Blue Origin To Launch Big Rockets From Canaveral's Rechristened Complex 36

As reported by The Verge, Jeff Bezos's space venture Blue Origin today unveiled its new facility at Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 36. Complex 36 was once the launching point for NASA and USAF Atlas rockets, as well as for NASA's Mariner missions. "Now," says the article, "after a decade of inactivity, the complex will be revamped and renamed Exploration Park. ... Bezos said the company hopes to launch people from Exploration Park later this decade. He also announced plans to build a new orbital rocket at the facility, which he noted will use the company's upcoming BE-4 engine." (More coverage of the Blue Origin opening at the L.A. Times and Wired.)

Comments

Interesting times in the launch market

[werepants]

Aerojet-Rocketdyne just offered to buy ULA. ULA was planning on using Blue Origin's BE-4 engine for their upcoming Vulcan rocket, but if the AR purchase goes through there's no way the Vulcan will use anything but AR engines. Or maybe they'll just re-engine Atlas V with an AR replacement for the Russian RD-180 engine.

So I'm reading this as Bezos deciding that if ULA goes to AR, he's going to build his own BE-4 based rocket, with blackjack and hookers. If that pans out, we could have a pretty competitive landscape - BO vs SpaceX vs ULA/AR.

The question is if the launch market can support that many competitors, or if new customers will start to emerge. Historically we've only seen a market for a dozen or so yearly launches for this class of rocket, and if prices stay the same I don't imagine that will change much. We can root for a pricewar between Musk and Bezos which would expand the market, but that's a pretty rough prospect for ULA which does things the old, expensive way, and actually needs to turn a profit since there isn't a billionaire waiting in the wings to write them checks as needed.