Work has advanced quickly on the Jarvis project, apparently named after the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sources said Bezos has walled off parts of the second-stage development program from the rest of Blue Origin and told its leaders to innovate in an environment unfettered by rigorous management and paperwork processes. This is one of the reasons he decided to initiate a project named "Jarvis" at Blue Origin within the reusable second-stage program. However, over the last year, Bezos took note as SpaceX launched and landed its Starship vehicle. Advertisementįurther Reading Musk’s Mars moment: Audacity, madness, brilliance-or maybe all three In making both the first and second stages of New Glenn fully reusable, Bezos is emulating Musk's ambitious plan to land and reuse both the Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage. The reusable second-stage program appears to have drawn inspiration from SpaceX for more than just its stainless steel materials. "This is the difference between taking a profit and a loss on New Glenn launches," said one industry source familiar with the reusable upper-stage plan. The vehicle's large upper stage, with a 7-meter diameter and two BE-3U engines, is costly, and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos is looking for ways to make the overall rocket more economical. The primary goal of this change is to bring down the overall launch cost of the New Glenn rocket. Three sources have confirmed to Ars that Blue Origin has started working on a project to develop a fully reusable upper stage for New Glenn, which may potentially use stainless steel propellant tanks. However, after subsequent reporting, I discovered a kernel of truth to the rumors of stainless steel and Blue Origin rockets. New Glenn was not swapping its first stage to stainless steel. What went wrong?Īt the time, I checked with a source and found the rumor to be false. Further Reading Blue Origin’s massive New Glenn rocket is delayed for years.
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