An artist’s interpretation of Blue Origin’s Glenn Stage 3 (GS3). Graphic: Blue Origin
Blue Origin is announced two big developments for its New Glenn rockets as the company continues to work towards its first flight following a late-May pad explosion.
During an invite-only event at the Kennedy Space Center called Up.Summit, Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp announced that the company has been developing a new third stage and a new first-stage engine.
This new upper stage, called Glenn Stage 3 (GS3) is designed for missions that require direct injection to geostationary orbit and Earth-escape trajectories. Blue Origin said it already has a government mission lined up for 2028 that will launch a payload to cis-lunar space, but didn’t elaborate further on that mission.
“Built on proven New Glenn hardware, GS3 expands performance without changing the customer payload experience,” Blue Origin said in a statement. “The stage can deliver up to 14 metric tons to GEO and 20 metric tons to TLI for the 9×4 vehicle, and up to 8 metric tons to GEO and 10 metric tons to TLI on the 7×2 vehicle.
“GS3 uses the same fixed payload adapters and payload fairing as the two-stage vehicle. Integrated within an interstage, it preserves the full fairing volume for customer payloads.”
The GS3 is powered by the company’s BE-7 engine, which is used on their Blue Moon Mark 1 and 2 lunar landers. Blue Origin said this new system won’t be required for their current plans to help deliver astronauts to the surface of the Moon, but said it could help in supporting “sustained operations around the Moon.”
“By delivering significant payload mass directly to trans-lunar injection (TLI), GS3 enables faster transit times while preserving propellant for on-orbit operations,” the company said.
Testing on this new upper stage is already underway out at Launch Site One in Texas. Blue Origin said it pressurized a liquid hydrogen tank for 2.5 hours at 100 percent of what it called Maximum Expected Operating Pressure (MEOP).
“The tank was also successfully pressurized to 150 percent of MEOP for 10 minutes,” Blue Origin said. “The GS3 tank is expected to be the first composite LH2 tank ever flown in space.”
Blue Origin also revealed a new first-stage engine, Northstar.
The engine is similar to the BE-4 in that it’s also fueled by a combination of liquified natural gas and liquid oxygen. However, Blue Origin said Northstar will be capable of producing 715,000 pounds of thrust, compared to 640,000 pounds of thrust on the BE-4.
“Moving from program approval to development testing in just 11 months, Northstar demonstrates Blue Origin’s ability to rapidly iterate and deliver advanced propulsion systems,” Blue Origin said. “The engine retains the proven liquefied natural gas-fueled, oxygen-rich staged combustion cycle and single-shaft turbopump architecture that have been foundational to Blue Origin’s propulsion development.”
Blue Origin said Northstart engines are able to be assembled in less than a day thanks to “manufacturing advancements” that have “significantly shortened production timelines.”
The company said the engine would be “joining BE-4,” but didn’t elaborate on a timeline. A person familiar with the development of Northstar said the engine will be compatible with the New Glenn 9×4 rockets. They added that the BE-4 engine will continue to play an important role for the company, including on its return to flight mission.
