One of Blue Origin’s powerful BE-4 rocket engines suffered a major failure during testing last month, according to CNBC.
The BE-4 — the engine that will power Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket and the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan Centaur — exploded about 10 seconds in the test, which Blue Origin conducted at its West Texas facility on June 30, CNBC’s Michael Sheetz reported on Tuesday (July 11).
People familiar with the anomaly, Sheetz wrote, “described seeing video of a dramatic explosion that destroyed the engine and severely damaged the test stand infrastructure.”
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Sheetz writes that the engine was being prepared for flight at Vulcan Centaur’s second launch. Blue Origin confirmed those details, as well as the testing incident, in a statement sent to CNBC.
According to Sheetz, Blue Origin representatives said, “No individual was injured, and we are currently assessing the root causes.” The statement added that investigators have already identified the immediate cause of the anomaly and “are working on remedial measures.”
Blue Origin added that it immediately reported the incident to ULA. And the latter company — a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin — doesn’t seem to see it as much of a problem right now.
The BE-4 is already air-qualified, which means its overall design is intact, ULA President and CEO, Tory Bruno confirmed via Twitter Tuesday. The engine that failed on June 30 was subject to an “acceptance test” (APT), which looks for problems with individual units before flight. (There are other steps along this path, too, including “hot fire” tests of fully integrated engines on the launch pad.)
Bruno said, “ATP failures are not uncommon. That’s why we do them on every single serial number that gets out of line.” Another tweet on Tuesday.
Many parts in a rocket, individual ATP failures are not uncommon (why do we do this). We analyze each for potential intersection, as a system. Many other BE4s have passed ATP and gone into the hot fire. This attempt failed an earlier ATP attempt and was reworked. Keep your powder dry for now.July 11, 2023
ULA is dealing with issues of its own on the Vulcan Centaur. The heavy lift was supposed to be launched in early May, on a mission that will send the Peregrine lander toward the moon. But that target date was pushed back after a Centaur upper stage exploded during testing at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center on March 29.
It is not clear when the new rocket will launch from Earth. Late last month, the company said it would destroy the first Vulcan Centaur and send the upper stage to its Alabama plant for modifications.
We should learn more soon: Bruno is scheduled to speak to reporters about Vulcan Centaur on Thursday (July 13).
New Glenn, the other large missile that the BE-4 will power, has yet to fly. Its debut was originally targeted for 2020, but delays in the development of the BE-4 have pushed that timeline repeatedly right. Blue Origin recently declined to provide a new target date, Sheetz noted.
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