New Glenn

Quick Facts About New Glenn.

- Type: Partially reusable orbital launcher.

- Origin : United states.

- Manufacturer: Blue Origin.

- In service : Currently planned for late 2022.

- Length/Height : 98 m (322 ft).

- Diameter : 7 m (23 ft).

- Payload to LEO : 45,000 kg (99,000 lb).

- Payload to GTO : 13,600 kg (30,000 lb).

- Propellant: First stage: CH4 / LOX. Second stage : LH2 / LOX .

- Engines: First stage: 7 × BE-4 engines with thrust of 17.1 MN (3,850,000 lbf). Second stage : 2 × BE-3U engines with thrust of 1,400 kN (320,000 lbf).

The New Glenn is a 7 m (23 ft) in diameter two-stage orbital launch vehicle with a reusable first stage and an expendable second stage. An optional third stage was envisaged with a single BE-3U engine, and was planned as of October 2018.

The first stage is designed to be reusable for a minimum of 25 flights, and will land vertically, a technology previously developed by Blue Origin and tested in 2015–2016 on its New Shepard suborbital launch vehicle. The second stage will share the same diameter as the first and use two BE-3U vacuum optimized engines. It will use hydrogen/oxygen as propellant and will be expendable. This engine is manufactured by Blue Origin. The company has revealed the planned full operational payload capacity of the two-stage version of New Glenn as 13,000 kg (29,000 lb) to GTO and 45,000 kg (99,000 lb) to a 51.6° inclined LEO, though the initial operating capability may be somewhat lower. Dual-satellite launches will be offered after the first five flights.

Both stages will use orthogrid aluminum tanks with welded aluminum domes and common bulkheads. Both stages will also use autogenous pressurization.[35] The first stage will be powered by seven BE-4 methane/oxygen engines — designed and manufactured by Blue Origin — producing 17,000 kN (3,800,000 lbf) of liftoff thrust.[2] The second stage will be powered by two BE-3U engines, also designed and manufactured by Blue Origin. BE-3Us are an expander cycle variant of the BE-3 engine, which are explicitly designed for use in upper stages. Preliminary design numbers from 2015 projected the BE-3U to have a vacuum thrust of 670 kN (150,000 lbf).

Launches of the New Glenn are planned to be made from Launch Complex 36 (LC-36), which was leased to Blue Origin in 2015. A launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base is also planned.New Glenn will also be available for space tourism flights, with priority given to customers of New Shepard. The first stage boosters of New Glenn are intended to be reusable, and will be recovered downrange on the Atlantic Ocean via the Blue Origin landing platform ship acting as a floating movable landing platform. The hydrodynamically-stabilized ship increases the likelihood of successful recovery in rough seas.