Blue Origin Works Towards Bringing New Glenn Back Online This Year

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Chapter 1: Industry Update Introduction

Falcon 9 got another four launches under its belt this week, while Blue Origin looks to ramp up its own launch rate with New Glenn. Meanwhile, Rocket Labs Neutron faces delays due to problems with carbon fiber. So, let’s take a look at what the launch industry is doing in this week’s Avid Space Industry update.

Chapter 2: SpaceX Launch Highlights

Standing in stark contrast with last week, which saw no Falcon 9 launches, the first of the four this week lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 East, carrying the Trench One layer A payload of 21 satellites into orbit aboard Falcon 9 booster 1103 on its sixth flight. After sending the satellites on their way into space, the booster performed its boost back burn and successfully touched down on landing zone 4. The Space Defense Agency satellites were built by Northrup Grumman and extend link 16 connections into space while also providing high bandwidth laser links for orbital communications. The second launch of the week, also out of Slick 4 East, was the Starlink Group 15-25 mission flying aboard booster 1088 on its 20th flight on the 12th. The mission brought another 27 Starlink satellites into orbit with the booster touching down on the Pacific Coast drone ship, Of Course, I Still Love You. The third launch this week and the first out of the space coast was the flight of SpaceX commercial resupply mission 35 on the 13th, lifting off from Space Launch Complex 40 on booster 1096. It was the booster’s eighth flight. After lofting the second stage and Dragon into space, the booster performed a boost back burn to return to the launch site, creating a spectacular jellyfish in the pre-dawn light before touching down on landing zone 40. The second stage carrying Cargo Dragon and its 2,868 kgs of cargo to the International Space Station successfully made orbit and separated for the spacecraft’s planned 30-day mission. Once it reached the station, the Dragon was stocked at the Harmony module’s Zenith Port. October 15th saw the fourth and final launch of this week, USSF481 with Falcon 9 booster 1081, launching several classified Star Shield satellites out of Space Launch Complex 4 East on the booster’s 28th flight. The booster completed a successful landing downrange on Of Course, I Still Love You. In wider industry news, Relativity.

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Chapter 3: Relativity Space Progress

Space released its monthly recap video highlighting their recent progress with developing and scaling the Terran R launch vehicle. On the first flight vehicle, the downcomer has been installed in the stage 1 tank and the primary aft dome hardware is complete. The avionics team has finished standing up the first 12 ground stations for tracking the vehicle in flight. Meanwhile, the vacuum engine team has completed the first autonomous laser welds on the nozzle extension. Integrated thrust structure testing has begun with gimbal mounts to validate for the 13 engines on the first stage. The A2 test stand at Stenis has been configured for Terran R’s second stage and deluge testing has been performed on the static fire stand. Following the deluge readiness, a stage 2 tank was lifted onto the stand and an AONV engine was installed. A test readiness review was also performed along with a wet dress rehearsal. A composite overwrap pressure vessel test cell has also been set up at Stenis. Over in Florida, the East Lightning Protection Tower has reached its final height, while the other towers take shape. Steel assembly has been completed on the east side of the launch table, while the pad complex now has its permanent 480 kilovolt electricity mains set up. On October 16th, Relativity performed the first second stage static fire test at Stenis. This is the first time an engine has been fired on this stand in 55 years. On October 11th, Perseverance set a new off-world distance record, clocking up 28.10 mi or 45.22 km on its odometer, beating the record set by the Opportunity rover.

Chapter 4: Lunar and Planetary Mission

Perseverance has been setting newer, longer driving records with its own onboard autonomous navigation software, accelerating the exploration of Mars. Voyager’s Griffin 1 has completed testing at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the lunar lander is almost ready to take its 10 payloads from six countries to the lunar south pole. The mission payloads include hardware from NASA, the European Space Agency, and commercial partners. The Griffin 1 mission is part of the commercial lunar payload services ordered by NASA to begin sending hardware to the moon. After completing testing, the Griffin lander made the journey back to Pittsburgh, making stops overnight in Columbus and Indianapolis before arriving at the facility where it was built for final preparations ahead of flight. NASA published a status update on the Artemis 3 mission, which is making major headway ahead of its expected launch in June 2027.

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Chapter 5: Artemis Program Updates

The space launch system’s solid rocket boosters have been stacked and the core stage’s systems tunnel, which contains stage separation pyrotechnic lines, is next to be installed. The core will then be added to the stack and the rocket will be taken to the launchpad for a wet dress rehearsal. The Orion spacecraft and European service module are also coming together as primary flight structures. Crew training also continues with the primary and backup crews, with the astronauts learning capsule escape procedures in the event of an emergency and how to use everything at their command, all the way down to their exercise equipment. The astronauts also visited Florida recently to check out the Orion spacecraft, as well as Blue Origin and SpaceX’s ongoing work to construct the landers they will rendezvous with in Earth orbit. Artemis 2 astronaut Christina Ko has been named acting deputy chief engineer at NASA following the retirement of Katherine Van Hooser, who headed the position for the past 35 years. In her new role, Christina Ko will support technical oversight and mission readiness in NASA programs. In this new management role, she will retire from the spaceflight mission roster. In great news for future Artemis missions, the Orion heat shield flown on Artemis 2 performed as planned for the capsule to reduce the heat loads on the shield. The changes worked, and the heat shield performed its job as designed with substantially reduced wear and tear. Firefly Aerospace revealed its Elytra orbiter, a new lunar orbiting satellite currently under construction to serve as a communications relay for the first planned American mission to land a rover on the far side of the moon.

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Chapter 6: Commercial Space Developments

Stoke Space’s Nova second stage departed the factory for the final time and headed to Moses Lake for cryoproof testing. If all goes well, the upper stage will be shipped down to their launch site at Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 14. Blue Origin continues its work to rebuild LC36, with the sixth and seventh tower modules being restacked after the launch tower was damaged during static fire testing. The company aims to have the launch complex back online and launching again by the end of the year. Dave Limp gave new details about the company’s plans in Florida, with $3 billion in new facilities and capabilities coming online in the near future to support a greatly expanded and accelerated launch rate.

Chapter 7: Blue Origin Scaling Plans

A new 1.3 million square foot facility is being built to construct the New Glenn’s 9x4 second stage, with production capacity for up to 150 second stages a year. A new encapsulation facility is also being built, supporting integration of up to four payloads in parallel with both 7x2 and 9x4 versions of New Glenn. The company is increasing its launch programmatic assessment from 12 to 50 launches a year out of LC36, and plans are underway to build a second pad at LC36, which would be LC36B, to support New Glenn 9x4. To handle the increased flight rate, two more landing platforms are being built for at-sea recovery.

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Chapter 8: Rocket Lab Neutron Status

Peter Beck, founder and CEO of Rocket Lab, released an update on the status of the Neutron rocket program. The innovative Neutron rocket uses large carbon fiber structures. A manufacturing defect was identified in the first stage’s upper dome. So, a modified production process was developed and found able to produce a suitable dome for the rocket. Voids have also been identified in the carbon fiber weave, and steps are being taken to make sure that the new components are as perfect and flight-ready as possible. The new design changes have delayed the first flight to no earlier than 2027.

Chapter 9: Final News and Closing

Rocketdyne has been selected to supply the propulsion systems for the Lazuli Observatory, the first-ever privately funded and philanthropic space science mission. The Lazuli Observatory is a space telescope with a 3-meter primary mirror designed to search for exoplanets in the visible to near-infrared spectrum. The telescope, funded by Schmidt Sciences, is expected to weigh 4,000 kg and will fly in a highly elliptical orbit. Rocketdyne will deliver a dozen thrusters to help the spacecraft maintain precision pointing and station keeping. Well, that’s going to do it for this week’s Avid Spaceflight Industry Update, but make sure you keep an eye out for our next Starship and Starbase update coming up in a few days. Thanks for watching, and we’ll see you next week.

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