Blue Origin to add New Glenn pads and upper-stage plant in Florida
Blue Origin plans two more New Glenn launch pads, a plant for up to 150 upper stages yearly and two landing ships, targeting over 100 launches a year from Florida.
The story in focus
Blue Origin announced an expansion of its Florida launch facilities, adding two New Glenn launch pads, a manufacturing facility for up to 150 upper stages of a larger New Glenn variant, two landing ships and a customer integration facility with four payload bays, aiming to eventually fly more than 100 rockets a year.
- Blue Origin will add two New Glenn launch pads to two already under construction at Cape Canaveral.
- A new manufacturing facility will produce up to 150 upper stages for a larger New Glenn variant.
- Blue Origin plans to procure two additional landing ships; it currently has one, named Jacklyn.
- A customer integration facility built with the US Space Force will have four payload bays for simultaneous mission processing.
- The company aims to eventually fly more than 100 rockets a year from Florida.
Launch and production capacity
Blue Origin announced last Friday an expansion of its Florida launch facilities intended to eventually support more than 100 rocket launches a year, Ars Technica reported. The plan adds two New Glenn launch pads beyond the two already under construction at Cape Canaveral.
The company is also investing in a new manufacturing facility that will produce up to 150 upper stages for a larger variant of New Glenn, according to Ars Technica. The upper-stage plant would supply a higher launch cadence than the current vehicle supports.
Recovery and payload processing
Blue Origin plans to procure two additional landing ships to catch and return the New Glenn first stage. It currently operates one such ship, named Jacklyn.
A new customer integration facility, built in conjunction with the US Space Force, will feature four payload bays to process multiple missions at the same time. Ian Richardson, senior vice president of operations at Blue Origin, said the investments are centered on building capacity to support more missions more reliably and more efficiently.
Industry context
The expansion comes as other US launch providers work through vehicle setbacks. Ars Technica reported that United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin are both working through setbacks with their launch vehicles, and that a Space Force official remained optimistic they would resolve technical problems and that new competitors would begin flying.
How many upper stages will Blue Origin's new manufacturing facility produce?
Up to 150 upper stages for a larger variant of the New Glenn rocket, according to Blue Origin's announcement as reported by Ars Technica.
Sources & further reading
- Rocket Report: SpaceX says no thanks to military launches; Spanish rocket nearly ready ↗Ars Technica
Help keep the record accurate. Send a correction.
