Blue Origin unveils new spacecraft and New Glenn upgrades

Date:
Tue, 02 Dec 2025 22:40:39 +0000

Description:
Fresh off its highly successful NG-2 flight, which launched the ESCAPADE Mars probes and featured The post Blue Origin unveils new spacecraft and New Glenn upgrades appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .

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Fresh off its highly successful NG-2 flight, which launched the ESCAPADE Mars probes and featured a successful booster landing, Blue Origin unveiled the Blue Moon Mk1 robotic lander due to fly in 2026, possibly on New Glenns next flight. In addition, the company announced its future New Glenn 94 rocket while giving the current New Glenn the 72 designation. Whats more, Blue
Origin also shared details about its Blue Ring tug and satellite bus, as well as revealing a new deployable aerobrake to enable future Mars missions.



Since its historic landing on the NG-2 mission, Glenn Stage 1 (GS1) booster Never Tell Me The Odds has made it back to the Launch Complex 36s (LC-36) integration hangar. Engineers are processing the booster and refurbishing it for its next flight. It is not currently publicly known whether Never Tell Me The Odds or a newer booster will fly the upcoming NG-3 mission. The first
Blue Moon Mk1 shown before flight processing. (Credit: Blue Origin)

Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp recently unveiled the first Blue Moon Mk1 lander to fly in a post on the social media platform X. The lander, designed for uncrewed missions, will test and demonstrate the technology to be used on the crewed Blue Moon Mk2 lander, which NASA selected for its Artemis V mission.

The eight-meter-tall Blue Moon Mk1, massing 21,350 kg and larger than the Apollo lunar module, is designed to carry roughly 3,000 kg to the lunar surface. The first Mk1, MK1-SN001, will fly a demonstration mission and land near Shackleton Crater in the Moons south polar region. Shackleton Crater is thought to possibly contain water ice in permanently shadowed areas of the crater that do not receive sunlight, and have not received sunlight for over
a billion years or more.

MK1-SN001 will prove out systems such as the throttleable BE-7 engine, which can generate up to 44,000 N of thrust and uses liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen as propellants, and associated cryogenic, fluid, power, and propulsion systems. In addition, the flight will also test avionics, continuous downlink communications, and precision landing within 100 meters
of the target. These systems or adaptations of them will also be used on
the crewed Mk2 lander.

NASAs Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume Surface Studies (SCALPSS) will also fly on this mission to gather data on the effects of rocket exhaust on the lunar regolith. SCALPSS features four high-resolution cameras that will capture the BE-7s plume during descent to the surface. For later missions, Blue Origin plans to offer lunar payload services to customers aboard MK1-SN002 and subsequent landers. Artists impression of the Blue Ring spacecraft. (Credit: Blue Origin)

While Blue Moon MK1-SN001 will soon undergo fully integrated checkout tests, another Blue Origin spacecraft is also being prepared to fly. The company announced that the first Blue Ring flight vehicle is being integrated, with the primary structure and internal harnessing integrated with the core propulsion module. After additional integration and checkouts, the company will power up the vehicle and prepare for Blue Rings first mission.

See Also NG-3 Updates & Discussion Blue Origin Section NSF Store Click Here to Join L2

Blue Rings first mission will feature the Caracal optical payload initially developed by Optimum Technologies for the U.S. Space Forces Tactically Responsive Space program. Caracal is designed to track and image other spacecraft and objects in orbit. For this mission, Blue Ring will loft it to geosynchronous orbit for a commercial space domain awareness mission.

The Blue Ring spacecraft will not only carry Caracal, but also Scout Spaces Owl sensor. Like Caracal, Owl is also designed for space domain awareness, with its own optical tracking of other spacecraft and autonomous decision-making capabilities. The Space Force will rely on space domain awareness tools like these to keep track of objects of interest for national security purposes.

Blue Ring supports over 4,000 kg of payload capacity across 13 ports, and its electric and chemical propulsion capabilities are designed to provide a delta-v velocity capability of at least 3,000 meters per second. Two 44 m roll-out solar panels will power the spacecraft throughout its mission. Blue Origin designed the spacecraft for Earth orbit, cislunar, and planetary missions, and uses it as the basis for its own Mars Telecommunications
Orbiter proposal. Artists impression of Blue Origins Mars Telecommunications Orbiter proposal. (Credit: Blue Origin)

Blue Origin also unveiled its large deployable aerobrake, which it intends to use for missions to Mars and point-to-point missions on Earth, among others. The aerobrake uses a planetary atmosphere to slow a spacecraft, saving fuel that would otherwise be used to attain a planetary orbit.

The principle of aerobraking has been used on missions like Magellan to Venus and Mars Global Surveyor, but this device is specifically designed for this purpose and can be used on various spacecraft. Designed for spacecraft
massing up to 9,000 kg, or three times more mass than conventional
aeroshells, the aerobrake will allow missions to use planetary atmospheres to slow themselves.

Blue Origin is offering the aerobrake, made out of an advanced 3D-woven material, in 10 m and 16 m configurations. As an example of its size when folded, New Glenn can fit five of the folded 10 m aerobrakes in its fairing. GS1 Never Tell Me The Odds being wheeled into the integration hangar at
LC-36. (Credit: Blue Origin)

Recently, Blue Origin announced a series of upgrades for New Glenns current version, now known as 72, which will be phased in starting with the next flight. The engines on both GS1 and Glenn Stage 2 (GS2) stages will be upgraded, with plans to increase GS1s total engine thrust using seven BE-4 engines from 17,219 kN to 19,928 kN. In addition, the GS2s twin BE-3U
engines will increase their total thrust from 1,423 kN to 1,779 kN.

New Glenn will start to use subcooling to increase the amount of propellant that can be loaded into its tanks, much like Falcon 9 and Starship do. As New Glenn starts to fly payloads heavier than the lightweight ESCAPADE
spacecraft, and as engineers learn how the rocket performs under real-world conditions, the rockets performance capability will increase from current levels.



The current New Glenn 72 so designated due to using seven BE-4 and two BE-3U engines on its stages will also receive additional upgrades beyond the engines. Blue Origin plans upgrades to the rockets avionics, structures, and the thermal protection system that protects GS1 from the heat of reentry. Moreover, the company also intends to recover and reuse its fairings in a similar manner to SpaceXs fairing reuse operations.

In addition to the upgrades to New Glenns current version, Blue Origin also announced the rockets next version, New Glen 94, named for featuring nine BE-4s and four BE-3Us. The company claims this version can carry more than 70,000 kg to low-Earth orbit, as opposed to 45,000 kg for New Glenn 72. Alternatively, New Glenn 94 will carry up to 14,000 kg directly to geosynchronous orbit, or 20,000 kg to trans-lunar injection. Artists impression of the New Glenn 94 version next to the Saturn V and New Glenn 72. (Credit: Blue Origin)

New Glenn 94 will use a larger fairing 8.7 m wide as opposed to the current versions 7m and will be taller than the 111 m tall Saturn V. The upgraded version will not replace New Glenn 72 but will fly concurrently with it to offer additional performance for payloads that require it.

The company provided no official timeline, but New Glenn 94 could be ready as soon as 2027, though schedules can be subject to change. While the 94 version is in work, Blue Origin hopes to improve its launch cadence over this years two New Glenn flights, with NG-3 the next mission to fly sometime in early 2026.

(Lead image: Artists impression of New Glenn 94 launching from LC-36.
Credit: Blue Origin)



The post Blue Origin unveils new spacecraft and New Glenn upgrades appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .



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Link to news story:
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2025/12/blue-origin-update/


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