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Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket is about to point out its reusability chops.
New Glenn will loft one in every of AST SpaceMobile’s big Block 2 BlueBird internet-beaming satellites on its subsequent mission, which is focused for late February, Blue Origin introduced on Thursday (Jan. 22).
The 2-stage New Glenn is among the largest rockets on the earth, standing 322 ft (98 meters) tall. Its first stage is designed for intensive reuse — at the very least 25 flights, in response to Blue Origin.
New Glenn debuted in January 2025, efficiently sending a check model of Blue Origin’s Blue Ring spacecraft to orbit. The rocket’s first stage crashed throughout its landing attempt on that flight, however NG-2 was a unique story: The booster landed softly on Blue Origin’s drone ship “Jacklyn,” which was stationed within the Atlantic Ocean.
And now it would fly once more.
The upcoming NG-3 mission will carry off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Area Power Station, as NG-1 and NG-2 did. It would ship a Block 2 BlueBird to low Earth orbit, serving to construct out Texas-based AST SpaceMobile’s direct-to-cellphone web constellation.
Block 2 BlueBirds have antennas that span about 2,400 sq. ft (223 sq. meters), making them a few of the largest satellites in house. One Block 2 BlueBird has reached orbit to this point, getting there atop an Indian rocket this previous December.
AST SpaceMobile has additionally despatched 5 first-generation BlueBirds to LEO. These satellites have 693-square-foot (64.4 sq. m) communications arrays.
“We’re proud to have AST SpaceMobile as our buyer on NG-3,” Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp stated in a assertion on Thursday. “Our prospects want a dependable, cost-effective launch automobile, and New Glenn is purpose-built to serve their wants.”
Blue Origin had expertise with reusable rockets earlier than the primary New Glenn booster restoration. The corporate has been flying New Shepard, a reusable rocket-capsule combo, to and from suborbital house since 2015.
New Shepard has launched 38 occasions to this point, 17 occasions with house vacationers on board. The newest crewed flight occurred on Thursday.
The corporate is following in SpaceX‘s footsteps, nonetheless, within the restoration and reuse of orbital-class rockets. Elon Musk’s firm pulled off its first touchdown on an orbital flight in December 2015 and has now achieved so greater than 500 occasions.
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