Then there’s the larger Blue Moon Mark 2 lander, which is scheduled to fly on a larger and more powerful version of the New Glenn rocket with nine first stage engines, known as a 9×4. NASA is counting on the Mark 2 lander along with SpaceX’s Starship vehicle to take humans to the Moon on a regular basis — and soon.
Pad infrastructure badly damaged
It is too early to determine the effects of this failure, but they will be considerable. Initial reports from sources indicate that the launch infrastructure on the LC-36A has been seriously damaged. A source indicated that one of the power towers could not be saved, and the transporter-erector may also be damaged beyond repair.
The company recently began construction on a second New Glenn launch site, LC-36B, nearby. However, the work there is in the initial stage. However, it is possible that completing this new launch tower could be faster than rebuilding LC-36A. The new Glenn will almost certainly not launch again until 2026, and clearly a launch during the first half of 2027 would be heroic given launch site concerns.
Blue Origin is doing a lot of developmental work on the larger 9×4 rocket, which is expected to become the workhorse of the fleet versus the smaller 7×2 rocket version that blasted off Thursday evening in Florida. It is possible that the company will now put all its strength into completing the work on this big rocket.
Bezos, who made his fortune from Amazon, has largely funded Blue Origin since its founding a quarter-century ago. He has invested millions of dollars in the company. Fortunately for Blue Origin, it has the financial means to keep the company afloat through this failure and accelerate its recovery efforts. NASA, too, would be very keen to see Blue Origin back on its feet as soon as possible.
If there is one ray of hope, it’s that the rocket that exploded Thursday night was not carrying a payload of Amazon LEO internet satellites. They were secured in a nearby integration facility and were awaiting launch.
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