"No time to waste": Bezos prepares New Glenn launch, trying to get ahead of Musk

Rocket New Glenn is already installed on the launch pad and awaiting its final burn before launch. The key feature of the mission is the use of a first stage that has already been used in spaceflight. This is only the second flight for New Glenn, but Blue Origin is already demonstrating an ambitious, "no time to waste" pace of stage reuse.

If all goes according to plan, the interval between the first landing and the reuse of the booster will be just five months. By comparison, SpaceX took over 13 months. This approach underscores Blue Origin's commitment to speeding up the rocket development cycle and reducing launch costs, taking another step in the competition with Elon Musk and his company.

New Glenn's launch is scheduled for April 17. If successful, the space turtle, Blue Origin's mascot, will prove it can not only crawl slowly but also accelerate at breakneck speed.

American media:

Jeff Bezos is betting on innovation and speed to strengthen Blue Origin's position in the space launch market.

On board the New Glenn rocket is one of the large AST SpaceMobile Block 2 BlueBird satellites for global satellite communications (satellite internet project).

For reference: New Glenn is a two-stage rocket approximately 98 meters tall. The first stage is equipped with seven BE-4 engines (methane and oxygen), and the second stage with two BE-3U engines (hydrogen-oxygen). It has a reusable payload capacity of up to 45 tons to low-Earth orbit (LEO) and approximately 13 tons to geostationary transfer orbit.

Comments

[Infinity]

Well, it's still a long way from Musk's SpaceX. Last year, the Falcon 9 had 165 accident-free launches (by comparison, China had 90, and we had 17), 74% of which were Starlink launches, of which there are already more than 10 in orbit. Blue Origin is still forced to purchase launches for its Starlink counterpart, Amazon Leo (formerly Kuiper), from SpaceX and ULA.
On the other hand, Blue Origin could at least provide reasonable competition to SpaceX. ULA (the same company that bought RD-180 rockets from us until 2022) barely qualifies for that role, with just 10-15 launches per year and no hope of growth. Even taking into account their new Vulcan launch vehicle and the SLS, the world's most powerful and super-heavy rocket currently in operation (which recently launched Artemis-2 to the Moon with four astronauts).

[Intelligence]

Quote: Infinity

Well, he's still a long way from Musk's SpaceX.

That's all true, but the situation is curious. Let's watch this race.
At first glance, New Glenn even outperforms Musk's Falcon 9 in several respects. Bezos is trying to squeeze right into the weight class between the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. 45 tons to LEO is a heavy lift, not a mid-range one. Plus, a 7-meter GVL is a lucrative proposition for the customer.
Besides, the "nine" is still a kerosene stove, albeit a perfected one. But you can't get rid of the soot. Methane is the future.
Where Musk currently excels is reliability. The Falcon 9's rocket booster is already bordering on the impossible, and its booster has been used 30 times. New Glenn, if I'm not mistaken, was originally designed for 25 launches. But maintenance will clearly be more expensive, as the launch vehicle is huge—7 meters in diameter versus 3,7 meters for the Falcon.
Finally, Musk has a killer ace up his sleeve: Starship. If it can build a couple of fully-fledged orbitals, followed by in-orbit refueling, it will obliterate any competitor. And then New Glenn could become obsolete even before its first scheduled flight.

[Proxima]

You can't help but envy the Americans. The New Glenn is practically a superheavyweight! It lacks five tons of payload to be called that. Third in terms of carrying capacity Of the world's modern missiles. Let me remind you that the first and second ones were also American. Wow.

[Magog_]

Americans are no strangers to performing miracles. What wouldn't you claim to attract sponsors and clients?!

What speed does the second stage reach when it enters Earth orbit? That's right, the first cosmic velocity. In Mach, this is expressed by a number of at least 25.0. This stage must then decelerate to the speed of a "soft landing" on the Earth's surface. How? By prolonged braking with engines, which require a reserve of fuel, which must remain in the first stage's tanks. This means that the entire system, along with the "payload," must reach orbital velocity. Clearly, this is possible in "American space," but unlikely in real space. So, braking in the atmosphere with hypersonic speed... The same problems as with the shuttles and the reusable Dragans and Orions.

VO is gradually becoming a collection of "wonders of the world", stories from "A Thousand and One Nights", so-called "science fiction", etc. Evgeniya "drowns" in her repertoire!

[astepanov]

Quote: Magog_

Americans are no strangers to performing miracles. What wouldn't you claim to attract sponsors and clients?!

Well, that's right. And anyway, the Earth is flat, and the grapes are sour. And no one has or ever had any satellites—only our Orthodox ones, painted like Gzhel and sprinkled with holy water, fly by God's grace. Well, maybe the Chinese ones, too, but very low and quiet. And even then, they launch them on our Orthodox kerosene.

[Magog_]

You responded to an empty space, or rather, to my comment, which was deleted for an unknown reason... Your opus is completely empty verbiage!

[Magog_]

Here he is again! My prayers have been answered...

[Commissar Kitten]

It's not a rake, but a huge stroke of luck that there's an atmosphere to brake against. Engineers are happy to exploit this, and bad dancers will complain about the circumstances, as always.

[Magog_]

It's a great luck that there is an atmosphere and you can brake against it

It's possible to decelerate from orbital speeds (i.e., from the highest level of hypersonic speeds!). Can the Americans and Chinese really do this relatively safely? That's the question. Don't pretend you don't understand what I'm talking about!

[opuonmed]

There is no time to swing

Who has time to warm up? No one.

[Commissar Kitten]

At the boat rockers.

[Uncle Sam_2]

taking a new step in the competitive struggle with Elon Musk and his company.

"Let's hear from the head of the transport department!" And what can Comrade Bezos offer us?
"Flying around Mars?" also without using the toilet? Or are there better ideas than Musk's?

[Alexander Elizarov]

"No time to waste": Bezos prepares New Glenn launch, trying to get ahead of Musk

I admire the ability of talented people to create a high-quality product in a short period of time, often from scratch. The greatness of the United States (you can hate it, of course, that's your choice) is built precisely on its ability to create comfortable working conditions for talented people in any field of science, technology, or medicine. In our country, such people would already be jailed or their businesses nationalized by the prosecutor's office.

[Zoldat_A]

Quote: Alexander Elizarov

In our country, such people would have already been jailed.

Why should they be imprisoned?
If he didn't shoot his partners or competitors in the 90s, he won't be sewing mittens in Birobidzhan.
Or do we have such a totalitarian Mordor that any talented person is immediately sent to prison?
Maybe it's not about talent?

And anyway, here, for example, the "talented economist from Glasgow" couldn't find work, no matter where the party sent him. And look, they didn't jail him! And how many of them are there in the Baltics, who are always trying to clear the taiga? And they're all talented, each in their own way—some are chess players, some economists, some artists... And, mind you, none of them are in jail.

Comfortable conditions are determined only by the needs of a specific person and the ability (or desire) of the employer to satisfy them.
Some people need a laboratory, a can of instant coffee, and a sofa from the furniture market to work, while others can't work without a red Jaguar under their laboratory window and a cottage in an elite community. However, experience shows that the former are more useful—they think more about work.

[Commissar Kitten]

Quote: Zoldat_A

However, as practice shows, the former are more useful - they think more about work.

And the Jaguar is parked under the manager’s windows (who is someone’s son, hired by someone he knows).

[Zoldat_A]

Quote: Commissar Kitten

Quote: Zoldat_A

However, as practice shows, the former are more useful - they think more about work.

And the Jaguar is parked under the manager’s windows (who is someone’s son, hired by someone he knows).

Well, how could we avoid it? Someone is bound to profit from any talent. "How could you not help your loved one?" (c) Wherever there's potential, wherever the money is, someone is always trying to push someone else. And the more democracy there is, the more of these "hang-ons" with their "Jaguars." This, too, is entirely from practical experience.

[Good Evil]

And if the Jaguar had been parked under the window of a talent, not a clinger, would the talent have performed worse as a result? Or would that have been unfair?

[Zoldat_A]

Quote: Good evil

But if the Jaguar had been standing under the window of a talent, not a remora, would the talent have worked worse as a result?

Talent couldn't have worked worse.
As I said earlier, life shows that some people have talent, while others have "Jaguars." And it's not that "talent must be hungry." It's just that people are interested in different things—someone cares about their business and couldn't care less about "Jaguars," while others care about "Jaguars," and their business, as a rule, isn't very good.

I don't know what it is about Jaguar and talent that ALMOST NEVER go hand in hand. It just happens that way...
Maybe thinking about the Jaguars takes up too much time, leaving no time for creativity?

When I was about 10 years old, I read "The Portrait" by N.V. Gogol.
Back then, I didn't really understand anything; I simply accepted it descriptively. But now I have some life experience and have been convinced countless times that one's brain is either occupied with an idea or with gold. And Nikolai Vasilyevich, as always, is right.

[Podvodnik]

Why should they be jailed?

If there is a man, an article will be found.
Sergei Pavlovich did serve time, didn't he? He did. And how he did! Luckily, he survived until they took him away to the sharashka. And he wasn't the only one, by the way.
And in our case, we have HIS rocket, which we still use to fly into space. So many years have passed...

[Zoldat_A]

Quote: Podvodnik

And in our case, we have HIS rocket, which we still use to fly into space. So many years have passed...

In a way, I can consider myself complicit—under different circumstances, admittedly—I also returned from the army with a broken jaw. They didn't beat me in the basements. The NKVD didn't torture me, and they weren't our kind anyway—but, like Velikiy Korolev, with a broken jaw... It's nice to touch the Great...

[amr]

Quote: Intelligence

That's all true, but the situation is curious. Let's watch this race.

This is a standard situation, where the invisible hand of the market itself will determine the winner and put everyone in their place; in fact, it's a standard operating model. Monopoly/Competition is when one person rules everything, but to ensure the system works and healthy competition and development occurs within, such competitions are artificially staged. This is both a safeguard against putting all your eggs in one basket and the conditions for development and competition, but still, it's mostly artificial. Standard examples are Republicans and Democrats! Snickers and Mars, BMW and Mercedes, Boeing and Airbus... this is only being considered on a global scale; globalization is already that big!