It has been a big week for Blue Origin, first with the second launch of New Glenn, the successful landing of the first stage. As they were moving the first stage of last week’s New Glenn flight, the company casually made three major announcements today in one press release: a new, supersized New Glenn for megapayloads, ramping up the power output of its BE-4 and BE-3U engine used on the second stage of the current New Glenn, as well as the 9X4. It might be a while for the megarocket to be on the launch pad, but the engine advancements start arriving on the next New Glenn flight, NG-3.

Evolving Quickly

The first major upgrade is a boost in engine performance across both stages. The seven BE 4 engines on the booster will now deliver about 4.5 million pounds of thrust, up from 3.9 million. On the stand, BE 4 has already hit 625,000 pounds of thrust with its current propellant setup and is on track to reach 640,000 later this year. Subcooling the propellant raises the engine’s output well above its previous 550,000 pound level.

The upper stage is getting a similar lift. Its pair of BE 3U engines will move from a planned 320,000 pounds of thrust to roughly 400,000 over the next few flights. BE 3U has already shown 211,658 pounds on the test stand.

These performance gains directly support customers already booked to fly on New Glenn to low Earth orbit, the Moon, and farther than that. Other vehicle updates include a reusable fairing for a higher flight tempo, a redesigned tank that lowers manufacturing cost, and a new thermal protection system that can be reused and cuts turnaround time.

Blue Origin said in their press release today that the improvements and upgrades will be phased into upcoming New Glenn missions beginning with NG-3.  

Super-Heavy: The New Glenn 9X4

The next significant step in the evolution of the New Glenn program is a new super-heavy rocket. Called New Glenn 9×4, a nod to the engine layout on each stage, it targets missions that need more lift and higher performance. It can place more than 70 metric tons into low Earth orbit, over 14 metric tons directly into geosynchronous orbit, and more than 20 metric tons on a translunar trajectory. The 9×4 will also carry a wider 8.7 meter fairing.

Both the 9×4 and the current 7×2 version will operate in parallel, giving customers more flexibility across mission types, from mega-constellations to lunar and deep space work to national security needs such as Golden Dome or larger NSSL payloads.

Presumably, the new variant will also be built at Blue Origin’s factory in Exploration Park across from the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Center.

No mission or date for the upgraded rocket was given.