Blue Origin is an American private aerospace company founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos. It develops reusable suborbital and orbital rockets and has around 1000 employees. They focus on creating cost effective and reliable rockets that can be reused. Their moto is Gradatim Ferociter, which means step by step, ferociously.
Headquarters: Kent, Washington.
Launch/Test sites: Culberson County, Texas.
New Shepard: The New Shepard rocket is an American, reusable, suborbital rocket developed and manufactured by Blue Origin. The name was picked in reference to the first American astronaut in space, Alan Shepard. Blue Origin started developing the rocket in 2006, and completed it on 2015. It has had 8 launches and 7 landings, the first launch being on 29 April 2015. The first stage uses one BE-3 engine that produces 490 kN (110,000 lbf) of thrust. It uses LH2 (liquid hydrogen) and LOX (liquid oxygen) and burns for 110 seconds before separating with the capsule and then landing vertically at 5 kmh. The capsule can be sent to the Kárman Line and carry passengers that will experience microgravity for some minutes, or it can carry research.
Height: 18 m
Diameter: m
Stages: 1 (and Capsule)
First Launch: April 29 2015
Launches: 12
Successes: 12
Landings: 11
Partial Failures: 0
Failures: 0
Success Rate: 100%
Launch Cost:
Reusability: 100%
First Stage Soft Landings: 9/10
First Stage
Engine: BE-3
Engine Number: 1
Thrust (Sea Level): 490 kN (110,000 lbf)
Burn Time: 110 s
Fuel: LH2 (liquid hydrogen) and LOX (liquid oxygen)
New Glenn: New Glenn is an American, orbital, reusable rocket in development by Blue Origin. They began developing the rocket in 2012 and it is expected to launch on 2020. It has 2 or 3 stages and can deliver up to 45,000 kg (99,000 lb) to LEO and 13,000 kg (29,000 lb) to GTO. The rocket measures 7 meters in diameter on all of the three stages. The first stage has 7 BE-4 engines that produce 17.1 MN (3,850,000 lbf) of thrust. This engines use CH4 (liquid methane) and LOX (liquid oxygen). The second stage uses one BE-4U engines that burns LH2 (liquid hydrogen) and LOX (liquid oxygen). There is an optional third stage that has 1 BE-3U engine that produces 490 kN (110,000 lbf) and also burns LH2 (liquid hydrogen) and LOX (liquid oxygen). It is expected to be reusable.
Height: 82 m
Diameter: 7 m
Stages: 2
LEO: 45,000 kg (99,000 lb)
GTO: 13,000 kg (29,000 Ib)
First Launch: 2020 planned
Reusability: Partial (1st Stage)
First Stage
Engine: BE-4
Engine Number: 7
Diameter: 7 m
Thrust (Sea Level): 17.1 MN (3,850,000 lbf)
Fuel: Methane/LOX (liquid oxygen)
Second Stage
Engine: BE-3U
Engine Number: 2
Thrust (vacuum): 980 kN (220,000 lbf)
Fuel: LH2 (liquid hydrogen)/LOX (liquid oxygen)
BE-3: This is an engine developed and manufactured by Blue Origin. This engine is being in use on the New Shepard rocket and it is being considered for use on ULA´s Vulcan rocket´s second stage. It burns LH2 (liquid hydrogen) and LOX (liquid oxygen) and produces 490 kN (110,000 lbf). The BE-3 uses a pump-fed engine design, with a combustion tap-off cycle to take a small amount of combustion gases from the main combustion chamber in order to power the engine turbopumps.
BE-4: This is an engine in development by Blue Origin. It has been designed to produce 2,400 kN (550,000 lbf) of thrust at sea level. This engine is expected to be used on the New Glenn rocket and maybe ULA´s Vulcan rocket. It began developing on 2011 and the production of this engine will occur in Huntsville Alabama.. The BE-4 engine burns CH4 (liquid methane) and LOX (liquid oxygen). It is specially designed for reusability,
