Blue Origin, already enlarging its operations launch facilities on Cape Canaveral, announced an expansion of this expansion with the intent to launch over a hundred times a year. How much expansion is that? Double what we've already heard of.
The company said it would add two launch pads for the New Glenn rocket, in addition to two already under construction at Cape Canaveral. The company is also investing heavily in a new manufacturing facility that will produce up to 150 upper stages for a larger variant of the New Glenn rocket.
The company also plans to procure two additional landing ships to catch and return the first stage of the New Glenn rocket (it currently has one, named Jacklyn). Finally, Blue Origin said it would add a new customer integration facility, built in conjunction with the US Space Force, that will feature four payload bays to process multiple missions at the same time.
“These investments are centered on one goal: building the capacity to support more missions, more reliably, and more efficiently,” wrote Ian Richardson, senior vice president of operations at Blue Origin, in an update on the company’s website this morning. “As we look ahead, this infrastructure is designed to support multiple flights per week by the end of the decade.
Blue Origin is already one of the largest investors in the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, as well as in the surrounding counties that the CCSFS is part of.
“Our manufacturing and operations footprint has more than doubled in the last couple of years, now spanning more than 20 sites across Brevard and Orange Counties,” Richardson wrote. “Blue Origin is the only company—and the largest employer—to manufacture, launch, and refurbish rockets on the Space Coast.”
They're already invested about $3 billion in facilities and infrastructure in Florida, as well as having 5,000 employees working in Florida. In addition, we need to recognize that (like all companies) they provide sales for other companies. They say there are 500 companies around the state they do business with.
Much like was mentioned about Rocket Lab in the previous post, Blue sees the potential for sales from organizations that stand to lose their rides into space as SpaceX retires the Falcon 9.
This has created an opening for medium- and heavy-lift vehicles that, if Blue Origin can get New Glenn flying successfully and frequently, it is poised to fill. The company’s previous investments, along with the new infrastructure, suggest Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos is deadly serious about making this a reality.
Some of this work has been ongoing for a while. Of course, there has been continuous effort to rebuild the launch pad for New Glenn after the explosion of the first stage during a test firing at the end of last May - in preparation for a reuse launch by June 4. In addition to that, there's an effort to both complete building infrastructure for and then start launching the heavy lift 9x4 New Glenn.
A map of some of Blue Origin’s key CCSFS facilities. LC-36A, on the left is pad that was destroyed in May and being rebuilt. LC-36B, the biggest, is for the 9x4 New Glenn. Credit: Blue Origin
The 9×4 rocket is designed to carry 70 metric tons to low-Earth orbit, and more than 20 tons to trans-lunar injection. The company has not confirmed this, but Blue Origin likely needs the 9×4 variant as part of its plans to launch a human lander to the Moon for NASA as part of the Artemis Program. It could debut in 2028 if development goes well.
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