NASA Spaceflight
• Chris Bergin
Four months after a New Glenn rocket exploded on the launch pad, Blue Origin says it remains on track to return the vehicle to flight before year-end. Attention is now on the reconstruction of Launch Complex 36 and whether work is nearing the halfway point, with roughly three months left in the year.
Blue Origin
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Four months after a New Glenn rocket exploded on the launch pad, Blue Origin says it remains on track to return the vehicle to flight before year-end. Attention is now on the reconstruction of Launch Complex 36 and whether work is nearing the halfway point, with roughly three months left in the year.
Blue Origin is set to develop a new manufacturing complex in central Texas, expanding its industrial footprint. Founder Jeff Bezos says the company could be a few years from going public, putting a potential IPO on a longer-term horizon rather than signaling an imminent listing.
Blue Origin is likely to pursue an initial public offering within the next several years, founder Jeff Bezos said, following the company’s first outside funding round, which raised billions of dollars. The comments signal a potential future shift in the ownership and financing of the space company.
A former NASA associate administrator for science is joining Blue Origin to lead the company’s advanced technology work. The appointment brings senior NASA science leadership experience into the space company as it develops and advances new technologies.
Blue Origin has unveiled a vertically deployed solar array system designed to provide more than 10 kilowatts of power for Moon Base operations at the lunar south pole. The company presented the 20-meter-tall “Power Tower” as a potential energy source for future lunar infrastructure.
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Blue Origin is seeking Federal Aviation Administration approval to conduct up to 50 New Glenn launches annually, alongside as many as 50 booster landings. The request would establish a substantially higher prospective operating cadence for the company’s heavy-lift launch vehicle.
Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said the company still aims to return its New Glenn rocket to flight before the end of the year, despite a May explosion at Cape Canaveral. Limp also said the company’s first outside funding round is oversubscribed and remains open.
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