapp, Clay Mowry, and Audrey Powers, all Blue Origin personnel, are "stand-in astronauts". Lai and Powers briefly get in.[59]
23 July 20, 2021 New Shepard 4 ♺ 351,210ft (66mi) Success First crewed flight (NS-16). Crew: Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, Wally Funk, and Oliver Daemen.[60]
24 August 26, 2021[61] New Shepard 3 ♺ 347,434ft (66mi) Success Payload mission consisting of 18 commercial payloads inside the crew capsule, a NASA lunar landing technology demonstration installed on the exterior of the booster and an art installation installed on the exterior of the crew capsule.[62]
25 October 13, 2021 New Shepard 4 ♺ 341,434ft (66mi) Success Second crewed flight (NS-18). Crew: Audrey Powers, Chris Boshuizen, Glen de Vries, and William Shatner.[63]
26 December 11, 2021 New Shepard 4 ♺ 351,050ft (66mi) Success Third crewed flight (NS-19). Crew: Laura Shepard Churchley, Michael Strahan, Dylan Taylor, Evan Dick, Lane Bess, and Cameron Bess.[64]
27 March 31, 2022 New Shepard 4 ♺ 351,050ft (66mi) Success Fourth crewed flight (NS-20). Crew: Marty Allen, Sharon Hagle, Marc Hagle, Jim Kitchen, George Nield, and Gary Lai.[65]
28 June 4, 2022 New Shepard 4 ♺ 351,050ft (66mi) Success Fifth crewed flight (NS-21). Crew: Evan Dick, Katya Echazarreta, Hamish Harding, Victor Correa Hespanha, Jaison Robinson, and Victor Vescovo.[66]
29 August 4, 2022 New Shepard 4 ♺ 351,050ft (66mi) Success Sixth crewed flight (NS-22). Crew: Coby Cotton, Mário Ferreira, Vanessa O'Brien, Clint Kelly III, Sara Sabry, and Steve Young.[67]
30 September 12, 2022 New Shepard 3 ♺ 37,402ft (7mi) Failure Uncrewed flight with commercial payloads onboard (NS-23). A booster failure triggered the launch escape system during flight, and the capsule landed successfully. Blue Origin mentioned in its press release on the incident that a thermal-structural failure occurred on the BE-3 nozzle.

Funding

By July 2014, Jeff Bezos had invested over $500 million into Blue Origin.[68] and the vast majority of further funding into 2016 was to support technology development and operations where a majority of funding came from Jeff Bezos' private investment fund. In April 2017, an annual amount was published showing that Bezos was selling approximately $1 billion in Amazon stock per year to investment in Blue Origin.[69] Jeff Bezos has been criticized for spending excessive amounts of his fortune on spaceflight.[70]

Blue Origin received $181 million from the United States Air Force for launch vehicle development in 2019. Blue Origin also completed work for NASA on several small development contracts, receiving total funding of $25.7 million by 2013.[71][72] Blue Origin was also eligible to benefit from further grants totaling $500M as part of the U.S Space Force Launch Services Agreement competition.[73]

On November 18, 2022, the U.S. Space Systems Command announced that an agreement with Blue Origin that "paves the way" for the company's New Glenn rocket to compete for national security launch contracts once it completes its required flight certifications for Top Secret military payloads.

Additional NASA partnership

Blue Origin has contracted to do work for NASA on several development efforts. The company was awarded $3.7 million in funding by NASA in 2009 via a Space Act Agreement[71][74] under the first Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program for development of concepts and technologies to support future human spaceflight operations.[75][76] NASA co-funded risk-mitigation activities related to ground testing of (1) an innovative 'pusher' escape system, that lowers cost by being reusable and enhances safety by avoiding the jettison event of a traditional 'tractor' Launch Escape System, and (2) an innovative composite pressure vessel cabin that both reduces weight and increases safety of astronauts.[71] This was later revealed to be a part of a larger system, designed for a biconic capsule, that would be launched atop an Atlas V rocket.[77] On November 8, 2010, it was announced that Blue Origin had completed all milestones under its CCDev Space Act Agreement.[78]

In April 2011, Blue Origin received a commitment from NASA for $22 million of funding under the CCDev phase 2 program.[72] Milestones included (1) performing a Mission Concept Review (MCR) and System Requirements Review (SRR) on the orbital Space Vehicle, which utilizes a biconic shape to optimize its launch profile and atmospheric reentry, (2) further maturing the pusher escape system, including ground and flight tests, and (3) accelerating development of its BE-3 LOX/LH2 440 kN (100,000 lbf) engine through full-scale thrust chamber testing.[79]

In 2012, NASA's Commercial Crew Program released its follow-on CCiCap solicitation for the development of crew delivery to ISS by 2017. Blue Origin did not submit a proposal for CCiCap, but reportedly continued work on its development program with private funding.[80] Blue Origin had a failed attempt to lease a different part of the Space Coast, when they submitted a bid in 2013 to lease Launch Complex 39A (LC39A) at the Kennedy Space Center – on land to the north of, and adjacent to, Cape Canaveral AFS – following NASA's decision to lease the unused complex out as part of a bid to reduce annual operation and maintenance costs. The Blue Origin bid was for shared and non-exclusive use of the LC39A complex such that the launchpad was to have been able to interface with multiple vehicles, and costs for using the launch pad were to have been shared across multiple companies over the term of the lease. One potential shared user in the Blue Origin notional plan was United Launch Alliance. Commercial use of the LC39A launch complex was awarded to SpaceX, which submitted a bid for exclusive use of the launch complex to support their crewed missions.[81]

In September 2013 – before completion of the bid period, and before any public announcement by NASA of the results of the process – Florida Today reported that Blue Origin had filed a protest with the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) "over what it says is a plan by NASA to award an exclusive commercial lease to SpaceX for use of mothballed space shuttle launch pad 39A".[82] NASA had originally planned to complete the bid award and have the pad transferred by October 1, 2013, but the protest delayed a decision until the GAO reached a decision on the protest.[82][83] SpaceX said that they would be willing to support a multi-user arrangement for pad 39A.[84] In December 2013, the GAO denied the Blue Origin protest and sided with NASA, which argued that the solicitation contained no preference on the use of the facility as either multi-use or single-use. "The [solicitation] document merely [asked] bidders to explain their reasons for selecting one approach instead of the other and how they would manage the facility".[83] NASA selected the SpaceX proposal in late 2013 and signed a 20-year lease contract for Launch Pad 39A to SpaceX in April 2014.[85]

On April 30, 2020, Blue Origin's National Team, which includes Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper, was awarded $579 million to develop an integrated human landing system as part of NASA's Artemis program to return humans to the Moon.[86][87] On April 16, 2021, NASA awarded the Artemis moon lander work, in full, to the rival SpaceX bid.[88] On April 26, 2021, Blue Origin filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office. However, on July 30, 2021, the GAO denied Blue Origin's protest.[89]

Blue Origin placed a bid for another lunar lander for the Artemis Program. Blue Origin announced on December 6, 2022, that it had submitted a proposal for NASA's Sustaining Lunar Development (SLD) competition to fund development of a second lunar lander capable for transporting astronauts to and from the lunar surface. The announcement fell within NASA's deadline for SLD proposals. As with its original Human Landing System (HLS) proposal, Blue Origin referred to the companies it partnered with on NASA's Sustaining Lunar Development (SLD) proposal as the "National Team". The partnership includes Draper, Lockheed Martin, Astrobotic, Honeybee Robotics and Blue Origin.[90]

Early test vehicles

Charon
Charon on display at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington.

Blue Origin's first flight test vehicle, called Charon after Pluto's moon,[91] was powered by four vertically mounted Rolls-Royce Viper Mk. 301 jet engines rather than rockets. The low-altitude vehicle was developed to test autonomous guidance and control technologies, and the processes that the company would use to develop its later rockets. Charon made its only test flight at Moses Lake, Washington on March 5, 2005. It flew to an altitude of 96 m (316 ft) before returning for a controlled landing near the liftoff point.[92][93] As of 2016, Charon is on display at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington.[94]

Goddard

The next test vehicle, named Goddard (also known as PM1), first flew on November 13, 2006. The flight was successful. A test flight for December 2 never launched.[95][96] According to Federal Aviation Administration records, two further flights were performed by Goddard.[97] Blue Engine 1, or BE-1, was the first rocket engine developed by Blue Origin and was used in the company's Goddard development vehicle.

PM2

Another early suborbital test vehicle, PM2, had two flight tests in 2011 in west Texas. The vehicle designation may be short for "Propulsion Module".[98] The first flight was a short hop (low altitude, VTVL takeoff and landing mission) flown on May 6, 2011. The second flight, August 24, 2011, failed when ground personnel lost contact and control of the vehicle. Blue Origin released its analysis of the failure nine days later. As the vehicle reached a speed of Mach 1.2 and 14 km (46,000 ft) altitude, a "flight instability drove an angle of attack that triggered [the] range safety system to terminate thrust on the vehicle".[99] Blue Engine 2, or BE-2, was a pump-fed bipropellant engine burning kerosene and peroxide which produced 140 kN (31,000 lbf) of thrust.[100][101] Five BE-2 engines powered Blue Origin's PM-2 development vehicle on two test flights in 2011.[102]

References
  1. "Blue Origin NS-21 Mission Nears Launch". Aero-News Network. June 3, 2022. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
  2. Boyle, Alan (March 11, 2023). "NASA's economic impact report card for Washington state highlights Blue Origin". GeekWire. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  3. Foust, Jeff (December 4, 2020). "Blue Origin continues work on BE-7 lunar lander engine". SpaceNews. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
  4. Staff Reporter (January 24, 2019). "Kent's Blue Origin racks up another successful New Shepard launch into space". Kent Reporter. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
  5. Berger, Eric (April 2, 2016). "Why Blue Origin's latest launch is a huge deal for cheap space access". Ars Technica. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
  6. Boyle, Alan (November 8, 2018). "Former Blue Origin president Rob Meyerson leaves Jeff Bezos' space venture". GeekWire. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
  7. "Blue Origin NS-23 Findings". Blue Origin. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  8. "New Glenn". Blue Origin. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  9. Berger, Eric. "First images of Blue Origin's "Project Jarvis" test tank". Ars Technica. Retrieved May 6, 2023.
  10. Foust, Jeff (February 10, 2023). "Blue Origin wins first NASA business for New Glenn". SpaceNews. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  11. "NASA picks Blue Origin's New Glenn to fly a science mission to Mars". Engadget. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  12. Messier, Doug (December 3, 2013). "Blue Origin Tests New Engine in Simulated Suborbital Mission Profile". Parabolic Arc. Archived from the original on December 6, 2013. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  13. "Updates on commercial crew development". NewSpace Journal. January 17, 2013. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
  14. Messier, Doug (December 3, 2013). "Video of Blue Origin Engine Test". Parabolic Arc. Archived from the original on December 6, 2013. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  15. Blue Origin Tests New Engine Archived January 8, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Aviation Week, 2013-12-09, accessed September 16, 2014.
  16. "Engines". Blue Origin. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  17. "Engines". Blue Origin. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  18. Achenbach, Joel (September 17, 2014). "Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin to supply engines for national security space launches". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on September 25, 2014. Retrieved September 27, 2014.
  19. Boyle, Alan (October 31, 2022). "Blue Origin completes delivery of BE-4 rocket engines for first ULA Vulcan launch". GeekWire. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
  20. Jeff Bezos unveils mock-up of Blue Origin's lunar lander Blue Moon Archived May 9, 2019, at the Wayback Machine. Loren Grush, The Verge. May 9, 2019.
  21. Blue Origin fires up the engine of its future Moon lander for the first timeArchived May 9, 2019, at the Wayback Machine. Loren Grush, The Verge. June 20, 2019.
  22. BE-7 Thrust Chamber Assembly Hotfire Test at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Test Stand 116, retrieved April 2, 2023
  23. "Aerojet Motor Plays Key Role in Successful Blue Origin Pad Escape". Aerojet Rocketdyne. Archived from the original on May 14, 2018. Retrieved May 14, 2018.
  24. "Aerojet Rocketdyne Motor Plays Key Role in Successful Blue Origin In-Flight Crew Escape Test". Aerojet Rocketdyne. Archived from the original on May 14, 2018. Retrieved May 14, 2018.
  25. "Blue Origin Facility Locations".
  26. Stile, Marc (October 20, 2016). "Bezos' rocket company, Blue Origin, is the new owner of an old warehouse in Kent". bizjournals.com. Puget Sound Business Journal. Archived from the original on March 2, 2017. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
  27. "Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space venture has plans for big expansion of Seattle-area HQ". Geekwire.com. February 22, 2017. Archived from the original on February 23, 2017. Retrieved August 11, 2017.
  28. "Blue Origin officially opens its new HQ and R&D center". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  29. "Blue Origin takes one giant leap across the street to space venture's new HQ in Kent". GeekWire. January 6, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  30. Blue Origin's Rocket Factory Breaks Ground, June 2016, accessed Feb 2022
  31. Sheetz, Michael (May 9, 2019). "Jeff Bezos unveils Blue Origin's Blue Moon lunar lander for astronauts". CNBC. Archived from the original on May 10, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
  32. Clark, Stephen (May 9, 2019). "Jeff Bezos unveils 'Blue Moon' lander". Spaceflight Now. Archived from the original on May 10, 2019. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
  33. Sheetz, Michael. "Amazon signs massive rocket deal with 3 firms, including Bezos' Blue Origin, to launch internet satellites". CNBC. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  34. Roulette, Joey (January 25, 2023). "U.S. to test nuclear-powered spacecraft by 2027". Reuters. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  35. Sheetz, Michael. "DARPA awards nuclear spacecraft contracts to Lockheed Martin, Bezos' Blue Origin and General Atomics". CNBC. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  36. Boyle, Alan (January 24, 2023). "NASA joins forces with DARPA on effort to demonstrate nuclear rocket for Mars trips". GeekWire. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  37. Graczyk, Michael (November 14, 2006). "Private space firm launches 1st test rocket". Associated Press. Archived from the original on January 7, 2007. Retrieved January 9, 2007.
  38. Boyle, Alan (March 23, 2007). "Rocket Revelations". MSNBC. Archived from the original on January 19, 2008. Retrieved January 29, 2008.
  39. "Recently Completed/Historical Launch Data". FAA AST. Archived from the original on March 11, 2008. Retrieved February 3, 2008.
  40. "Recently Completed/Historical Launch Data". FAA AST. Archived from the original on March 11, 2008. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
  41. "Blue Origin Conducts Successful Pad Escape Test". Blue Origin. October 22, 2012. Archived from the original on December 15, 2013. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  42. Harwood, Bill (April 30, 2015). "Bezos' Blue Origin completes first test flight of 'New Shepard' spacecraft". Spaceflight Now via CBS News. Retrieved May 11, 2015.
  43. Pasztor, Andy (November 24, 2015). "Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin Succeeds in Landing Spent Rocket Back on Earth". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  44. "Launch. Land. Repeat". Archived from the original on January 24, 2016. Retrieved January 23, 2016.
  45. Calandrelli, Emily (April 2, 2016). "Blue Origin launches and lands the same rocket for a third time". Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  46. Boyle, Alan (June 19, 2016). "Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin live-streams its spaceship's risky test flight". GeekWire. Retrieved June 21, 2016.
  47. Foust, Jeff (October 5, 2016). "Blue Origin successfully tests New Shepard abort system". SpaceNews. Retrieved October 5, 2016.
  48. "Blue Origin flies next-generation New Shepard vehicle". SpaceNews.com. December 13, 2017. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  49. Clark, Stephen. "Video: Blue Origin flies New Shepard rocket for eighth time – Spaceflight Now".
  50. Marcia Dunn (July 19, 2018). "Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launches spacecraft higher than ever". Associated Press. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
  51. Clark, Stephen. "Blue Origin reschedules New Shepard launch for Wednesday – Spaceflight Now". Retrieved January 23, 2019.
  52. "Blue Origin New Shepard: Mission 10 (Q1 2019) – collectSPACE: Messages". www.collectspace.com. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
  53. Clark, Stephen. "Blue Origin 'one step closer' to human flights after successful suborbital launch – Spaceflight Now". Retrieved May 9, 2019.
  54. Boyle, Alan (December 8, 2019). "Watch Blue Origin send thousands of postcards to space and back on test flight". Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  55. "New Shepard Mission NS-12 Updates". Blue Origin. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  56. "New Shepard sets reusability mark on latest suborbital spaceflight". SpaceNews.com. December 11, 2019. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  57. "New Shepard Mission NS-13 Launch Updates". Blue Origin. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  58. "Blue Origin tests passenger accommodations on suborbital launch". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  59. "Dress Rehearsal Puts Blue Origin Closer to Human Spaceflight". spacepolicyonline.com. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
  60. Roulette, Joey (July 20, 2021). "Blue Origin successfully sends Jeff Bezos and three others to space and back". The Verge. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  61. Blue Origin [@blueorigin] (August 26, 2021). "Capsule, touchdown! A wholly successful payload mission for New Shepard. A huge congrats to the entire Blue Origin team on another successful flight" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  62. "New Shepard Payload Mission NS-17 to Fly NASA Lunar Landing Experiment and Art Installation". Blue Origin. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  63. Maidenberg, Micah (October 13, 2021). "William Shatner Goes to Space on Blue Origin's Second Human Flight". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  64. Beil, Adrian (December 11, 2021). "Blue Origin launches NS-19 with full passenger complement". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  65. Wall, Mike (March 21, 2022). "Pete Davidson's spaceflight replacement is Blue Origin's Gary Lai". Space.com. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  66. "New Shepard Mission NS-21 to Fly Six Customer Astronauts, Including First Mexican-Born Woman to Visit Space". Blue Origin. May 9, 2022. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
  67. "First Egyptian and Portuguese Astronauts to join Dude Perfect Cofounder on New Shepard's 22nd Flight". Blue Origin. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
  68. Foust, Jeff (July 18, 2014). "Bezos Investment in Blue Origin Exceeds $500M". Space News. Archived from the original on July 19, 2014. Retrieved July 20, 2014.
  69. St. Fleur, Nicholas (April 5, 2017). "Jeff Bezos Says He was Selling $1B a Year in Amazon Stock to Finance Race to Space". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 7, 2017. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
  70. "Rocket fire of the vanities: Bezos space trip brings criticism from Earth-bound philanthropists-The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com.
  71. "Blue Origin Space Act Agreement" (PDF). Nasa.gov. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 22, 2013. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  72. Morring, Frank Jr. (April 22, 2011). "Five Vehicles Vie To Succeed Space Shuttle". Aviation Week. Archived from the original on December 21, 2011. Retrieved February 23, 2011. the CCDev-2 awards...and went to Blue Origin, Boeing, Sierra Nevada Corp. and Space Exploration Technologies Inc. (SpaceX).
  73. Erwin, Sandra (April 8, 2019). "Blue Origin urging Air Force to postpone launch competition". SpaceNews.com. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  74. "Blue Origin Space Act Agreement, Amendment One" (PDF). NASA. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 22, 2013. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  75. "NASA Selects Commercial Firms to Begin Development of Crew Transportation Concepts and Technology Demonstrations for Human Spaceflight Using Recovery Act Funds". press release. NASA. February 1, 2010. Archived from the original on February 3, 2010. Retrieved February 2, 2010.
  76. Jeff Foust. "Blue Origin proposes orbital vehicle". Newspacejournal.com. Archived from the original on April 26, 2015. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  77. "Commercial Crew and Cargo Program" (PDF). www.aiaa.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 10, 2010.
  78. "Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) Round One Companies Have Reached Substantial Hardware Milestones in Only 9 Months, New Images and Data Show" (PDF). Commercialspaceflight.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 21, 2012. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  79. "Blue Origin CCDev 2 Space Act Agreement" (PDF). Procurement.ksc.nasa.gov. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 15, 2013. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  80. "NASA announces $1.1B in support for a trio of spaceships". Cosmicclog.nbcnews.com. Archived from the original on May 29, 2014. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  81. Matthews, Mark K. (August 18, 2013). "Musk, Bezos fight to win lease of iconic NASA launchpad". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on August 27, 2013. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
  82. Messier, Doug (September 10, 2013). "Blue Origin Files Protest Over Lease on Pad 39A". Parabolic Arc. Archived from the original on September 25, 2013. Retrieved September 11, 2013.
  83. Messier, Doug (December 12, 2013). "Blue Origin Loses GAO Appeal Over Pad 39A Bid Process". Parabolic Arc. Archived from the original on December 16, 2013. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
  84. Foust, Jeff (September 21, 2013). "A minor kerfuffle over LC-39A letters". Space Politics. Archived from the original on September 25, 2013. Retrieved September 25, 2013.
  85. Dean, James (April 15, 2014). "With nod to history, SpaceX gets launch pad 39A OK". Florida Today. Archived from the original on July 30, 2014. Retrieved September 16, 2014.
  86. Sheetz, Michael (April 30, 2020). "NASA awards contracts to Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk to land astronauts on the moon". CNBC. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  87. Christian, Davenport (April 30, 2020). "Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk win contracts for spacecraft to land NASA astronauts on the moon". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  88. "As Artemis Moves Forward, NASA Picks SpaceX to Land Next Americans on Moon". NASA Press Release. April 16, 2021. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  89. "Statement on Blue Origin-Dynetics Decision". U.S. Government Accountability Office. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
  90. Foust, Jeff (December 7, 2022). "Blue Origin and Dynetics bidding on second Artemis lunar lander". SpaceNews. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  91. Boyle, Alan. "Amazon.com billionaire's 5-ton flying jetpack lands in Seattle museum". NBC News. Archived from the original on February 3, 2017. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  92. "Blue Origin Charon Test Vehicle". The Museum of Flight. Archived from the original on March 24, 2013. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
  93. "Blue Origin's Original Charon Flying Vehicle Goes on Display at The Museum of Flight". The Museum of Flight. Archived from the original on March 28, 2013. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
  94. "Blue Origin Charon Test Vehicle". Museum of Flight. Archived from the original on March 24, 2013. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
  95. Alan Boyle (November 28, 2006). "Blue Origin Rocket Report". cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com. Archived from the original on April 15, 2008. Retrieved May 28, 2008.
  96. Alan Boyle (December 2, 2006). "Blue Alert For Blastoff". cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com. Archived from the original on May 7, 2008. Retrieved May 28, 2008.
  97. "Launches". www.faa.gov. Archived from the original on April 21, 2019. Retrieved April 4, 2019.
  98. "Blue Origin has a bad day (and so do some of the media)". Archived from the original on January 26, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
  99. "Blue Origin Acknowledges Test Flight Failure". Space News. September 12, 2011. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  100. "Blue Origin Engines". Blue Origin. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
  101. @jeff_foust (March 10, 2018). "Rob Meyerson shows this chart of the various engines Blue Origin has developed and the vehicle that have used, or will use, them. #spaceexploration" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  102. Krebs, Gunter (April 29, 2018). "New Shepard". Gunter's Space Page. Archived from the original on May 16, 2018. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Blue Origin.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.