Blue Origin Shows the Two Boosters of New Glenn Together and Prepares for a New Launch

Blue Origin has announced the arrival of a second booster for its New Glenn rockets. As we know, during the third mission, NG-3, the first stage "Never Tell Me The Odds" successfully returned to the droneship Jacklyn while the second stage encountered a problem and placed the satellite for Internet connectivity AST SpaceMobile BlueBird 7 (which returned to the atmosphere) in a lower than expected orbit.

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Dave Limp (CEO of the company) also showed a video of a fairing recovery, which will be recovered in the future to save millions of dollars for Blue Origin while increasing the launch cadence. In recent hours, the American company has started operations for the construction of a second New Glenn rocket, with the arrival at the Launch Complex 36 (LC-36) of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station of a new booster.

It is worth noting that the first booster (used during the NG-1 mission), named "So You're Telling Me There's a Chance", did not successfully land on the droneship and was destroyed in the Atlantic Ocean. During the NG-2 mission, the first stage "Never Tell Me The Odds" was used to place the twin probes of the NASA ESCAPADE mission into orbit; this same booster was later reused (after changing the BE-4 engines) for the NG-3 mission.

For the NG-4 mission, the debut of the first stage called "No, It's Necessary" is expected, which has seen some modifications in the thruster area. Blue Origin has already stated that in the future, the BE-4 boosters will undergo some updates to improve overall performance. Additionally, we know that a new version of the rocket called New Glenn 9x4 is also on the way, which will have nine BE-4 boosters for the first stage and four BE-3U boosters for the second stage.

The launch does not yet have a precise date, as we must await the completion of the FAA investigation following the malfunction of the GS-2 second stage during the NG-3 mission. If all goes as planned, 48 satellites for the Amazon Leo constellation could be launched into orbit, setting a new record for the number of units from the American company launched simultaneously, surpassing the Ariane 64 (which can launch 32).

The launch cadence of New Glenn will be influenced by the production capacity of both GS-1 and GS-2 as well as the ability to quickly refurbish as many parts as possible (and of course resolving the issues that have plagued the second stage). In the coming months, Blue Origin will need to overcome several key moments such as the launch of the first lunar lander Blue Moon MK1 (expected by the end of the year), the first mission for the Department of War (DoW, previously DoD), and the launch of Blue Moon MK2 for testing with Artemis III (mission expected between mid and late 2027).