Blue Origin said Tuesday that the test payload for the first launch of its new rocket, New Glenn, is ready for launch. The company published an image of the “Blue Ring” Boy Scout nestled against half of the rocket's fairing.
“There is a growing demand to quickly move and position equipment and infrastructure across multiple lanes,” company CEO Dave Limp said on LinkedIn. “Blue Ring has advanced propulsion and communications capabilities that allow government and commercial customers to perform these maneuvers accurately and efficiently.”
This week's announcement — historically Blue Origin has been tight-lipped about new products, but is opening up more as the debut of its flagship New Glenn rocket approaches — appears to serve a number of purposes.
All Blue wants for Christmas is…
First of all, the relatively small payload, in contrast to the size of the fairing, emphasizes the increased volume the rocket offers compared to most conventional boosters. The fairing of the new Glenn has a diameter of 7 meters (23 feet), as opposed to the more conventional 5 meters (16.4 feet). It looks spacious inside.
In addition, the company appears to be publicly telling the Federal Aviation Administration and other regulators that it believes New Glenn is ready to fly, pending approval to conduct a hotfire test at Launch Complex-36 and then for a launch from Florida. This is a not-so-subtle message to the regulators to hurry up and fill out the paperwork required for the launch activities. It is not clear what is holding up launch approval in this case, but often it concerns environmental issues or the certification of a flight termination system.
Blue Origin's release on Tuesday was carefully worded. The headline said the New Glenn was “on track” for a launch this year and that the Blue Ring payload is “ready” for a launch this year. There is no fictional or public launch date yet. The hot-fire test has been postponed several times since the company placed the rocket on its launch pad on November 23. The target was November for the test, and more recently last weekend.
After years of delays for the rocket, which was originally set to debut in 2020, Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos hired a new CEO to lead the company just over a year ago. Limp, an Amazon executive, was given the mandate to change Blue Origin's slower culture to become more agile and urgent and was told to launch New Glenn by the end of 2024.
