CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – After many months of delays getting to this point Blue Origin finally and successfully completed a lengthy, impressive and robust 38 second long hotfire test of the first stage engines of only the 2nd ever Blue Origin New Glenn rocket NG-2 on late Thursday evening, Oct. 30 at pad 36.
The NG-2 liftoff on a NASA science mission is now tentatively and unofficially scheduled for around NET Sunday Nov. 9.
But the New Glenn-2 (NG-2) test was not without a last-minute cliff hanging hiccup!
The New Glenn-2 suffered a very brief ignition abort during a seeming first attempt at the hot fire test over an hour earlier in the evening when the rocket appeared to ignite for a moment with considerate steam
The Blue Origin team was able to recycle the rocket test preparations and finally all 7 first stage BE-4 engine ignited at 9:59 p.m. ET at Space Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
“We completed a successful hotfire of our fully integrated New Glenn launch vehicle at LC-36! All seven engines performed nominally with a 38 second duration test including all seven engines operating at 100% thrust for 22 seconds,” Blue Origin confirmed via social media accounts.
https://x.com/blueorigin/status/1984096485961613559
The long delayed flight dubbed New Glenn-2 (NG-2) is tasked with launching NASA’s twin ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) Mars Orbiters to the Red Planet to study the solar wind’s interaction with Mars and its weak magnetic field and how it strips away and depletes the atmosphere
I visited Jetty Park the next day and captured photos of New Glenn-2 still standing vertical at pad 36 from the closest public land vantage point.
The test actually was rather complicated and also tested the ability of the first stage engine to relight as a simulation for whats required for landing the first stage on the droneship ‘Jacklyn’ prepositioned at sea.
“Love seeing New Glenn’s seven BE-4 engines come alive! Congratulations to Team Blue on today’s hotfire. 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. This helps us understand fluid interactions between active and inactive engine feedlines during landing. Next, we will mate @NASA’s ESCAPADE payload to the launch vehicle and enter final preparations for launch,” explained Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp.
https://x.com/davill/status/1984094714283585842
The NG-2 rocket was then lowered horizontally and rolled back to integrate it with the nose cone encapsulating NASA’s twin Red Planet ESCAPADE spacecraft
“Encapsulated and “red-y” for Mars. @NASA’s twin ESCAPADE spacecraft are now secure in New Glenn’s 7-meter fairing,” wrote Blue Origin.
https://x.com/blueorigin/status/1984350957774209516
Ken Kremer interview about New Glann-2 mission
