Expanding upon its mission to build a road to space for the benefit of Earth, Blue Origin has unveiled Blue Ring, a spacecraft platform focused on providing in-space logistics and delivery.

Blue Ring serves commercial and government customers and can support a variety of missions in medium Earth orbit out to the cislunar region and beyond. The platform provides end-to-end services that span hosting, transportation, refueling, data relay, and logistics, including an “in-space” cloud computing capability. Blue Ring can host payloads of more than 3,000 kg and provides unprecedented delta-V capabilities and mission flexibility.

Blue Ring is part of a newly formed Blue Origin business unit called In-Space Systems.

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.