Blue Origin, the space company founded by Jeff Bezos in the year 2000, suspended the launch of its first orbital coet, New Glenn, which had been scheduled to unload these hours at 1:00 am ET from Complejo de Lanzamiento 36 in Cabo Canaveral, FL. The cancellation was due to technical problems that engineers failed to resolve in time, after informing the company.
Ariane Cornell, Blue Origin’s vice president of space systems, explained during the live broadcast:
“We are suspending the intent of launching today to solve a problem in the vehicle subsystem”.
After the announcement, cargo crews proceed to unload the fuel from the container, a standard measure in these cases. However, Blue Origin did not provide specific details on the nature of the technical issues encountered during the cancellation.
Cornell added that there was no new date yet for another launch attempt:
“Let’s evaluate what steps we should take during this downtime, and this will help us decide when the next launch opportunity will be.”
A key step to compete in the orbital market
This launch was a major success for Blue Origin, which sought to position itself as a serious competitor in the global space launch market, currently dominated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Now, Blue Origin is known primarily by its suborbital space tourism visitors with its peer New Shepard. However, New Glenn represents a significant leap for more complex missions, such as carrying satellites and loading useful objects into orbit.
The canceled flight was planned as a non-tripulate test to demonstrate that New Glenn is capable of reaching Earth orbit. This success marked the beginning of a new stage for the company, allowing it to compete in high-value government and commercial contracts.
How is New Glenn
El New Glenn is a large complex, with a height of approximately 98 metres, equivalent to a 30-storey building. Your design includes several key parts:
- The first stage: a cohete propulsor that provides the initial pump for the despegue.
- The upper stage: located above the engine, it is designed to carry the charge in the space. On this mission, the payload bay houses experimental demonstration technology.
The New Glenn is the first companion developed by Blue Origin with the ability to carry satellites and spaceships into orbit, a key feature to compete with companies such as SpaceX and United Launch Alliance (ULA).
Objetivos del vuelo de prueba
The failed launch had several important purposes. First, Blue Origin sought to validate the design of contemporary New Glenn, which it has been working on for more than a decade. This technical excellence had a symbolic and operational logo for the company.
Another goal was to test technology intended for his proposed spaceship, known as the Blue Ring. This vehicle was designed to function as a “compartid travel” in space, carrying multiple satellites into different orbits.
Furthermore, one of the most notable successes for Blue Origin was the initiation of the process of certifying New Glenn for national security objectives. This step is crucial, as it allows the group to participate in US Department of Defense contracts, transporting military payloads into orbit.
In June 2024, Blue Origin was selected along with SpaceX and ULA to compete for national security contracts worth $5,600 million. To ensure its participation in these missions, the companion must go through rigorous certification checks for the government to evaluate its design and performance.
The challenge of competing with SpaceX
The launch cancellation highlights the challenges faced by Blue Origin as it tries to compete with SpaceX, which has dominated the space launch market for years thanks to its reusable Falcon 9 companion and its most recent development, the Starship.
While SpaceX carries out orbital launches on a regular basis, Blue Origin is still in the early stages of demonstrating the capabilities of its companion New Glenn. Despite this, the company has big ambitions and seeks to position itself as a key player in the space sector, both in the commercial and government sectors.
Starting today, Blue Origin will have to resolve the technical problems that affected New Glenn before it can resume launch attempts. Although this setback represents a return to its plans, the company remains committed to pursuing its long-term objectives.
With large contracts and a competitive market in play, the outcome of New Glenn will be critical in determining Blue Origin’s future in the aerospace industry.