New Glenn: Just a bigger Falcon 9?

Disclaimer: This article contains the opinion of the writer and not Cosmic Nxws as a whole.

SpaceX has continually proven to be an immovable industry leader with its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles, which has been landing for over seven years. However, Blue Origin, which is backed by Jeff Bezos, is hoping to disrupt SpaceX's dominance with its upcoming New Glenn launch vehicle.

At a glance, New Glenn looks like a larger Falcon 9 with a bigger payload capacity. But looking into New Glenn the two launch vehicles have several differences. So how similar are Falcon 9 and New Glenn? And can Blue Origin compete?

So what is New Glenn?

New Glenn is Blue Origin's in-development partially reusable heavy-lift launch vehicle. The rocket is expected to be manufactured almost entirely by the company. New Glenn is expected to launch from Launch Complex 36 in Cape Canaveral, located in Florida.

Blue Origin claims that New Glenn will be able to send up to 45,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit when reused. It is also claimed that it plans to send 13,600 kilograms to a geosynchronous transfer orbit when reused. Blue Origin has not yet released any expendable payload capacity figures at the time of writing.

The first-stage is planned to be powered by seven BE-4 engines burning liquid methane and liquid oxygen to generate 1,746 tons of thrust for a currently undisclosed amount of time.

The second-stage is planned to be powered by two BE-3U engines burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to generate 145 tons of thrust, also for an undisclosed amount of time.

For recovery, New Glenn plans to use four fins located near the top of the booster, to control the boosters' descent when unpowered, and six landing legs that are stowed at the bottom of the booster during flight. It is currently believed that Blue Origin only plans to land the first-stage booster downrange on a drone ship.

On the launch pad the rocket is 98 meters tall and 7 meters in diameter, Blue Origin has not yet said how much the launch vehicle weighs fully fuelled.

And what is Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy?

Falcon 9 is currently the world's only operational partially reusable medium-lift launch vehicle. The rocket is manufactured and operated by American aerospace company SpaceX. Falcon 9 currently launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base, in California, and Cape Canaveral, in Florida.

SpaceX claims that Falcon 9 can send up to 22,800 kilograms into low Earth orbit when expended or 18,400 kilograms when reused. Similarly, it can send up to 8,300 kilograms into geosynchronous transfer orbit when expended or 5,500 kilograms when reused.

The first-stage is powered by nine Merlin 1D engines burning rocket-grade kerosene and liquid oxygen to generate 771 tons of thrust for up to two-minutes and forty-two seconds of burn time.

The second-stage is powered by a single Merlin 1D vacuum engine burning rocket-grade kerosene and liquid oxygen to generate 95 tons of thrust for up to six minutes and thirty-seven seconds of burn time.

For recovery, Falcon 9 has four grid fins and four landing legs on the first-stage. The first stage either lands vertically on a drone ship or on a landing pad back at its launch site, landing back at the launch site causes a reduction it payload capacity.

On the pad, the rocket is 70 meters tall with the first and second stages 3.7 meters in diameter, the fairing is 5.2 meters in diameter and tapers out from the top of the second-stage. Fully fuelled Falcon 9 weighs approximately 549,000 kilograms.

SpaceX also flies a larger rocket for missions that require it, called Falcon Heavy. SpaceX claims that Falcon Heavy can send up to 63,800 kilograms to low Earth orbit and 26,700 kilograms to geosynchronous transfer orbit when fully expended, or 8,000 kilograms to geosynchronous transfer orbit when all three cores are reused.

The boosters are powered by nine Merlin 1D engines each burning rocket-grade kerosene and liquid oxygen to generate 771 each, 1542 tons of thrust combined, for up to two-minutes and thirty-four seconds of burn time.

The first-stage and second-stage are the same as the Falcon 9, however the core can burn for up to three-minutes and seven seconds of burn time.

For recovery, each booster, and sometimes the first stage, has four grid fins and four landing legs. The boosters either land vertically on a drone ship or on a landing pad back at its launch site, landing back at the launch site causes a reduction it payload capacity.

On the pad, the rocket is 70 meters tall with the first and second stages 3.7 meters in diameter as well as the boosters, with the booster attached the rocket has a width of 12.2 meters. The fairing is 5.2 meters in diameter and tapers out from the top of the second-stage. Fully fuelled Falcon Heavy weighs approximately 1,420,000 kilograms.

How do they compare?

Initially, both vehicles seem similar, both plan to be partially reusable and support both companies' visions of humans living and working in space.

Both seek to propulsively land using their engines on their first-stage requiring the capability to relight the engine in flight. SpaceX has Falcon 9 land back near its launch site or on a drone ship at sea, landing at sea needs the Merlin 1D to relight twice after launch with launch site landings needing three. During unpowered flight Falcon 9 deploys four grid fins to control the first-stage booster. Blue Origin currently, at the time of writing, only plans to land its booster downrange at sea requiring the BE-4 engine to relight at least once, a second relight may be required depending on the first-stage booster re-entry profile. For unpowered flight, New Glenn will use four fins to help guide the first-stage booster to its landing site.

Due to New Glenn's size, the second-stage is able to support a larger payload capacity to 'high-energy' orbits. The second-stage of New Glenn burns liquid hydrogen, compared to Falcon 9's rocket-grade kerosene. That allows New Glenn to deliver 13,600 kilograms to geosynchronous transfer orbit compared to Falcon 9's 8,300 kilograms when expended. New Glenn also has the benefit of using two BE-3U engines allowing for a greater throttle range, which increases orbital accuracy, whereas Falcon 9 only has one Merlin-1D Vacuum engine which shortens its in-space burns due to its high thrust.

Also due to New Glenn's size, the rocket competes with SpaceX's Falcon Heavy launch vehicle, which is currently the most capable commercial launch vehicle in operation. New Glenn falls under Falcon Heavy's payload capability to both low Earth orbit and geosynchronous transfer orbit but has the benefit of being a simpler vehicle. Falcon Heavy consists of three boosters, with nine engines each, and a second-stage whereas New Glenn consists of one booster and a second-stage.

New Glenn currently does not have a public cost per launch but has bid the rocket on contracts for as low as twenty million dollars and has been awarded at least twelve launches for Amazon's Kuiper constellation, the rocket will also help build the Orbital Reef space station. SpaceX has its Falcon 9 rocket cost between sixty and eighty million dollars and Falcon Heavy costs between ninety and one-hundred and fifty million dollars, both costs are determined by booster landing location and reuse.

Why does New Glenn exist?

Blue Origin is seeking to have people living and working in space along with moving 'heavy industry' off of Earth. To support that goal the company is developing New Glenn as a carrier rocket for large payloads, such as their lunar lander as part of the Artemis program. By developing a vehicle as capable as New Glenn Blue Origin hopes to create a system capable of supporting the start of their long term goal.

Conclusion on New Glenn

It could be argued that New Glenn is a bigger Falcon 9 however I believe there are enough differences between the two launch vehicles for that not to be the case. Blue Origin has been flight-testing parts of the rocket since 2015 so is likely to make significant progress on its first flight before it ends or completely succeeds.

New Glenn is likely currently slated to debut in the second half of 2024, it is unknown if this launch will also have a landing attempt.

Who are the companies?

This section of the article is here to provide some additional insight on SpaceX and Blue Origin for people who may not know much about the two companies.

Who is Blue Origin?

Blue Origin is an American aerospace company founded in September of 2000 and headquartered in Kent, Washington, in the United States. The company currently operates the New Shepard sub-orbital reusable launch vehicle and is developing the heavy-lift partially reusable orbital launch vehicle called New Glenn.

Blue Origin was founded, and is still owned, by Jeff Bezos with the following long-term vision:

"Blue Origin was founded with a vision of millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. Blue Origin envisions a time when people can tap into the limitless resources of space and enable the movement of damaging industries into space to preserve Earth, humanity’s blue origin."

Who is SpaceX?

SpaceX is an American commercial launch provider founded on the 14th of March 2002 and is headquartered in Hawthorne, in California. The company currently operates its partially reusable Falcon 9 liquid-fuelled rocket.

SpaceX is also working on its fully reusable Starship-Superheavy launch vehicle. The company has the long-term vision of making humanity multi-planetary, notably developing a self-sustaining city on Mars.