Blue Origin

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.

The awards are part of the Artemis program’s objectives of establishing a sustainable human presence at the Moon to prepare for human expeditions to Mars.

“It’s time to be able to move through space at will and to be able to defend ourselves when we are attacked,” ULA CEO Tory Bruno says.

The world is headed for a period of launcher abundance as the New Glenn expands rocket choice in the heavy-lift segment.

“We are at an inflection point,” says Kelli Kedis Ogborn, vice president of Space Commerce and Entrepreneurship at the Space Foundation.

Blue Origin has achieved its goal of becoming an orbital launch player, even as it failed to recover its first-stage booster in the ambitious inaugural flight of its New Glenn rocket.

An undisclosed vehicle subsystem issue on the New Glenn heavy-lift rocket prompted Blue Origin to scrub the launch shortly after 3 a.m. EST.

The revised plan shaves billions from projected program costs.

Liftoff of NG-1 from Space Launch Complex-36 remains targeted between 1-4 a.m. EST.

The 2024 launch rate surpassed the 223 orbital launch attempts in 2023, the previous record.

Either option would cut the flagship $11 billion Mars Sample Return mission’s cost by at least 30% and as much as 47%.

Blue Origin plans to flight-test its first orbital launch vehicle, with liftoff of New Glenn from Cape Canaveral SFS targeted for the early hours of Jan. 10.

An FAA airspace advisory is in effect for New Glenn-1 (NG-1) launch attempts from Jan. 6-12 from Cape Canaveral SFS.

ULA flew two flights for its Vulcan Centaur launch vehicle in 2024, on Jan. 8 and Oct. 4.

“This is a monumental milestone and a glimpse of what’s just around the corner for New Glenn’s first launch,” said Jarrett Jones, senior VP, New Glenn.

The company, owned by Jeff Bezos, has not released a launch date for its first New Glenn mission.

Like Axiom, Vast has hired SpaceX for PAM crew ferry flights and training.

A decade ago, SpaceX launched six Falcon 9 rockets in a year—now, it could be on track for an orbital launch rate of 136 Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy flights.

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.

NASA plans to add uncrewed missions to both SpaceX and Blue Origin’s Human Landing System service contracts to deliver a lunar rover and a habitat to the Moon.

Terms of the contracts were not disclosed, nor how many launches each company was awarded.

Last June, the service awarded the initial NSSL Phase 3 Lane 1 contracts worth $5.6 billion to United Launch Alliance, Blue Origin and SpaceX.

SpaceX is receiving $733.6 million for the two launches.

The mission would deliver back to Earth scientifically selected samples of the Martian surface being gathered by the agency’s Mars Perseverance rover.

Nelson talks with Aviation Week about the role private companies will play and his concerns about China’s ambitions on the Moon.