Comments on: Blue Origin’s engine division manager leaves company; first BE-4 engines arriving in May

By: pawn

pawn — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 11:15:10 +0000

This red-meat-for-journalists situation is just camouflage for a bunch of really bad decisions made by different parties in the US government. I bet Rocketdyne has an interesting view of the situation.

BO has a warehouse full of parts for an engine that has never flown.

Bezos know how to buy but not how to fly.

By: pzatchok

pzatchok — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 06:08:56 +0000

I can attest that Blue Origin is ramping up its parts purchasing.
Their orders are being filled.

By: George C

George C — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 02:19:16 +0000

I was wondering what ULA was doimg with all those engineers waiting for delivery of the BE-4 engines, and all I could think of is that they were working on other projects for customers with complex requirements. Expensive customization per launch could outweigh any savings from reuse, at least for a time.

By: Edward

Edward — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 00:55:00 +0000

Bezos left Amazon about nine months ago, presumably to supervise Blue Origin more closely. I keep pondering whether his influence is having an effect, but I suspect that he would have done better had he cleaned house half a year ago, or so. He may be starting to do it now, but this is late in his management tenure. SpaceX is run by go-getters, and Bezos needs to stack his company with similar personalities.

New Glenn is a Falcon 9-class launch vehicle, and while SpaceX launched its first Falcon 9 test unit six years after the company was founded, New Glenn has been in development for a decade or more. Bezos needs a new corporate culture of rapid development, so that when he is ready to start New Armstrong, it will not take as long to develop. It seems to me that this is how he can best compete with SpaceX’s Starship.

By: Robert Zimmerman

Robert Zimmerman — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 00:33:32 +0000

In reply to Edward.

Edward: It seems to me that ULA, already trailing the leader SpaceX badly, is also slowly being overtaken by many of the new rocket startups. Most can’t launch larger payloads, but all are working towards that goal.

Blue Origin meanwhile isn’t even on the playing field as these new startups begin to take the field. Jeff Bezos should be so angry at this failure, considering the cash he has given the company’s management, that he should white hot.

By: Edward

Edward — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 00:29:01 +0000

“I would bet the amount of development is none.”

This is my fear. If ULA is like Arianespace and not going for reusability, then it may not last very long.

Rocket Lab thinks that it will not save money by reusing its Electron rockets but should be able to increase its cadence. ULA has expressed skepticism about the economy of reuse, but if ULA had the same results, a higher cadence, and then there would be an advantage to reusability.

However, one of the beauties of free market capitalism is the ability to try different techniques and technologies to see what works best and what improves efficiencies, performance, availability, and above all: customer satisfaction.

By: Robert Zimmerman

Robert Zimmerman — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 00:27:40 +0000

In reply to Mitch S.. Mitch S: Another good point. SpaceX right now has no competition, and that is entirely the fault of Blue Origin and its failure to get the BE-4 engine flight worthy on the promised schedule.

By: Mitch S.

Mitch S. — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 00:15:30 +0000

When SpaceX agreed to launch OneWeb’s sat’s it didn’t just humiliate Russia and ding Arianespace but it served as a reminder of the missing big player – Blue Origin.
And poor ULA left sweating it out for choosing what they thought to be a safe bet.
How’s it going to look if SpaceX launches about 40 Raptor2s, some into orbit, before a BE4 leaves the pad. No wonder BO’s engine guy is gone.

By: Robert Zimmerman

Robert Zimmerman — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 00:10:12 +0000

In reply to Edward.

Edward: Heh. You remind me of something that I have completely forgotten about, which I think was ULA’s hope.

I would bet the amount of development is none. ULA had an opportunity here to use those three years to be ready to launch Vulcan in a way it could recover the engines. As far as I know, it has done nothing to take advantage of that opportunity.

In fact, all signs have suggested the company is making no effort to recover those engines. The announcement back in 2017 or so was merely empty PR.

By: Edward

Edward — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 00:06:58 +0000

The question not answered (or asked) is: how much progress did ULA make on its reusable engines design, over the three year delay? Reusing Vulcan’s engines will put less pressure on the engine factory.

By: William

William — Wed, 23 Mar 2022 18:25:09 +0000

i hope that this turns out to be true, but