Main Engine Cut OffT+110: Starship, New Glenn, and RS1 Updates
ABL Space Systems announced some changes to RS1, Blue Origin broke ground in Huntsville and signed a new customer, and SpaceX has been making steady progress on Starship.
122 results for “Blue Origin”
Blue Origin and Telesat Sign Multi-Launch Agreement
Hell of a backlog for New Glenn. This brings it into double digits.
Blue Origin Breaks Ground in Huntsville, Maybe Gets a Test Stand at Marshall
Originally, they planned to build an engine test and acceptance stand as part of their Cape Canaveral launch site—at the old Launch Complex 11. I wonder if getting space at Marshall would change that plan. I have to assume so.
First Vulcan Certification Flight Delayed to 2021
I said this at the time, but I expected this news alongside either the BE-4 or Air Force selection announcements. Burying bad news with good news is always a solid plan, and I can’t imagine something has changed drastically in the last few weeks on the Vulcan front.
Gateway Logistics Services
NASA is asking about 7.6 metric tons of cargo to lunar orbit. That’s an ATV-class vehicle—a huge undertaking, requiring a big launch vehicle.
T+96: Blue Origin & Harris
Blue Origin and Harris announced an interesting partnership last week that’s worth discussing: Harris will be producing 5-meter fixed mesh reflector antennas that can only fit (for now) inside of New Glenn’s big fairing.
Finally.
ULA says its on track for a mid-2020 flight of the BE-4-powered Vulcan. I was expecting to hear a bit of a delay with this announcement, because past statements sounded a lot like, “This is what we said previously so we’re going to say the same thing again until we update the schedule when we make the selection.”
Amazon Hits $1 Trillion Valuation
Just over a year ago, Jeff Bezos had to sell 1 million shares to fund his annual $1 billion investment in Blue Origin. As of right now, he only has to sell half of that to do the same.
T+89: Lockheed’s Small Sat Strategy, NASA Tipping Points Contracts
Lockheed Martin has been slowly revealing their small sat strategy over the last three years, and it’s shaping up to be quite interesting and potentially very compelling. And NASA announced 10 Tipping Point awards last week, which include some very interesting projects from Blue Origin, ULA, and Astrobotic.
Blue Origin Confirms BE-3U Uses Expander Cycle
The switch to expander cycle is a big deal. Because of the BE-3U’s thrust level, it’ll be an open/bleed cycle. That does decrease efficiency a bit, but its specific impulse will be very much in the ballpark of the RL10 and Vinci.