Blue Origin unveils lower-cost engine and third-stage plans for New Glenn

Blue Origin announced two upgrades for its New Glenn rocket on Thursday, outlining plans to reduce manufacturing costs and increase the vehicle’s ability to deliver payloads to geostationary orbit and the Moon. The changes involve a replacement for the engines powering the rocket’s first stage and the addition of a third stage.

Chief Executive Officer Dave Limp described the developments during the UP.Summit conference at the Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida. The company ultimately wants to position New Glenn to make more than 1,000 launches annually. Limp pointed to demand for launch services as the backdrop to those ambitions, saying, “There has never been higher demand for launch, ever.”

The new engine, named Northstar, is intended to eventually take the place of the BE-4 used on New Glenn’s first stage. According to Limp, it combines a simpler design with greater power. Compared with the BE-4, Northstar has half as many parts and 30 percent less mass, while about 65 percent of the engine can be produced through 3D printing.

Blue Origin estimates that manufacturing a Northstar engine will cost a quarter of what it costs to build a BE-4. The company also aims to reach a point at which assembly of each Northstar takes less than one day. Development and testing are already well underway, with the company having begun a series of test firings.

Northstar’s initial thrust will be 715,000 pounds, Limp said, compared with 640,000 pounds for the BE-4 currently powering New Glenn. The new design retains several technical features of its predecessor. Both engines use methane and liquid oxygen, an oxygen-rich staged combustion cycle and a turbopump architecture built around a single shaft.

Alongside the engine program, Blue Origin said it is developing a third stage called GS3 that uses hydrogen and oxygen. The stage is intended to provide additional propulsion for New Glenn. Together, the announced upgrades are aimed at expanding payload delivery capabilities while supporting the company’s longer-term plans for the rocket.

Northstar’s planned introduction on New Glenn will not end production of the BE-4. Limp said Blue Origin will keep manufacturing the existing engine for United Launch Alliance, whose Vulcan rocket uses two BE-4 engines for propulsion.