The privately owned US aerospace company Blue Origin has completed the assembly of the new BE-4 rocket engine, the main system that will be used for orbital launches in the new launch vehicle. The event for the company itself, I must say, is very significant, since the development of the engine has been conducted since 2011. Jeff Bezos, executive director of Blue Origin, today shared a few photos of a fully assembled and ready-to-install engine. At the same time adding that a total of three similar instances of BE-4 were collected.
One of the photos shows how a case is put on the engine nozzle, which may indicate that they are going to be transported somewhere. Bezos did not specify where exactly they are going to be transported, but, most likely, we are talking about the company's test site, located in West Texas. Here are all the launch vehicles tested by the company. In addition, the test and launch of the New Shepard, a reusable launch vehicle that the company plans to use for space tourism, was also carried out here.
1st BE-4 engine fully assembled. 2nd and 3rd following close behind.
- Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos)
The new rocket, dubbed the "New Glenn", will be used immediately 7 BE-4 engines. Like New Shepard, New Glenn will be a reusable launch vehicle capable of landing back to earth after delivering payloads into orbit (similar to the Falcon 9 launch vehicle from SpaceX). However, an important difference between New Glenn and New Shepard is that it will be a heavy launch vehicle with enough power to bring very heavy loads, as well as more people into orbit.
Here's one more shot of BE-4 in its transport cradle.
- Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos)
The diameter of the rocket will be 7 meters, and the height will vary from 82 to 95 meters. Everything will depend on which of the two versions of the launch vehicle will need to be used in this or that case. One version will have only one additional stage, which will be separated from the rest of the rocket and put into orbit with the cargo. This stage will operate on the basis of only one BE-4 engine. Another version of the New Glenn rocket will be equipped with two additional steps. One of the steps will work on the base of the BE-4, the other one will be equipped with the BE-3 engine, which is its smaller version, which is currently used on the New Shepard launch vehicle.
The size of the New Glenn will be huge, especially compared to other launch vehicles. By size, the Bezos rocket will be superior to SpaceX rockets, including the United Launch Alliance launch vehicles. True, this is all just in dreams, as the “New Glenn” still exists only on paper. The launch vehicle will be assembled at one of the Blue Origin manufacturing plants, which is currently under construction at Cape Canaveral in Florida. Bezos promises that the launch of New Glenn will happen before the end of this decade.
However, it is not only New Glenn that can get BE-4 engines in the future. The United Launch Alliance (ULA) is also considering using these systems in its new Vulcan rocket under construction. She will come to replace the Atlas-5 carrier rocket, which has been under debate for the past few years. The US government does not like the fact that it uses Russian RD-180 rocket engines. After the notorious events in Ukraine, the US Congress signed a decree banning the use of Russian rocket engines for launching American military satellites.
Considering that the last decade ULA has been the main supplier of space launches for the US military, the company had to make concessions and begin the search for a replacement for Russian RD-180 engines. In the end, it was decided to create a completely new rocket, which will use a completely new type of engine developed by Blue Origin.
ULA hopes that the first launch of the Vulcan launch vehicle will be possible no later than 2019. The main goal of this launch will be to test a rocket powered by two BE-4 engines. However, if for some reason this plan fails, then the ULA has a fallback in the form of the new AR1 engine developed by Aerojet Rocketdyne. But at the moment, ULA Executive Director Tory Bruno seems very pleased with the success and progress of Blue Origin.
The article is based on materials .
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