Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled Monday the design of his latest
rocket — the New Glenn — which will be capable of launching commercial
satellites and people, into the orbit around Earth, according to The Washington Post.
Describing the New Glenn, Bezos said the rocket would come in two
variants — a two stage and a three stage model, which would be ready to
fly by the end of the decade. The New Glenn will be 23 feet in diameter
and range between 270 and 313 feet high. The rocket will be powered by
seven BE-4 engines and would have 3.85 million pounds of thrust at sea
level.
"Our vision is millions of people living and working in space, and
New Glenn is a very important step," Bezos wrote. "New Glenn is designed
to launch commercial satellites and to fly humans into space."
The rocket will be able capable of sending satellites and people into
lower Earth orbit (LEO), when it is with one stage. But with two upper
stages, the New Glenn can take push payloads beyond LEO.
The announcement comes at a crucial time for the commercial space industry which has had a share of both good and bad news.
Last week, Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic
successfully performed the first test flight of its new spacecraft,
SpaceShipTwo, which promises to take people, who are willing to pay,
into space, according to the Post.
The industry also witnessed a major catastrophe when a SpaceX Falcon 9
rocket exploded on a launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
during a test. The company is grounded while investigators try to
determine the cause of the explosion.
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