Blue Origin has confirmed its New Glenn rocket is on track for launch before the end of 2024.
The company made the announcement alongside confirmation that the Blue Ring payload – which replaced the initially manifested NASA ESCAPADE mission to Mars earlier this year – was ready to launch.
The plan is that New Glenn’s first mission, NG-1, will lift off from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, although the company did not give a launch date. On December 8, boss Dave Limp said that Blue Origin was waiting for regulatory approval for its hotfire and launch.
Time is getting short, with mere weeks remaining before 2025 arrives and Blue Origin misses another deadline. It was originally supposed to launch NASA’s ESCAPADE mission in October, but as the date neared, the US space agency blinked and opted to shift the mission to 2025.
At the time, Blue Origin said it was supportive of NASA’s decision and claimed it would move the second flight of the New Glenn, “originally scheduled for December, into November.”
It is now well into December, and Blue Origin has yet to launch one New Glenn, let alone get a second one on the pad.
Along with carrying the Blue Ring payload, the mission will also serve as the rocket’s first National Security Space Launch certification flight, essential for future lucrative national security missions.
The Blue Ring demonstrator includes a communications array, power systems, and a flight computer affixed to a secondary payload adapter ring. While the eventual plan for Blue Ring is to be able to host and deploy payloads and maneuver to multiple orbits and locations, the pathfinder will remain onboard New Glenn’s second stage for the duration of the planned six-hour mission.
Blue Origin currently flies the New Shepard rocket, which can send a capsule on a sub-orbital trajectory, with all vehicle components reusable. The company was the first to land a Vertical Takeoff and Vertical Landing (VTVL) rocket before being trumped by SpaceX with a landing of the first stage of the orbital Falcon 9.
SpaceX has since launched Falcon 9s at an increasing pace, while Blue Origin’s orbital rocket, the New Glenn, has yet to leave the pad. ®
