WASHINGTON – Blue Origin has completed the investigation into the failure of its New Glenn rocket on the third flight, clearing the way for launches of the vehicle to resume.
In a May 22 statement, Blue Origin said the Federal Aviation Administration had approved its report examining New Glenn’s April 19 launch on the NG-3 mission. During flight, the second stage, which the company called GS2, experienced a second burn. It trapped the payload, the Bluebird 7 satellite for the AST spacemobile, in such a low orbit that the spacecraft could not recover.
“Prior to our second GS2 burn, we experienced an off-nominal thermal condition, and as a result, one of the BE-3U engines did not achieve full thrust to reach our target orbit,” Blue Origin said.
In a statement to SpaceNews, the FAA confirmed that it has closed the investigation into the launch failure led by Blue Origin and that launches of the vehicle will be allowed to resume.
“The final accident report identified the direct cause of the accident as a cryogenic leak, which froze hydraulic lines and caused a thrust anomaly during the second stage engine burn,” the agency said.
The FAA said, “Blue Origin has identified nine corrective actions to prevent a recurrence of the incident,” but did not disclose the corrective actions. “The FAA will verify that Blue Origin implements corrective actions prior to the launch of the next New Glenn mission.”
Blue Origin did not disclose additional details but said it is preparing for its next New Glenn launch, NG-4. Earlier in the day, the company’s chief executive Dave Limp posted a video of a new vehicle being installed on a transporter-erector. “The next stop is integrated Hotfire,” he wrote.
Blue Origin has not disclosed any plans for the NG-4 mission or customer. NG-3 customer AST Spacemobile recently sent three Bluebird satellites to Florida for launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 in June.
“This type of upper-level discrepancy is not unusual at the start of programs, and we are optimistic about them getting back on the pad soon,” Scott Wisniewski, AST’s chief strategy officer, said in a May 11 earnings call. He said the next New Glenn launch for AST will carry four Bluebird satellites, but he did not disclose a timeframe for that mission.
