Main Engine Cut OffBE-4 Hydrostatic Bearings
Jeff Bezos’ most recent email update on Blue Origin was all about the BE-4 and its hydrostatic bearings:
Why do we go to all this trouble instead of just using traditional bearings? Engine life. We’re relentlessly focused on reusability, and properly designed hydrostatic bearings offer the potential for longer engine life without refurbishment. This is one of the many engineering decisions we’ve made that we hope will lead to reusability – not just in principle – but to practical, operational reusability. If “reusability” requires significant refurbishment, inspection, and re-validation between flights, then it simply won’t lead to the far lower launch costs we need to achieve our vision of millions of people living and working in space.
Read the full transcript over on r/BlueOrigin.
Interestingly, George Sowers, VP of Advanced Concepts & Technologies at ULA, commented on their use of hydrostatic bearings on Twitter:
Hydrostatic bearings were one of the innovations that led us to pick the engine. Thrilled to see them working
Every single statement by ULA is overwhelmingly positive about BE-4, and makes it sound like they’ve already downselected. We’re still waiting on the hot fire, but it’s just a matter of time now.