Blue Origin’s payload for New Glenn’s first mission, NG-1, is ready for launch this year. NG-1 will carry the company’s Blue Ring Pathfinder and mark the rocket’s first National Security Space Launch certification flight. The encapsulated payload will be integrated onto the launch vehicle following the hotfire.

The pathfinder was developed by Blue Origin’s In-Space Systems business unit. It will test Blue Ring’s core flight, ground systems, and operational capabilities. NG-1 will carry the Blue Ring Pathfinder payload as part of the Defense Innovation Unit’s (DIU) Orbital Logistics prototype effort. DIU funding is helping to enable future Department of Defense missions.

The demonstrator includes a communications array, power systems, and a flight computer affixed to a secondary payload adapter ring. The pathfinder will validate Blue Ring’s communications capabilities from orbit to ground. The mission will also test its in-space telemetry, tracking and command hardware, and ground-based radiometric tracking that will be used on the future Blue Ring production space vehicle. The pathfinder will remain onboard New Glenn’s second stage for the duration of an expected six-hour mission.

Blue Ring addresses two of the most difficult challenges in spaceflight today: Growing space infrastructure and the need for increased mobility in space. The spacecraft’s ability to maneuver to multiple orbits and locations, deploy and host payloads, and perform onboard computing and communications will enable groundbreaking missions for a variety of customers.

The multi-mission space mobility platform can deliver and host 3,000 kilograms of payloads across 13 ports to destinations in GEO, cislunar, and interplanetary space. Blue Ring's ports can accommodate ESPA and ESPA Grande class satellites and up to a 2.5 metric ton payload on its top deck.

Courtesy of Blue Origin

New Glenn is named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth. The rocket stands at roughly the height of a 30-story building and features a seven-meter payload fairing, enabling twice the volume of standard five-meter class commercial launch systems.

Specs

Height: 98 m (322 ft)

Diameter: 7 m (23 ft)

Stages: 2

Payload to low Earth orbit (LEO): 45,000 kg (99,000 lb)

Payload to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO): 13,600 kg (30,000 lb)

The fairing is large enough to hold three school buses. Its reusable first stage aims for a minimum of 25 missions and will land on a sea-based platform located roughly 620 miles (1,000 km) downrange. Reusability is integral to radically reducing cost-per-launch.

The vehicle is powered by seven of Blue Origin’s BE-4 engines, the most powerful liquid oxygen (LOX) / liquefied natural gas (LNG) engine ever flown. LNG is cleaner-burning and higher-performing than kerosene-based fuels.

Blue Origin has several New Glenn vehicles in production and a full customer manifest. Customers include NASA, Project Kuiper, Telesat, and Eutelsat, among others. Blue Origin is certifying New Glenn with the U.S. Space Force for the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program to meet emerging national security objectives.

Courtesy of Blue Origin.

Launch Complex 36 (LC-36) is located at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station just nine miles (14 km) away from the rocket factory. Blue Origin invested more than $1 billion to rebuild the launch site from the ground up.

Completed in 2021, LC-36 is the first newly rebuilt launch complex since the 1960s.

The complex is home to New Glenn’s launch pad, vehicle integration, first stage refurbishment, propellant facilities, and environmental control center.

LC-36 is the former home of more than 140 Atlas II/III launches, including the Mariner, Pioneer, and Surveyor missions.

Courtesy of Blue Origin.

Blue Origin's Jacklyn is a specialized landing platform designed to recover the first stage of the New Glenn rocket. Named after Jeff Bezos's mother, Jacklyn serves as an ocean-based droneship. Its purpose is to provide a safe landing location for the reusable first stage of New Glenn after it completes its role in launching payloads into space.

The Jacklyn droneship is equipped with systems to stabilize the rocket during recovery and transport it back to land for refurbishment.