Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s rocket company Blue Origin is preparing to compete more strongly with Elon Musk’s SpaceX by developing a new super heavy class rocket called the New Glenn nine by four. This new vehicle will be built alongside upgrades to the current New Glenn rocket.
In a recent blog post, Blue Origin said, “The next chapter in New Glenn’s roadmap is a new super heavy class rocket.” The rocket is named after the first American to orbit Earth and will have nine engines on its first stage and four on its second stage. The present New Glenn, which has four fewer engines, will now be called the seven by two. In a post on the social media platform X, Blue Origin chief executive Dave Limp shared a photo of the latest New Glenn model that shows the size difference compared with the older version.
The New Glenn nine by four will be able to carry more than seventy metric tons of payload to low Earth orbit. This is an increase from the forty five metric tons carried by the current New Glenn heavy lift vehicle. The higher capacity places it in closer competition with SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, which can take sixty four metric tons into orbit, and the Starship vehicle, which is designed to carry one hundred metric tons and is still in testing.
Blue Origin said that both the nine by four and the seven by two models “will be in use at the same time.” They will support missions that include lunar exploration, the launch of large satellite groups known as mega constellations, and national security work such as the United States Golden Dome project. The update to New Glenn comes one week after Blue Origin completed its second successful launch. The seven by two model will receive several upgrades, including improved engines. Blue Origin says these changes will increase payload performance, improve reliability, and allow more frequent launches.
The reusable first stage booster from New Glenn’s second launch was returned for refurbishment this week. Soon after Blue Origin shared its updated vehicle roadmap, SpaceX said that its third generation Super Heavy booster for Starship has begun prelaunch testing.
Blue Origin is competing with SpaceX and other companies such as Rocket Lab Corp that are also developing rockets capable of carrying large satellite groups into orbit. Blue Origin is seeking a role in NASA’s Artemis Three mission. Both Blue Origin and SpaceX have submitted proposals to build the lunar lander that will return astronauts to the moon. The project was first awarded to SpaceX, but the two point nine billion dollar contract was reopened after NASA raised concerns about delays to the Starship based design.
According to sources, SpaceX has moved the planned launch date from mid twenty twenty seven to September twenty twenty eight. Blue Origin already has a three point four billion dollar contract for a lander for the Artemis Five mission, which is planned for twenty twenty nine. This week, the company also revealed an aerobrake that will slow and protect payloads during their return to Earth.
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