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Jeff Bezos Unveils the Design of Blue Origin's Future Orbital Rocket -- New Glenn (theverge.com)
Earlier this year, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Blue Origin said he would unveil details about his company's orbital rocket sometime "later this year." He is now delivering on the promise. Bezos has released some preliminary details about the "New Glenn" rocket which employs seven of the company's new generation BE-4 rocket engines. The rocket, named after the first American to reach orbit, is bigger than Elon Musk's Falcon Heavy rocket. Bezos said he intends to launch the New Glenn in less than a decade from now. The Verge reports: The New Glenn will incorporate reusability, according to an email update from Bezos. The first stage of the rocket will be able to land post-launch, similar to how Blue Origin's New Shepard vehicle lands after a flight. However, the New Shepard is only capable of going to sub-orbital space, so it's not traveling as fast or as high as a rocket going to orbit. Landing an orbital rocket post-launch will put Blue Origin in a whole new ball game. And it looks like there will be a lot of rocket to land. The New Glenn will be 23 feet in diameter and range between 270 and 313 feet high. That height depends on if there is one upper stage or two on top of the rocket. With just one upper stage, the rocket will be able to send satellites and people into lower Earth orbit (LEO). But with two upper stages, the New Glenn is capable of taking payloads beyond LEO. The main portion of the rocket will be powered by seven BE-4s, an engine that Blue Origin is currently developing. It's the same engine that the company hopes to sell to the United Launch Alliance to power the future Vulcan rocket. Combined, the BE-4s should provide 3.85 million pounds of thrust, according to Bezos. That's more thrust than the 2 million pounds the Delta IV Heavy is capable of, and slightly less than the 5 million pounds SpaceX's Falcon Heavy can pull off.Bezos said: Our vision is millions of people living and working in space, and New Glenn is a very important step. It won't be the last of course. Up next on our drawing board: New Armstrong. But that's a story for the future.
This will make spaceX obsolete.
I'm curious if this rocket will produce a bigger fireball than Musk's did when it blows up on the pad after being rushed into service to try to turn a profit?
This is a more realistic goal: a reusable orbital rocket to be launched around 10 years from now.
BOOM!
Race to the bottom ... of the sea!
Neither.
I think those billionaires should go balls to the walls competing and boosting their egos and blowing billions. This will create the new technology, the new industry and eventually we little people will benefit.
Precedent: railroad, auto, aircraft, computing industries. Some made bigger fortunes and others went bust. But in the end, society ended up better. So, we should egg them on.
The rocket, named after the first American to reach orbit, is bigger than Elon Musk's Falcon Heavy rocket ... Combined, the BE-4s should provide 3.85 million pounds of thrust, according to Bezos. That's ... slightly less than the 5 million pounds SpaceX's Falcon Heavy can pull off.
Wait, so the rocket will be bigger, with less thrust? That doesn't sound like an improvement to me. Or do they just mean taller (there are diagrams in the article), but it will somehow manage to have lower mass and so get a better thrust to weight ratio?
A recursive sig
Can impart wisdom and truth
Call proc signature()
While I like John Glenn as much as anybody... well, actually, no. I clearly don't like John Glenn as much as Jeff Bezos, because I would never name a space rocket "New Glenn". It sounds like somebody's 50-something never-married uncle trying to rebrand himself before he goes clubbing.
Named after the first American put into orbit, but only reaches suborbit?
SpaceX is da best!
Verge math: A number that is 77% of the larger number is described as "slightly less".
An unanimous Security Council resolution against Jeff Bezos and all his companies would be a nice thing. I'm tired of hearing of Amazon this and Amazon that, sanctioning the hell out of them would level the play field a bit. This rocket looks like a big ass ICBM if you ask me. I'm puzzled that individuals may develop ICBM capabilities these days. Is he going to plead 2nd Amendment?
Listen carefully, and you can hear faint, Austrian-tinged laughter.
Two A-Types, boasting about how their 'missle' is bigger. Not that the US and USSR didn't do it first.
Rushed into service 10 years from now?
The subheading says "He says it will fly before the end of the decade". That's four years from now, not ten.
Rockets blow up, cars crash, trains derail and we learn a little bit more every time it happens. Even the ULA's long stretch of mishap free launches is going to have a new risk when they are forced to do what Blue Origin and SpaceX have been proactively doing, develop new engines. Commercial space launches are the present and the future in the US.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
Given how Amazon treats it's workers, I don't think I'd like to see his version of this vision come true.
Wow, talk about being a total mouthpiece for Bezos. F9H will be likely flying within the year, and BFR/MCT likely will launch in the same time frame as New Glenn.