The engine began development in the early 2010s and completed acceptance testing in early 2015. The engine is being used on the New Shepard suborbital rocket, for which made its first test flight on 29 April 2015 and had its first crewed flight on 20 July 2021.
A variant will be used in the 2nd stage of the New Glenn launcher.
In 2015, the engine was under consideration by United Launch Alliance (ULA) for use in a new second stage, the Advanced Cryogenic Evolved Stage, in ULA's Vulcan orbital launch vehicle with first flight in the 2020s.
History
Following Aerojet’s acquisition of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne in 2012, Blue Origin president Rob Meyerson saw an opportunity to fill a gap in the defense industrial base.[1] Blue Origin publicly entered the liquid rocket engine business by partnering with ULA on the development of the BE-4, and working with other companies.[1] Meyerson announced the selection of Huntsville, AL as the location of Blue Origin’s rocket production factory in June 2017.[1]
The BE-3 follows the earliest rocket engine development efforts at Blue Origin in the 2000s. Blue Origin's first engine was a "simple, single-propellant engine" called the BE-1 (Blue Engine 1) which used peroxide propellant and generated only 8.9kN (2,000lbf) of thrust, and their second, the BE-2 (Blue Engine 2) which was a bipropellant engine using kerosene and peroxide, producing 140kN (31,000lbf) thrust.[2]
In January 2013, the company announced the development of the BE-3 (Blue Engine 3), a new liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen (LH2/LOX) cryogenic engine. The engine was originally announced to produce 440kN (100,000lbf) thrust, with initial thrust chamber tests planned for mid-February 2013 at NASA Stennis.[3] The thrust chamber tests were run sometime in 2013.[4]
The BE-3 was successfully tested in late 2013 on a full-duration simulated suborbital burn, with coast phases and engine relights, "demonstrating deep throttle, full power, long-duration and reliable restart all in a single-test sequence."[5] NASA has released a video of the test.[4]
By December 2013, Blue Origin updated engine specifications following engine tests conducted on test stands at ground level, near sea level. This demonstrated that the engine could produce 490 kilonewtons (110,000lbf) of thrust at full power, and could successfully throttle down to as low as 110 kilonewtons (25,000lbf) for use in controlled vertical landings if needed for that purpose on particular launch vehicles.[5] The final engine specifications, released in April 2015 following the full test phase, included a minimum thrust of 89 kilonewtons (20,000lbf), an even wider throttling capability by 20 percent than the preliminary numbers, while maintaining the previously released full power thrust spec.[6]
As of December2013[update], the engine had "demonstrated more than 160 starts and 9,100 seconds (152min) of operation at Blue Origin's test facility near Van Horn, Texas."[5][7] Additional testing of the BE-3 was completed in 2014, with the engine "simulating a sub-scale booster suborbital mission duty cycle."[8] Test stand testing of the engine was completed by April 2015, with over 450 engine firings and a cumulative engine test time of over 500 minutes. Blue Origin stated it would make the first test flight of its New Shepard vehicle later in 2015,[6] with the BE-3PM engine.[9][10]
In the event, Blue Origin made the first flight test of the BE-3PM[10][9] engine on the New Shepard suborbital vehicle before the month was out, flying a boost profile to 93,500 meters (307,000ft) altitude on 29 April 2015.[11]
In April 2015, United Launch Alliance (ULA) was considering the BE-3 for use in a new second stage, the Advanced Cryogenic Evolved Stage (ACES), which was planned to become the primary upper stage for ULA's Vulcanorbital launch vehicle in the 2020s. The Vulcan was planned to begin orbital flights in 2019 with an existing Centaur upper stage, and was considering three engines from various manufacturers for the ACES stage which would putatively begin flight in 2023, with selection expected before 2019.[12]
While development of a sea-level version of the engine, BE-3PM,[10] was completed and fully qualified by early 2015, Blue Origin said then that they intend to develop a vacuum version of the engine to operate in space.[13]
In January 2016, the US Air Force provided partial development funding to Orbital ATK to develop an extendable nozzle for the Blue Origin BE-3U.[14][15]
On 20 July, 2021, the engine design was used in its first crewed flight of the New Shepard.[16]
On September 12, 2022, New Shepard 3 with RSS H.G. Wells capsule suffered an un-contained engine failure that resulted in the triggering of a launch abort and the loss of the vehicle.
Blue Origin has developed an open expander cycle variant of the BE-3, the BE-3U. Two of these engines will be used to power the New Glenn second stage.[17]
In November 2015, the engine was projected to have a vacuum thrust of 670 kilonewtons (150,000lbf).[18] Development had begun on the extendable nozzle for BE-3U by early 2016.[14] By August 2018, BE-3U engine development had proceeded, test engines built, and had accumulated over 700 seconds of test time, confirming performance assumptions in the design.[17] In February 2019, Blue Origin updated the thrust of BE-3U as used on New Glenn to 710 kilonewtons (160,000lbf).[19]
In February 2020, Blue Origin opened up a factory in Huntsville, Alabama, to produce BE-3U and BE-4 engines.[20]
In August 2024, Tim Dodd the Everyday Astronaut published a video of a factory tour in which Jeff Bezos stated that the BE-3U's thrust had been uprated to 172,000lbf and that its isp is 445s.[21]
Technical specifications
The performance of the sea-level version of the BE-3, the BE-3PM,[10] include:
Thrust: 490 kilonewtons (110,000lbf) at full power[7][22]
A reusable launch vehicle has parts that can be recovered and reflown, while carrying payloads from the surface to outer space. Rocket stages are the most common launch vehicle parts aimed for reuse. Smaller parts such as rocket engines and boosters can also be reused, though reusable spacecraft may be launched on top of an expendable launch vehicle. Reusable launch vehicles do not need to make these parts for each launch, therefore reducing its launch cost significantly. However, these benefits are diminished by the cost of recovery and refurbishment.
Blue Origin Enterprises, L.P., commonly referred to as Blue Origin is an American aerospace manufacturer, government contractor, launch service provider, and space technologies company headquartered in Kent, Washington, United States. The company makes rocket engines for United Launch Alliance (ULA)'s Vulcan rocket and manufactures their own rockets, spacecraft, satellites, and heavy-lift launch vehicles. The company is the second provider of lunar lander services for NASA's Artemis program and was awarded a $3.4 billion contract. The four rocket engines the company has in production are the BE-3U, BE-3PM, BE-4 and the BE-7.
Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas launch vehicle family. It was designed by Lockheed Martin and has been operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA) since 2006. It is used for DoD, NASA, and commercial payloads. It is America's longest-serving active rocket. After 87 launches, in August 2021 ULA announced that Atlas V would be retired, and all 29 remaining launches had been sold. As of July 2024, 15 launches remain. Production ceased in 2024. Other future ULA launches will use the Vulcan Centaur rocket.
The RD-180 is a rocket engine that was designed and built in Russia. It features a dual combustion chamber, dual-nozzle design and is fueled by a RP-1/LOX mixture. The RD-180 is derived from the RD-170 line of rocket engines, which were used in the Soviet Energia launch vehicle. The engine was developed for use on the US Atlas III and Atlas V launch vehicles and first flew in 2000. It was never used on any other rocket. The engine has flown successfully on all six Atlas III flights and on 99 Atlas V flights, with just a single non-critical failure in March 2016.
XCOR Aerospace was an American private spaceflight and rocket engine development company based at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California, Midland International Air and Spaceport in Midland, Texas and the Amsterdam area, the Netherlands. XCOR was formed in 1999 by former members of the Rotary Rocket rocket engine development team, and ceased operations in 2017.
Launch Complex 36 (LC-36)—formerly known as Space Launch Complex 36 (SLC-36) from 1997 to 2010—is a launch complex at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Brevard County, Florida. It was used for Atlas launches by NASA and the U.S. Air Force from 1962 until 2005.
New Shepard is a fully reusable sub-orbital launch vehicle developed for space tourism by Blue Origin. The vehicle is named after Alan Shepard, who became the first American to travel into space and the fifth person to walk on the Moon. The vehicle is capable of vertical takeoff and landings. Additionally, it is also capable of carrying humans and customer payloads into a sub-orbital trajectory.
Corn Ranch, commonly referred to as Launch Site One (LSO), is a spaceport owned and operated by Blue Origin which is located approximately 30 miles north of the town of Van Horn, Texas, United States.
Vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) is a form of takeoff and landing for rockets. Multiple VTVL craft have flown. The most successful VTVL vehicle was the Apollo Lunar Module which delivered the first humans to the Moon. Building on the decades of development, SpaceX utilised the VTVL concept for its flagship Falcon 9 first stage, which has delivered over three hundred successful powered landings so far.
Blue Origin Goddard is the name of the first development vehicle in Blue Origin's New Shepard program, which flew for the first time on November 13, 2006. Named after rocketry pioneer Robert H. Goddard, the vehicle is a subscale demonstrator and flew up to a height of about 85 m (279 ft) during its initial flight. The private spacecraft venture is being funded by the billionaire founder Jeff Bezos.
Minotaur IV, also known as Peacekeeper SLV and OSP-2 PK is an active expendable launch system derived from the LGM-118 Peacekeeper ICBM. It is operated by Northrop Grumman Space Systems, and made its maiden flight on 22 April 2010, carrying the HTV-2a Hypersonic Test Vehicle. The first orbital launch occurred on 26 September 2010 with the SBSS satellite for the United States Air Force.
The RD-191 is a high-performance single-combustion chamber rocket engine, developed in Russia and sold by Roscosmos. It is derived from the RD-180 dual-combustion chamber engine, which itself was derived in turn from the four-chamber RD-170 originally used in the Energia launcher.
The Aerojet Rocketdyne AR1 is a 2,200-kilonewton-class (500,000 lbf) thrust RP-1/LOX oxidizer-rich staged combustion cycle rocket engine project.
The BE-4 is an oxygen-rich liquefied-methane-fueled staged-combustion rocket engine produced by Blue Origin. The BE-4 was developed with private and public funding. The engine has been designed to produce 2.4 meganewtons (550,000 lbf) of thrust at sea level.
Vulcan Centaur is a heavy-lift launch vehicle created and operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA). It is a two-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle consisting of the Vulcan first stage and the Centaur second stage. It replaces ULA's Atlas V and Delta IV rockets. It is principally designed for the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program, which launches satellites for U.S. intelligence agencies and the Defense Department, but will also be used for commercial launches.
New Glenn is a Heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by Blue Origin, named after NASA astronaut John Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit Earth. New Glenn is a two-stage rocket with a diameter of 7 m (23 ft). Its first stage is powered by seven BE-4 engines that are also designed and manufactured by Blue Origin. It is intended to launch from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36, with the first stage landing on a barge in Port Canaveral called Landing Platform Vessel 1. The inaugural vehicle was unveiled on the launch pad in February 2024.
Robert E. "Rob" Meyerson is an American aerospace engineer and executive.
The private aerospace company Blue Origin has a number of development, manufacturing, and test facilities in four US states: Washington, Texas, Florida, and Alabama.
Blue Origin NS-23 was an uncrewed sub-orbital spaceflight mission of Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket, which launched on 12 September 2022. The booster failed during max q about a minute after launch, triggering the launch escape system which removed the capsule from the booster. The capsule landed successfully, while the booster was destroyed upon impact with the ground.
Gary Lai is an American aerospace engineer. He was the chief architect for New Shepard, a vehicle developed by aerospace manufacturer Blue Origin for space tourism. On March 31, 2022, he flew on New Shepard's 20th mission to space, NS-20. He is a Co-Founder and the Chief Technology Officer of a company called Interlune.
↑ "Our Approach to Technology". Blue Origin. Archived from the original on 2018-01-10. Retrieved 2015-05-01. The BE-3 engine is flying. The engine that powers the New Shepard suborbital vehicle today will be upgraded with a larger nozzle to operate in the vacuum of orbital space.
1 2 "Orbital ATK, SpaceX Win Air Force Propulsion Contracts". SpaceNews. 13 January 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2016. Specifically, Orbital ATK will combine the Air Force money with at least $31 million, and as much as $124 million, of its own to develop [..., including] an extendable nozzle for Blue Origin's BE-3U upper stage engine. Blue Origin uses the BE-3 for its New Shepard suborbital rocket. The BE-3 also is one of three upper-stage engines United Launch Alliance is considering for Vulcan, the Denver company's next-generation rocket. 'We are proud to provide the BE-3U high energy upper stage solution for Orbital ATK's next generation launch vehicle,' Rob Meyerson, Blue Origin's president, said in an email to SpaceNews. 'The BE-3U is a variant of our BE-3 engine that powers our New Shepard space vehicle for both launch and landing.'
↑ "Contracts: Air Force". U.S. Department of Defense Contracts press release. 2016-01-13. Retrieved 2016-03-01.
↑ Foust, Jeff (13 April 2015). "Blue Origin's suborbital plans are finally ready for flight". Retrieved 19 April 2015. We've recently completed acceptance testing, meaning we've accepted the engine for suborbital flight on our New Shepard vehicle, [the end of a] very, very long development program [of] 450 test firings of the engine and a cumulative run time of more than 500 minutes. The completion of those tests sets the stage for Blue Origin to begin test flights of the vehicle later this year at its facility in West Texas [where they] expect a series of flight tests with this vehicle … flying in autonomous mode… We expect a series of dozens of flights over the extent of the test program [taking] a couple of years to complete.
* Different versions of the engine use different propellant combinations
Engines in italics are under development
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