Blue Origin has announced plans to carry out a series of upgrades to its New Glenn rocket. These upgrades will increase its payload capacity to levels comparable to those of the SLS rocket.
The New Glenn rocket consists of two stages, one of which is reusable. In its current configuration, it is capable of delivering up to 45 tons of cargo to low orbit and up to 14 tons of cargo to geostationary transfer orbit. So far, New Glenn has had two successful orbital launches. During the second mission, engineers managed to land its first stage.
Blue Origin has no intention to rest at this point and plans to make a series of changes to the rocket’s design aimed at increasing payload and launch frequency, as well as improving reliability. The changes will affect the engines, avionics, and reusability and will be gradually implemented in upcoming New Glenn missions, starting with the next flight.
One of the key improvements will be fuel supercooling, which will increase engine performance. The total thrust of the seven BE-4 methane engines in the first stage will increase from 17,219 kN to 19,928 kN. During testing, the BE-4 has already demonstrated a thrust of 2,780 kN, and this figure is planned to be increased to 2,847 kN. In turn, the total thrust of the two BE-3U engines on the second stage of New Glenn will increase from the initial 1,423 kN to 1,779 kN.
Additional improvements to the rocket include a reusable fairing, an updated tank design with lower costs, and a more efficient thermal protection system on the first stage, which will reduce preparation time for re-launch.
The next step in the New Glenn roadmap is a new super-heavy-lift rocket. Named after the number of engines on each stage, New Glenn 9×4 is designed for missions that need extra power and performance. It will be capable of delivering more than 70 tons to low Earth orbit, more than 14 tons directly to geostationary orbit, and more than 20 tons to a lunar trajectory. In addition, the 9×4 rocket will be equipped with a larger fairing 8.7 meters long. Thus, in terms of its characteristics, it will be similar to the SLS rocket, which is supposed to send American astronauts to the Moon.
New Glenn expects that a more powerful version of New Glenn will be used in lunar missions, deep space exploration projects, and the deployment of mega-satellite constellations.
According to Blue Origin
