The American company Blue Origin, within the framework of the Jarvis project, is developing a reusable upper stage of the New Glenn heavy rocket, the prototype component of which was delivered for testing to launch complex 36, located at Cape Canaveral (Florida). The corresponding photos are published by ArsTechnica.
The publication, citing a source in the American company, reports that the tank (fuel tank) delivered to the site must pass strength tests (filling with rocket fuel under high pressure).
According to the source, in this way Blue Origin is trying to reduce the cost of New Glenn, making the latter completely reusable, like SpaceX Starship. The source noted that the team that works on the Jarvis project has received a greater degree of freedom than other engineering teams working at Blue Origin.
In August, the American company SpaceX assembled the tallest Starship rocket in history. The two-stage Starship, including Booster 4 (a prototype of the Super Heavy rocket stage) and Ship 20 (a prototype of the Starship spacecraft itself), reached almost 120 meters in length.
In October 2020, Ars Technica, referring to the statement of the executive director of the United Launch Alliance (ULA), Tori Bruno, reported that the problems with the turbopumps of the BE-4 rocket engine of Blue Origin were solved. The BE-4 should receive, in particular, the Vulcan rocket, which is being created to replace the Atlas 5 rocket, which receives Russian RD-180 engines.
The American Blue Origin may become the main competitor of SpaceX in the future. The company, headed by one of the richest people on the planet, Jeff Bezos, is working on the New Shepard suborbital tourist system, the New Glenn heavy rocket, the Blue Moon lander and the BE-4 and BE-7 rocket engines. Like SpaceX, Blue Origin actively uses reusable technologies. The first flight of New Shepard with a man took place in 2021. The first launch of New Glenn is scheduled for the first half of this decade. Bezos sees the ultimate goal of Blue Origin as creating an infrastructure for the development of the celestial bodies of the Solar System, primarily the Moon and Mars.
Ivan Potapov
