Blue Origin is due to launch its large New Glenn rocket for the first time on Monday, an inaugural flight that looks like a turning point for the company founded by American billionaire Jeff Bezos, and potentially the private space industry.
After years of design and multiple postponements, this 98 meter high rocket, the size of a building of approximately 30 floors, must launch into the sky.
At Cape Canaveral Space Station in Florida, the three-hour launch window will open at 1 a.m. Another is planned for Tuesday at the same time, in case weather conditions require a postponement.
The goal is clear: “Reach orbit. Anything beyond that is a bonus,” said David Limp, CEO of Blue Origin.
If the company of the founder of Amazon has already been taking tourists for a few minutes into space for years thanks to its smaller New Shepard rocket, it has so far not carried out any flight into orbit.
With New Glenn, Blue Origin aims to catch up with its great rival SpaceX, which belongs to another American billionaire, Elon Musk.
AFP
The Tesla boss’s company has dominated the commercial space market for years with its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, and is now developing the largest rocket ever created: Starship.
Coincidence or not with the calendar, SpaceX intends to conduct the seventh test flight of its megarocket later this week.
“Having a choice”
With New Glenn, which is a “heavy launcher”, Blue Origin intends to compete with SpaceX on its field: the launch of commercial and military satellites into orbit, but also ships and astronauts.
Its rocket must be able to carry up to 45 tonnes into low orbit. This is more than double that of Falcon 9, but less than Falcon Heavy (63.8 tonnes).
“It’s a good thing to have competition, to have choice,” insists George Nield, president of a company promoting private space activities.
AFP
“This is very important for the commercial space industry, but also for the government and NASA”, because it not only lowers costs, but also offers a plan B “in the event of a problem with a device” , he said.
Proof of this is that Blue Origin has already signed contracts with several clients, including the American space agency for an unmanned mission to Mars, and the American government for national security missions.
On the commercial side, it plans to deploy internet satellites for several companies.
AFP
It should also, like SpaceX with Starlink, be responsible for launching satellites from the Amazon group. Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, the two richest men in the world, are also fighting in the field of satellite internet.
“Much lower price”
The similarities between the two private space giants do not stop there. Like the Falcon 9, New Glenn is designed to be partly reusable.
During this inaugural mission, which should last approximately six hours, Blue Origin intends to try to recover the first stage of its rocket. It’s “ambitious,” admitted the CEO on X, “but we’re going to try it. Either way, we will learn a lot.
The company has already managed to land its New Shepard rocket in Texas. But this time, it intends to attempt a controlled landing on a barge at sea, a maneuver similar to that achieved by SpaceX with its Falcon 9 rocket.
“It’s an extremely complicated process,” Elliott Bryner, professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, told AFP.
But while the race for the privatization and militarization of space is in full swing, this process which allows “reuse of large parts of rockets” is crucial, because it allows both “to offer access to space at a much lower price” and to accelerate the pace of launches, he points out.
If other flights are expected during 2025, George Nield nevertheless calls for patience: “We must remember that going into space is difficult, especially during the first launches,” he insists. “That’s when you see things you didn’t expect, so let’s wait and see how it goes.”
