Latest news with #DaveLimp
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Blue Origin New Glenn rocket preparing for possible late spring Cape Canaveral launch
After the inaugural January flight of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, many began wondering: when will this massive rocket launch again? Blue Origin says to expect a launch in late spring. Blue Origin has been observed working on the multi-stage orbital rocket to prepare it for this second flight from Cape Canaveral. An exact launch date has not yet been announced. Not to be confused with Blue Origin's single-stage New Shepard, which launches from Texas, the multi-stage 320-foot-tall New Glenn is the rocket that will bring Bezos' company into the orbital marketplace, currently dominated by SpaceX. And like SpaceX's Falcon 9, New Glenn is built to reuse the first-stage booster by having it land out on Blue Origin's Jacklyn drone ship. While Blue Origin failed to land the first-stage during the January flight — Jacklyn returned to Port Canaveral empty — Blue Origin wants to try again during this upcoming flight. New Glenn's first-stage is deigned to fly a minimum of 25 times — something Falcon 9 has already accomplished with SpaceX recently landing one for the 27th time. But while the landing wasn't successful in January, New Glenn's upper-stage successfully delivered the Blue Ring test payload to orbit. Earlier in April, the second-stage engine was observed traveling from Blue Origin's Merritt Island facilities on Space Commerce Way to the launch facilities in Cape Canaveral. Then on April 24, Blue Origin conducted a 15-second test fire of the second-stage at the company's Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36. The FLORIDA TODAY Space Team have also observed activity around the launch pad, such as flare stacks burning brightly. Blue Origin's Launch Complex 36 is the only launch pad clearly visible from Brevard beaches. "January's GS2 performed remarkably during our inaugural New Glenn launch, delivering our payload to orbit with less than 1% deviation from the target. Today, we completed a full duration 15-second hotfire test of the upper stage for our NG-2 mission. This time, we achieved enhanced performance from the BE-3U engine, increasing the maximum thrust from 173,000 lbf to 175,000 lbf per engine, further expanding New Glenn's capabilities for our customers," CEO Dave Limp said in a April 24 post on X. The payload for this upcoming flight has not yet been revealed, and it is unknown when NASA's EscaPADE mission to Mars will be launching on the rocket. That mission was originally set to launch on the Blue Origin rocket last year. When is the next launch? Is there a launch today? Upcoming SpaceX, NASA rocket launch schedule at Cape Canaveral Once operational, New Glenn will also launch Amazon's Project Kuiper internet satellites, which are a competitor to SpaceX's Starlink. Florida just saw the first launch of the Kuiper internet constellation last month atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@ or on X: @brookeofstars. This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Massive Blue Origin New Glenn rocket to launch 2nd time by late spring
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
SpaceX launches Falcon 9 on Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral; booster lands for 23rd time
Another SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took flight in the darkness Thursday, April 24, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, lifting another 28 Starlink broadband satellites into low-Earth orbit. SpaceX's Starlink 6-74 mission lifted off at 9:52 p.m. from Launch Complex 40. The Space Force's 45th Weather Squadron had pegged the odds of "go for launch" weather at greater than 95%, citing a warm, dry weather pattern at the spaceport. Of note, the mission marked the Falcon 9 first-stage booster's 23rd flight, SpaceX reported. The booster previously launched CRS-24, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13F, OneWeb 1, SES-18 and SES-19, and 18 Starlink missions. Cape Canaveral: Is there a launch today? Upcoming SpaceX, NASA rocket launch schedule at Cape Canaveral Following stage separation, the rocket booster returned to Earth and touched down atop the SpaceX drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean roughly 8½ minutes after liftoff. Hours before the launch, Blue Origin crews conducted a New Glenn rocket upper-stage engine test at Launch Complex 36, just south of SpaceX's twin Falcon booster landing zones at the Space Force installation. "Today, we completed a full duration 15-second hotfire test of the upper stage for our NG-2 mission. This time, we achieved enhanced performance from the BE-3U engine, increasing the maximum thrust from 173,000 lbf to 175,000 lbf per engine, further expanding New Glenn's capabilities for our customers," Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said in a tweet. Looking ahead on the Eastern Range schedule, SpaceX will try to launch a Falcon 9 on another Starlink mission on Sunday, April 27, according to the Space Coast Office of Tourism. Target liftoff time: 10:04 p.m. Then on Monday, April 28, United Launch Alliance will again attempt to launch an Atlas V rocket with five solid rocket boosters, deploying the first payload of Amazon's Project Kuiper internet production satellites into low-Earth orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. That ULA two-hour launch window opens at 7 p.m. Live FLORIDA TODAY Space Team coverage will kick off about 90 minutes before the SpaceX liftoff and two hours before the ULA launch at Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at Rneale@ Twitter/X: @RickNeale1 Space is important to us and that's why we're working to bring you top coverage of the industry and Florida launches. Journalism like this takes time and resources. Please support it with a subscription here. This article originally appeared on Florida Today: SpaceX booster lands for 23rd time on Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral
Yahoo
15-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin laying off 1,000 employees: reports
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Jeff Bezos' aerospace company, Blue Origin, is laying off about 1,000 workers, according to media reports. Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp announced the cuts in an internal email to employees, which was obtained by CNN and The New York Times, among other outlets. Blue Origin does not disclose how many people it employs, but that number is thought to be around 10,000, according to The New York Times. The new layoffs therefore represent a roughly 10% cull. 'We grew and hired incredibly fast in the last few years, and with that growth came more bureaucracy and less focus than we needed,' the email reads, according to CNN. "It also became clear that the makeup of our organization must change to ensure our roles are best aligned with executing these priorities." According to the email, the cuts will be "in engineering, research and development, project management, and general managerial layers," The New York Times reported. Jeff Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000, two years before Elon Musk established SpaceX. The two billionaires have both said they want to help humanity extend its footprint out into the cosmos. Musk's focus has long been on Mars, whereas Bezos has touted the potential of giant space stations. Related: Blue Origin: Everything you need to know about the private spaceflight company RELATED STORIES: — Blue Origin fires up 2nd stage of huge New Glenn rocket ahead of debut launch (video) — NASA delays ESCAPADE Mars launch on Blue Origin's giant New Glenn rocket to 2025 to avoid potential cost overruns — New Glenn: Blue Origin's reusable rocket Blue Origin has launched its suborbital, fully reusable New Shepard vehicle 29 times to date, most recently on Feb. 4. Nine of those 29 flights have been crewed. The company is also developing a big, partially reusable rocket called New Glenn, which launched for the first time ever last month. That test flight was a success, with the rocket's upper stage reaching Earth orbit as planned (though the rocket's first stage failed in its attempt to land on a ship at sea). Blue Origin has other irons in the fire as well. For example, it's working on a spacecraft called Blue Moon, which NASA selected to be the second crewed lander for its Artemis program.
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Blue Origin announces layoffs following New Glenn launch
Less than a month after Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket successfully reached orbit for the first time, the company is announcing sweeping layoffs. Eyewitness News obtained an email from Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp announcing a 10% reduction in the company's workforce. The email states that the company's focus is to scale manufacturing output and its launch cadence. Blue Origin says it's doing what it can to support everyone impacted. 'I think in the case of Blue Origin, we might look at it from the point of view of engineers are victims of their own success, and so basically if they've gotten a system to the point where it's designed and it can transition to being operational, then they may not have a job anymore, and so it's a different set of employees that are needed to run the operations,' said Don Platt, associate professor of space systems at Florida Tech. Limp said the company will continue to invest, invent and hire hundreds of positions in areas that will best serve customers. It still means an uncertain future for some employees and comes just days after Boeing announced 400 potential layoffs for employees working on its Space Launch System program that supports NASA's moon rocket. Blue Origin built and launched its New Glenn rocket from Florida's space coast. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin targeting late spring for 2nd launch of powerful New Glenn rocket
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. WASHINGTON, D.C. — The second launch of Blue Origin's huge New Glenn rocket could be just a few months away. The 320-foot-tall (98-meter-tall) New Glenn lifted off for the first time on Jan. 16 from Florida's Space Coast. The test flight was a success; the rocket's upper stage successfully carried its payload, a test version of Blue Origin's new Blue Ring spacecraft platform, to Earth orbit. A secondary objective didn't go so well; New Glenn's first-stage booster failed to stick its landing on a ship at sea. (This was the expected outcome, the company had stressed; a successful touchdown on the debut flight would have been a pleasant surprise.) Blue Origin says it has homed in on the likely cause of the booster issue and plans to try again soon. The booster's engines appeared to be performing well during the landing sequence, but "we weren't able to get everything right to the engine from the tanks. And so we think we understand what the issues are," Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said during a talk on Wednesday (Feb. 12) here at the 27th Annual Commercial Space Conference. He didn't identify those issues, describing them as "a combination of a couple of things." Blue Origin is making some changes to the second New Glenn booster to increase the chances of landing success, Limp added. "The modifications are not complicated," he said. 'I don't think it's going to delay our path to flight. I think we can still fly late spring.' Related: Blue Origin: Everything you need to know about the private spaceflight company RELATED STORIES: — Blue Origin fires up 2nd stage of huge New Glenn rocket ahead of debut launch (video) — NASA delays ESCAPADE Mars launch on Blue Origin's giant New Glenn rocket to 2025 to avoid potential cost overruns — New Glenn: Blue Origin's reusable rocket Blue Origin still hasn't announced what payload(s) will fly on New Glenn's second launch, and Limp said the company is "still looking for opportunities." "If it came to it and we just had to fly a mass simulator, we'll fly a mass simulator," he said. The company views the first three New Glenn launches as developmental flights, he added, but has commercial customers for the rocket from Flight 4 onward. New Glenn, which has been in development for about a decade, can carry 50 tons (45 metric tons) of payload to low Earth orbit (LEO). Its 23-foot-wide (7 m) payload fairing — the shell that surrounds and protects satellites during launch — is larger than that of any operational rocket.
