On December 27, Blue Origin performed static tests of its New Glenn rocket. Now they are preparing for its first space launch.
Testing of engines before first launch
Blue Origin says it is ready for the first launch of its New Glenn rocket after completing static testing on December 27, hours after receiving its launch license.
The seven BE-4 engines on New Glenn’s first stage caught fire shortly before 8 p.m. Eastern at Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Space Center in Florida. The engines ran for 24 seconds, Blue Origin said in a statement, including 13 seconds at 100 percent thrust.
The static fire test was the culmination of a test campaign that included loading propellant into both stages of the launch vehicle and a practice countdown. To outside observers, it appeared that the company prepared to start the engines several times throughout the day, but never did. The company did not provide details on the day’s testing, nor on a similar test on December 21, which also did not end in static fire.
The company said the test campaign demonstrated the rocket’s performance “on launch day” and verified the rocket and ground systems before the actual launch attempt. “The campaign met all goals and marks the last major test before launch,” the company said.
Company license and statements of officials
The test took place hours after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration granted Blue Origin a license to launch New Glenn. The license allows the company to launch New Glenn from Cape Canaveral, albeit with few details about specific trajectories or other conditions for such launches.
“By working closely with Blue Origin, the FAA issued this new launch license well in advance of the statutory deadline for the historic maiden flight of New Glenn,” Kelvin Coleman, FAA’s associate administrator for commercial space transportation, said in a December 27 statement.
Having received the license and completed static firing tests, Blue Origin appears ready to proceed with the inaugural launch of New Glenn as early as early January. “Well, all we have left to do is mate our encapsulated payload…and then LAUNCH!” stated Dave Limp, CEO of Blue Origin, in a social media post.
New Glenn rocket payload
For the static fire tests, Blue Origin said it used “production test demonstration fairings” and a payload mass simulator. They will be replaced with flight versions of the payload fairings and a small payload, the Blue Ring Pathfinder technology demonstrator for the Blue Ring Orbital Transport Vehicle. This payload will remain attached to the booster during the mission.
The company has not disclosed a launch date for the first flight, called NG-1. However, there is one recommendation for airspace for launch from New Glenn Space Center on January 6 between 1 a.m. and 4:45 a.m. Eastern, with a backup at the same time the next day.
Blue Origin had hoped to carry out New Glenn’s first launch in 2024 and kept to that schedule until December, when it revealed details regarding the Blue Ring Pathfinder payload. The cargo was to replace ESCAPADE, NASA’s Mars exploration mission that was supposed to launch on the first New Glenn, but was delayed in September when NASA concluded that the rocket would not be ready for launch before the mission’s launch window closed in mid-October.
According to spacenews.com
