Tory Bruno has confirmed there have been problems with the turbomachinery inside the engine, but he has said those problems have been addressed. However, there has been a lot of turnover in leadership of Blue Origin's propulsion program, with Bill Kruse and Mike Krene leaving the company in 2018, and Kruse's replacement, Dannette Smith, only lasting about a year before leaving in August 2019. Development of the engine, which has 550,000 pounds of thrust and is more powerful than a Space Shuttle Main Engine, has been going on since 2011. "It does no good to throw Blue Origin under the bus." Advertisementīezos' company has not been forthcoming about why the BE-4 engine has been so late. "He's protecting Blue Origin," one source said of Bruno's lack of public criticism of the BE-4 engine delay. The company also declined to comment on any tensions with Blue Origin. In response to a question from Ars, ULA declined to offer an updated timeline for when it expects to take delivery of flight-ready BE-4 engines from Blue Origin. As of January, Bruno was saying this hot fire test with the flight engines would take place this summer. After this hot-fire test, the rocket will be rolled back to the hangar and prepared for an actual launch attempt. After receiving the flight engines from Blue Origin, ULA needs to attach them to the Vulcan rocket, roll it to the launch pad, and conduct a lengthy series of tests before a hot-fire ignition. This seems highly unlikely because it is already July, and United Launch Alliance (ULA) still does not have a pair of flight engines. Technically, Bruno said, Vulcan still had a chance to be ready for a 2021 launch. Bruno said this was due primarily to the mission's customer, Astrobotic, whose Moon lander was not ready. However, he recently told Aviation Week the first launch would slip into 2022. What went wrong?įor years, United Launch Alliance chief executive Tory Bruno had been saying the new Vulcan rocket, powered by two BE-4 engines, would launch in 2021. There is great concern that Blue is not putting enough attention and priority on the engine."įurther Reading Blue Origin’s massive New Glenn rocket is delayed for years. "It's much more than Tory Bruno is showing publicly. "There is great concern about this engine development," one person in the industry said. Privately, multiple sources say, the relationship between Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance is not good. Blue Origin's powerful BE-4 rocket engine, which burns methane and liquid oxygen, is years late. The US Space Force is also watching, as it is counting on the Vulcan booster to help launch some of its most precious satellites into orbit. This has been especially of concern to United Launch Alliance, which is relying on Blue Origin-built engines for its new Vulcan rocket. But so far at least, his Blue Origin space company has been a less reliable vendor. Bezos made his fortune at Amazon through competitive pricing and timely delivery of goods to his customers worldwide. It seems unlikely that everyone in the space community will be celebrating. He will climb aboard his New Shepard launch system, blast above the Kármán line into outer space, float around inside his capsule, and then return to Earth beneath parachutes. In about two weeks Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos will mark a triumphant moment after 21 years in the spaceflight business. Win McNamee/Getty Images reader comments 413 with
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