Every Part of Blue Origin’s New Glenn Rocket is Gigantic, Including its Nose Cone

Massive. Enormous. Huge. Gigantic. And whatever other words you find in the thesaurus all do the job when it comes to describing Blue Origin’s New Glenn Rocket. Especially its nosecone.

Blue Origin recently gave us a look at the nosecone, more properly called the payload fairing, in a short video. The company says it can fit nearly 50% more payload than the next competitor. They’re trying to build one rocket and payload fairing combination that can meet the needs of all customers: commercial, civil, and national security.

The fairing itself is 7 meters (22 ft) in diameter.

“It’s really designed for the whole spectrum, from commercial, to civil, to national security…”

Scott Henderson, Orbital Launch Director, Blue Origin.

The company points out that their New Shepard rocket can fit inside the New Glenn’s payload fairing. Truly astonishing.

Rocket engines get most of the glory, but without that payload fairing, rockets can’t do much. The payload fairing shelters the payload during the turmoil of launch, and needs to withstand all of the vibrations and other stresses. Once in orbit, the fairing falls away in two pieces, and the payload can be delivered.

Obviously, it doesn’t matter how powerful a rocket is if it can’t fit the bulk of the payload. The video was taken at the company’s Florida manufacturing facility, and shows how small people are in comparison. The fairing is huge!

New Glenn will feature a reusable first stage that, according to Blue Origin, will last for 25 missions. They also say that the rocket will be able to launch in 95% of weather conditions, implying that launch schedules will be reliable.

The New Glenn rocket will be taller than any other commercial available vehicle. Image Credit: Blue Origin

New Glenn will reach a towering height of 95 meters (313 ft) which will dwarf any other commercially available vehicle. And it will be capable of delivering 45 metric tons, almost 100,000 pounds, into Low-Earth Orbit (LEO).

Initially, Jeff Bezos said that New Glenn would be ready to launch this year, but where have we heard that before? Now, the company says that it’ll launch with its first payload in 2021.

So far, they only have the main engines and the payload fairing. They’re still working on the rest of the vehicle.

Evan Gough

Recent Posts

Eris Could be Slushier Than Pluto

In 2005, astronomer Mike Brown and his colleagues Chad Trujillo and David Rabinowitz announced the…

6 hours ago

A Planetary System With Six Sub-Neptunes Locked in Perfect Resonance

Researchers using TESS and Cheops data found a system with six sub-Neptune-sized planets, all orbiting…

1 day ago

After Stalling Out for 40 Years, the Largest Iceberg in the World is on the Move

In 1986, a gigantic iceberg separated from the Fichner-Ronne ice shelf in West Antarctica. It…

1 day ago

Should We Send Humans to Europa?

Universe Today recently examined the potential for sending humans to the planet Venus despite its…

2 days ago

Europe is Working on a Multi-Purpose Habitat for the Moon

With NASA gearing up to send humans back to the Moon in the next few…

2 days ago

Hubble is Offline Because of a Problem with one of its Gyros

The rich flow of scientific data—and stunning images—that comes from the Hubble Space Telescope is…

2 days ago