{"id":17078,"date":"2025-11-20T22:44:26","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T14:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/blue-origin-supersizes-new-glenn-rocket-to-send-heavier-payloads-to-earth-orbit-and-beyond\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T22:44:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T14:44:26","slug":"blue-origin-supersizes-new-glenn-rocket-to-send-heavier-payloads-to-earth-orbit-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/blue-origin-supersizes-new-glenn-rocket-to-send-heavier-payloads-to-earth-orbit-and-beyond\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Origin supersizes New Glenn rocket to send heavier payloads to Earth orbit and beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An artist\u2019s conception shows Blue Origin\u2019s New Glenn rocket with nine BE-4 engines on its first stage. (Blue Origin Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just a week after a successful launch of its heavy-lift New Glenn rocket, Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture says it will make New Glenn even heavier.<\/p>\n

The new super-heavy-lift variant of Blue Origin\u2019s most powerful rocket, known as New Glenn 9\u00d74, will feature nine methane-fueled BE-4 engines on the first stage, up from seven; and four hydrogen-fueled BE-3U engines on the second stage, up from two. The 9\u00d74 rocket will also have a bigger fairing, or nose-cone section, measuring 8.7 meters (28.5 feet) wide, as opposed to 7 meters (23 feet) for the fairing currently in use.<\/p>\n

Kent, Wash.-based Blue Origin says it\u2019s working to enhance the performance of the rocket engines on both the New Glenn 9\u00d74 and the standard 7\u00d72 model. Other upgrades will include a reusable fairing, a lower-cost tank design and a higher-performing thermal protection system.<\/p>\n

The upgrades will be phased into upcoming New Glenn missions starting with the next launch, which is expected to occur early next year. \u201cThese enhancements will immediately benefit customers already manifested on New Glenn to fly to destinations including low Earth orbit, the moon and beyond,\u201d the company said today in an online update. <\/p>\n

Customers can choose between the variants for missions to low Earth orbit (including satellite launches for the Amazon Leo internet mega-constellation); to the moon and deep space (including next year\u2019s Blue Moon Mark 1 uncrewed lunar landing); and for national security missions such as the proposed Golden Dome missile defense system.<\/p>\n

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An infographic compares the sizes of New Glenn 7\u00d72 rocket (left) and the 9\u00d74 variant (right) with the Apollo-era Saturn V rocket at center. (Blue Origin Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Blue Origin said the 9\u00d74 model will be capable of carrying more than 70 metric tons to low Earth orbit (vs. 45 tons for the 7\u00d72), more than 14 tons to geosynchronous orbit, and more than 20 tons on a trip from Earth to the moon. That would make New Glenn 9\u00d74 more powerful than SpaceX\u2019s Falcon Heavy rocket (64 tons to LEO), but less powerful than SpaceX\u2019s Starship (100 to 150 tons to LEO).<\/p>\n

The enhancements appear likely to up the ante in Blue Origin\u2019s competition with SpaceX and United Launch Alliance. New Glenn has been launched only twice, as opposed to hundreds of launches for SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 and scores of launches for ULA\u2019s Atlas 5. But last week\u2019s successful launch of twin probes to Mars and the first-ever recovery of an orbital-class New Glenn booster have raised Blue Origin\u2019s profile in the launch industry.<\/p>\n

That booster, nicknamed \u201cNever Tell Me the Odds,\u201d flew itself back to a touchdown in the Atlantic Ocean atop Blue Origin\u2019s recovery barge, which was named Jacklyn in honor of Jeff Bezos\u2019 mother. This week the booster was brought back to port and transported to the company\u2019s processing facility at Cape Canaveral in Florida, with Bezos looking on.<\/p>\n

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