There's a good bit riding on the second launch of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket.
Most directly, the fate of a NASA science mission to study Mars's upper atmosphere hinges on a successful launch. The second flight of Blue Origin's heavy-lifter will send two NASA-funded satellites toward the red planet to study the processes that drove Mars's evolution from a warmer, wetter world to the cold, dry planet of today.
A successful launch would also nudge Blue Origin closer to winning certification from the Space Force to begin launching national security satellites.
But there's more on the line. If Blue Origin plans to launch its first robotic Moon lander early next year—as currently envisioned—the company needs to recover the New Glenn rocket's first stage booster. Crews will again dispatch Blue Origin's landing platform into the Atlantic Ocean, just as they did for the first New Glenn flight in January.
The debut launch of New Glenn successfully reached orbit, a difficult feat for the inaugural flight of any rocket. But the booster fell into the Atlantic Ocean after three of the rocket's engines failed to reignite to slow down for landing. Engineers identified seven changes to resolve the problem, focusing on what Blue Origin calls "propellant management and engine bleed control improvements."
Relying on reuse
Pat Remias, Blue Origin's vice president of space systems development, said Thursday that the company is confident in nailing the landing on the second flight of New Glenn. That launch, with NASA's next set of Mars probes, is likely to occur no earlier than November from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.
"We fully intend to recover the New Glenn first stage on this next launch," Remias said in a presentation at the International Astronautical Congress in Sydney. "Fully intend to do it."
Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, nicknamed the booster stage for the next flight "Never Tell Me The Odds." It's not quite fair to say the company's leadership has gone all-in with their bet that the next launch will result in a successful booster landing. But the difference between a smooth touchdown and another crash landing will have a significant effect on Bezos's Moon program.