PARIS — Jeff Bezos announced Sept. 1 that Blue Origin is developing a family of orbital rockets it’s calling New Glenn.
Both the two-stage and three-stage versions of the rocket would stand taller than the United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy and SpaceX Falcon Heavy, according to the infographic the Blue Origin and Amazon.com founder tweeted.
Both New Glenn 2 and New Glenn 3 would be powered by a cluster of seven liquid-natural-gas-fueled BE-4 engines of the sort the Kent, Washington-based company is currently developing for United Launch Alliance’s planned Vulcan semi-reusable rocket.
“Building, flying, landing, and re-flying New Shepard has taught us so much about how to design for practical, operable reusability,” Bezos wrote in a Sept. 12 email. “And New Glenn incorporates all of those learnings.”
“Named in honor of John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, New Glenn is 23 feet in diameter and lifts off with 3.85 million pounds of thrust from seven BE-4 engines. Burning liquefied natural gas and liquid oxygen, these are the same BE-4 engines that will power United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan rocket.
Read More:
http://www.isn-news.net/2016/09/blue-origin-to-follow-suborbital-new.html
