Blue Origin completes New Glenn static hearth take a look at, making ready for NASA’s EscaPADE mission launch – Spaceflight Now

Blue Origin lit up a pocket of Florida’s Space Coast Thursday evening when it sizzling fired its New Glenn rocket for an engine take a look at lasting roughly 40 seconds in length.

The take a look at at Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station started at about 9:59 p.m. EDT (0159 UTC) and got here greater than an hour after what seemed to be a short ignition after which shutdown after activating the water-based sound suppression system on the pad.

The ignition of the seven BE-4 engines was an essential milestone as the corporate based by billionaire Jeff Bezos is making ready for the launch of its first NASA mission within the days or perhaps weeks to return.

The greater than 320-foot-tall (98 m) tall rocket will launch a pair of dual spacecraft on a journey to Mars. NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) mission is the “first multi-spacecraft orbital science mission to the Red Planet,” as described by the company.

This was simply the third time that Blue Origin has ignited its booster at Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It accomplished a hotfire take a look at again in December earlier than launching its first New Glenn rocket with a pathfinder for its Blue Ring spacecraft in January.

Like with the primary launch, Blue Origin will as soon as once more try to recuperate the booster by way of a propulsive touchdown on the barge named “Jacklyn” in honor of Bezos’ mom. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the booster used on New Glenn 1 (NG-1) mission, named ‘So You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance’, did not relight its engines, inflicting it to not be recoverable.

Blue Origin is banking on the second booster, named ‘Never Tell Me the Odds’, may have a greater destiny. If it is ready to be recovered efficiently and refurbished, the corporate plans to fly it on its third mission, which is able to carry its first Blue Moon Mk. 1 lander.

The cargo variant of Blue Origin’s robotic lander will support within the growth of a crewed model, which is contracted to fly on the Artemis 5 mission for NASA.