Jeff Bezos’ house firm Blue Origin is making ready for a second launch of its New Glenn mega-rocket in “late spring,” the corporate announced Monday. The corporate additionally believes it has decided why the booster stage failed throughout an tried touchdown on an ocean platform in the course of the inaugural flight in January.
Blue Origin mentioned it has recognized “seven corrective actions” in the course of the assessment of the booster failure, which was mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration. These primarily focus round “propellant administration and engine bleed management enhancements.” The corporate mentioned it has submitted all this data to the FAA.
New Glenn is Blue Origin’s first rocket that may get into orbit across the Earth. The corporate additionally hopes to make use of it to go additional into house. Proving out these capabilities — and displaying that the rocket can carry out repeatedly — are key to placing Blue Origin ready to compete towards Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which presently dominates the launch market.
The 320-foot rocket has been in improvement for years and confronted quite a few delays. Blue Origin lastly received to check it out in January. The rocket’s second stage efficiently made it into orbit, however three of the booster’s engines didn’t correctly rekindle because it got here again to Earth, the corporate mentioned Monday. Blue Origin mentioned it can try one other booster touchdown throughout New Glenn’s second take a look at flight.