I've watched Team Blue pour years into building the systems that make lunar permanence a reality. Today @NASA recognized that work with multiple Moon Base program awards. I couldn’t be prouder of this team.
✅ Sound check: complete.
Launch is one of the most punishing environments a spacecraft will ever face. To make sure Blue Ring is ready, our team put the fully integrated vehicle through acoustic testing, blasting it with over 140 decibels of sound for two straight minutes.
Blue Ring passed, proving it can survive and operate through the harshest acoustic conditions of launch.
We announced New Glenn’s third stage today (GS3). The team recently completed testing of what we expect will be the largest composite LH2 tank ever flown in space. The tank was pressurized (at cryo temps) above 100% of the Maximum Expected Operating Pressure (MEOP) for flight and cycled 10 times (totaling over 2.5 hours) and over 10 minutes at 150% MEOP. GS3 stands 37 feet tall and is housed in an interstage, preserving the full fairing volume for customer payloads.
Our new booster engine, Northstar, was built from the ground up by a scrappy team focused on weight, cost, manufacturability, and performance. More than 65% of the engine is additively manufactured using our in-house 3D printing capability. Northstar can be assembled in less than a day and produces 715,000 pounds of thrust.
CEO Dave Limp today unveiled GS3, a third stage that significantly expands New Glenn’s ability to deliver high-energy and deep-space missions, and Northstar, a new booster engine. Read more --> https://t.co/WtqlobooE7
It took over a decade to build the International Space Station, and almost everything went right. Sandy Magnus was there, carrying a piece of the truss to orbit on her first mission and spending long stretches in Russia to learn how different countries approach space.
The new episode of Ascending Node is out now: https://t.co/ntR2IXk6fS
Went off-roading yesterday. The four-million-pound launch bridge is being driven back into position today by self-propelled motorized transporters (SPMT). We placed dirt in the flame trench to provide a ramp for the SPMTs to gently set the bridge atop it.
Astronaut training means being ready for anything, even a capsule floating in the middle of the Black Sea. But that's just one of many stories you will hear from Space Shuttle astronaut Sandy Magnus on the next episode of Ascending Node, coming soon!
Today our team lifted and installed New Glenn's second stage (GS2) at @NASAStennis. The vehicle was tandem lifted from its cradle using the Main Derrick Crane at the historic B-2 Test Stand to lift the forward end, while a mobile tailing crane simultaneously lifted the aft end. GS2 was shifted to a vertical orientation, lifted 218 feet above ground, and lowered into the B-2 test position. A great example of what Team Blue and our NASA partners can accomplish together. Final preparations for our first hotfire test are ongoing.
We’re building more than rockets. We're building the workforce to build them.
Introducing ATLAS: the first U.S. Department of Labor registered apprenticeship built exclusively for space manufacturing.
The team also made progress at LC-36B yesterday. Roughly 450 truckloads of concrete, lined up bumper-to-bumper and stretching nearly 3 miles up the coast, supported a 4,500-cubic-yard pour for the pile caps. Three more placements to go for a total of 15,000 cubic yards. This is the foundation for our New Glenn 9x4 pad.
Module 9 done. Standing tall again at LC-36! The Vehicle Access Tower is fully assembled, with every module repaired and back in place. This was a monumental effort. Proud of Team Blue.
Our CEO @davill recently joined @adamgoodman3 on @13thandPark's podcast for a wide-ranging conversation - from Dave's earliest memories of launching rockets in his backyard to the work we're doing today to build a road to space.
🎧 Listen to the full episode: https://t.co/kEkEaxZs9z
Liftoff! Congratulations to @JAXA_en, @NASA, and the entire MMX team. Once MMX reaches Phobos, our P-Sampler will collect surface material using high-pressure, ultra-pure nitrogen gas. Mounted on one of the MMX lander’s four legs, the P-Sampler is designed to complete sampling in a matter of seconds: https://t.co/VgrtjtPiBX
Photo Credit: @JAXA_en
"Launching at a high cadence requires a connected system - one that manufactures vehicles at scale, prepares customer payloads efficiently, supports reliable launch operations, and quickly returns reusable boosters to service. We are building that system here in Florida." Read more from our Senior Vice President of Operations Ian Richardson. https://t.co/2ui8xitD5c