Blue Origin engineers are grappling with an eternal debate involving the New Glenn rocket and the economics of flying it.
This debate dates back at least 15 years, dating back to the earliest discussions surrounding the design of heavy lift rockets. Of course, the first stage will be completely reusable. But what about the New Glenn upper stage, powered by two large BE-3U engines?
Around the same time, in early 2010, SpaceX was also trading on the economics of reusing the second stage of its Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX founder Elon Musk eventually abandoned his goal of a completely reusable Falcon 9, opting instead to recover the payload fairing and reduce the manufacturing costs of the upper stage as much as possible. This strategy worked, as SpaceX has reduced its internal launch costs of the Falcon 9, even with a new second stage, by about $15 million. The company is now focusing on making the larger Starship rocket completely reusable.
The New Glenn is significantly larger than the Falcon 9 vehicle, being 98 meters in height compared to 70 meters, and 7 meters in diameter compared to the Falcon 9’s 3.7 meters; But it is smaller than a starship. Accordingly, Blue Origin has struggled with whether to reuse the New Glenn upper stage or ruthlessly cut its manufacturing costs.
ups and downs of debate
Over the years, this internal debate has waxed and waned.
A little more than five years ago, Blue Origin began a project to develop a reusable stainless-steel upper stage known as “Project Jarvis”. This initiative was later abandoned. With New Glenn’s first launch slated for early 2025, company founder Jeff Bezos and CEO Dave Limp both told Ars in an interview that they are continuing to trade options on New Glenn’s upper stage, known as GS2.
However, a new job posting suggests the debate may return to reusing the GS2. The company posted a job Thursday for director of “reusable upper stage development.”
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