Raised up to launch position less than 24-hours prior, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket roared to life on its Florida launch pad in preparation for an upcoming mission to Mars.
On the night of Oct. 30, the rocket’s seven BE-4 engines fired for a brief time, testing the rocket before the upcoming launch day. The company’s multi-stage 321-foot-tall rocket is poised to lift off in the coming weeks on its second mission from Cape Canaveral, sending NASA’s ESCAPADE mission off to the Red Planet.
“Love seeing New Glenn’s seven BE-4 engines come alive! Congratulations to Team Blue on today’s hotfire,” CEO Dave Limp wrote on X. ” “We extended the hotfire duration this time to simulate the landing burn sequence by shutting down the non-gimballed engines after ramping down to 50 percent thrust, then shutting down the outboard gimballed engines while ramping the center engine to 80 percent thrust.”
Up next, the NASA ESCAPADE satellites will be mated to the upper stage before liftoff day arrives.
The company refers to this launch as the “second chapter” of the rocket’s story. The New Glenn rocket launched only once prior, back in January, delivering a mockup of its Blue Ring platform to orbit. Blue Ring is Blue Origin’s planned orbiting platform, which will host and even refuel satellites.
The morning of Oct. 30, those on Space Coast beaches had already spotted the rocket standing tall on the distant launch pad, which is the most visible in the county.
While Blue Origin has yet to announce an official launch date, navigational warnings show the launch as no earlier than 7 p.m. Nov. 8. from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Blue Origin was founded by former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and is currently led by Limp. New Glenn is fully produced at the company’s 750,000-square-foot Merritt Island facilities on Space Commerce Way.
While the company launches its single-staged New Shepard rocket carrying tourists and payload flights out of Texas, it will be New Glenn that brings Blue Origin into the orbital payload market. In Florida, this market is dominated by SpaceX and United Launch Alliance.
Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@floridatoday.com or on X: @brookeofstars.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket conducts hot fire test overnight. When is launch?
Reporting by Brooke Edwards, Florida Today / Florida Today
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