Blue Origin is set for its New Glenn rocket launch, but weather forecasts suggest potential delays and challenges for the mission.
Cape Canaveral: Blue Origin is gearing up for its first New Glenn rocket launch, aiming for an overnight attempt early Thursday. But, the weather might not cooperate.
The rocket, which is a big deal for Jeff Bezos’ company, is trying to compete with SpaceX and ULA. The mission, called NG-1, has a launch window from 1 to 4 a.m. If things don’t go as planned, there’s a backup window early Friday.
Unfortunately, the weather squadron is only giving a 40% chance of good conditions for the launch. If they wait a day, the odds improve to 90% for the launch site, but there’s still a chance of bad weather in the Atlantic where they plan to recover the rocket’s booster.
This attempt comes after a scrub on Monday morning, which had great weather but was halted due to issues at the launch pad. Ice formed on a line for an auxiliary power unit, which caused some hydraulic problems. They tried to fix it but had to call it off.
Last week, they also faced weather delays because of rough conditions in the Atlantic, where their recovery vessel, named Jacklyn after Bezos’ mom, was stationed.
New Glenn is designed for reuse, similar to SpaceX’s Falcon 9, with the first stages aiming for up to 25 flights. However, landing the booster isn’t the main goal for this first flight.
Ariane Cornell, a Blue Origin commentator, emphasized that their main goal is to reach orbit safely. Anything beyond that would be a bonus. She acknowledged that landing the booster on the first try is ambitious, but they’re going for it. Regardless of the outcome, they plan to learn and improve for future launches.
The payload for NG-1 won’t be deployed once they reach orbit. It’s just hardware to test communication and telemetry for a system called Blue Ring, which will help with future customer payloads.
This mission is also one of two required flights to gain certification from the Space Force, which would allow New Glenn to take on national security missions for the Department of Defense.
Blue Origin has already received approval to compete for contracts alongside SpaceX and ULA, with a potential worth of $5.6 billion over the next four years.
They also have commercial customers lined up, including Amazon, which has contracted for at least 12 launches to deploy satellites for its Project Kuiper internet service, aiming to rival SpaceX’s Starlink.
NASA has also tapped New Glenn to launch two Mars-bound satellites and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lunar landers, with one set to be the human landing system for the Artemis V mission, expected no earlier than 2029.
Bezos has invested billions into Blue Origin, which has only launched its suborbital New Shepard rockets so far from Texas.
Standing at 321 feet tall, New Glenn is over five times taller than New Shepard. It’s powered by seven BE-4 engines, which have already proven themselves by launching ULA’s Vulcan rockets.
These engines can produce 3.85 million pounds of thrust, making New Glenn more powerful than SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and ULA’s Atlas V.
New Glenn also boasts the largest cargo space among its competitors, with a nearly 23-foot diameter fairing, compared to the 17- to 18-foot fairings of Falcon 9 and Vulcan rockets.
The rocket stages are built and integrated at Blue Origin’s Rocket Park near Kennedy Space Center. Final preparations, including fueling, happen at LC-36.
Blue Origin took over LC-36 in 2015, investing about $1 billion in the site, which has a rich history of government launches dating back to 1962.
