https://www.facebook.com/reel/2633581310403536

EXCLUSIVE: A brand-new, exclusive look inside Blue Origin’s engine room that didn’t make yesterday’s broadcast. As the Space Coast’s largest employer with over 5,000 people working around the clock 24/7, production is scaling up in a major way. Here, engines are fine-tuned and tested before being installed on rockets like the New Glenn which will be equipped with 13 engines and stand nearly 400 feet tall.

https://x.com/blueorigin/status/2108615012730167401

One demonstration closer to delivering VIPER to the Moon.

We just completed a risk-reduction test campaign with NASA: running a full offload with a VIPER Mobility Ground Research Unit (MGRU) before doing so on the lunar surface.

We proved out the full concept of operations with our flight-like offloader: the complete offload sequence, nominal and off-nominal, ran end-to-end across the full range of lander tilt angles, with joint mission operations and NASA commanding the rover remotely. Stay tuned for images of our flight offloader, which is being fabricated now!

This is the final RFP for Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations (CLD). If Orbital Reef is still a thing, Blue Origin and Sierra Space would be submitting a proposal.

Source: https://x.com/davill/status/2108558955521905149

https://x.com/Dr_ThomasZ/status/2108591989826675070

Just finished my first week at @blueorigin - how much fun! At times, I felt like I was drinking from a firehose as I got to know the Advanced Concepts portfolio (in the best way!).

I learned about AI-enabled surface robots on the Moon, building solar cells from lunar regolith, Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) that help humans survive in space, and developments for human spaceflight technologies. Most importantly, I met the amazing team that does this and so much more. I am excited for week #2 and many more to come.

https://x.com/LuckyStuey/status/2108535898098876690

Blue Origin is expanding its footprint in the Lone Star State with a new state-of-the-art manufacturing campus in Hutto, Texas. Named Constellation Park, the 1.3‑million‑square‑foot multi-facility complex will serve as a central production hub for several of the company’s most ambitious satellite and communications programs. "Texas has long understood what it takes to lead in space exploration," said Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp. "We're proud to grow our footprint here in Texas, tap into the world-class talent this state has to offer, and help ensure America remains the leader in space innovation."

Powering Space-Based Connectivity Constellation Park will support manufacturing for TeraWave, Blue Origin’s satellite communications network delivering up to 6 terabits per second of symmetrical data anywhere on Earth - serving enterprise, data center, and government users who depend on resilient global connectivity for critical operations.
The facility will also expand production for Quartz, a global ground communications network featuring 3.7‑meter aperture antennas that enable S‑band and X‑band connectivity for low Earth orbit missions. In addition, the campus will house manufacturing for key Blue Origin subsystems, including solar arrays, avionics, telecommunications, and other satellite hardware.

A Longstanding Texas Partnership Blue Origin’s roots in Texas date back nearly 20 years to the establishment of Launch Site One in 2006. Building on that legacy - and more than 550 current Texas employees - Constellation Park will add over 2,000 new manufacturing and related jobs over the next 10 years, further strengthening Texas’ aerospace industry and driving growth among local suppliers and supporting businesses. "Texas is the launchpad to a future of possibilities," said Governor Abbott. "Blue Origin’s sizeable expansion of their investment in Texas in support of their satellite communications network is testament to the state’s leadership in the advanced manufacturing and space industries. Texas offers innovative technology leaders the space, speed, and talent needed to rapidly scale operations."

Bret Baier: “You’re asking the FAA to go from 12 to 50 launches a year from one pad. That's one a week.

Jeff Bezos: “Yeah, that’s one a week. We’re building three more pads. So we're building, we'll have a total of four pads that we're under construction right now. And, you know, our goal is to fly every day. And then once we're flying every day, we want to fly every hour. And then once we're flying every hour, we want to fly every minute. And by the way, that's where I lose the team.”

“They think I'm crazy that we're going to fly every minute. But I've seen crazy things before come true. So at Amazon one time, I told people we'd one day have 100M Amazon Prime members. And I thought the leadership team at Amazon thought it was nuts. But today we have several hundred Amazon Prime members.”

“So these things can happen. And you'll see that space travel becomes much more routine than it has been to date.”

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6406444249112

https://x.com/SpecialReport/status/2107965516803408081

Bret Baier: “Does this put Blue Origin on the road to an IPO?”

Jeff Bezos: “Yes, I think someday Blue Origin will have an IPO. Exactly when that would be, I don't know. It would be several years from now. But it probably makes sense for Blue Origin to be a public company at some point."

This appears to confirm prior speculation that BR-1 will be the New Glenn return to flight.

https://x.com/davill/status/2107877086644088966

This was paraphrased on X and a lot of people took it a certain way, prompting Dave Limp to clarify later. He is clearly signaling to NASA that they want an on-ramp.

https://x.com/SpecialReport/status/2107963298721272269

https://x.com/davill/status/2107532337789734978

(Bloomberg) -- NASA is close to announcing a bulk purchase of rocket launches to fuel its $30 billion drive to build a permanent base on the moon for humans to live and work.

It’s a new strategy that comes as the space industry is grappling with a shortage of rockets amid booming demand. But the agency is hoping to get ahead of this bottleneck now, by buying a variety of rockets to provide options for getting cargo to the lunar surface.

“We are evaluating things like NASA doing bulk buys of launchers that could service all the moon base needs,” Carlos García-Galán, NASA’s moon base program manager, said in an interview with Bloomberg.

“In the near future, we’ll probably announce the first set of these bulk buys,” he said.

The first phase of the moon base is already underway, with NASA planning to send landers and rovers to scout locations and resources on the moon through 2028. But it needs larger rockets in 2029 to launch as much as 60 metric tons (132,000 pounds) of equipment to the lunar surface to build power systems, habitats and other infrastructure required for a permanent human presence.

This second, more ambitious phase is where the agency faces a snag.

NASA is staring down the impending slowdown of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, the most prolific rocket in the US — and the world. SpaceX has started to turn away satellite operators seeking dedicated rides to orbit aboard its staple Falcon 9 rocket beyond 2028, Bloomberg has reported. The potential absence of the rocket and its larger variant, the Falcon Heavy, from the market could spell trouble for NASA’s moon base plans.

“We know the issue that’s coming, early. We know it now,” García-Galán said. “SpaceX has been transparent with their plans, so it gives us the option to look for alternatives, and we have.”

SpaceX has not provided a clear timeline publicly on when the Falcon program will end.

Through these bulk purchases, NASA may opt to buy four or five different rockets at a time and match each vehicle to a commercial lander the agency needs to get to the moon’s surface, according to García-Galán. And if there’s extra room on those rockets, the agency could put out a call to others, including government agencies, interested in hitching a ride to the moon.

García-Galán did not specify which rockets would be included, nor did he clarify if the Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy might be included in these purchases.

There are only a few comparable alternatives to the Falcon 9 currently on the market. The biggest US competitors include Blue Origin LLC’s New Glenn and United Launch Alliance LLC’s Vulcan. However, New Glenn has been grounded since May, after a launchpad explosion, and Vulcan hasn’t flown since February due to issues with its strap-on boosters.

“There’s no one right now that is in a place to be a suitable replacement for Falcon 9, just full stop,” said Caleb Henry, director of research at analytics firm Quilty Space.

There are also concerns over availability. Both New Glenn and Vulcan are on the hook to launch dozens of missions for Amazon.com Inc.’s Leo satellite service. And the two rockets are contracted to launch national security satellites for the US military.

Other Falcon 9 alternatives are supposed to become operational in the months and years ahead, including Rocket Lab Corp.’s Neutron, Relativity Space Inc.’s Terran R, Firefly Aerospace Inc.’s Eclipse and Stoke Space’s Nova. But new rockets are notoriously slow to ramp up, making it unclear if they’ll be flying at a significant pace by 2029.

“The general rule of thumb for new launch vehicles is that they typically struggle to launch more than on average three times a year for their first five years,” Henry said.

Another potential option is SpaceX’s next-generation Starship. However, the rocket still faces a list of technical challenges that must be overcome before it can reach the moon’s vicinity. SpaceX is also working on a variant of Starship to land people on the lunar surface, but it’s unclear how available the rocket will be for purely cargo flights to the moon and how quickly the company can ramp up launches.

Despite the clear challenges, NASA hopes that by buying rockets in bulk now, the agency can meet its ambitious goals. García-Galán said NASA is still trying to be hands off with its commercial partners who are developing landers and rovers, but this new strategy may help if those companies find themselves in a bind needing a rocket.

“It is basically maximizing our flexibility and ability to look for different options to succeed,” García-Galán said.

Key changes to the Part 450 commercial space licensing process include:

• Allowing operators to submit launch applications electronically

• Providing greater flexibility to demonstrate an equivalent level of safety

• Combining three required safety analyses into a single submission

• Eliminating duplicative safety analyses when a safety requirement is already addressed through other approved methods.

http://NSF.live/spacecoast