First Look Inside Blue Origin's New Glenn Factory w/ Jeff Bezos!

Key Concepts

New Glenn, reusability, BE-4 engine, BE-3U engine, liquid hydrogen (LH2), liquid oxygen (LOx), orthogrid, isogrid, friction stir welding, thermal protection system (TPS), landing gear, RCS (Reaction Control System), fairings, payload adapters, carbon fiber tape laying, open expander cycle, Ox rich staged combustion cycle, specific impulse (ISP), monocoque tank, reusable second stage, expendable second stage.

New Glenn Factory Tour with Jeff Bezos

Introduction

Tim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut, tours Blue Origin's factory at Cape Canaveral, Florida, with Jeff Bezos as his guide. The tour focuses on the New Glenn rocket, showcasing its components and assembly processes. Part two of the video will cover the launch pad.

New Shepard and Historical Artifacts

• New Shepard Booster: The first New Shepard booster that landed is displayed in the lobby. Bezos notes it could fit inside New Glenn's fairing, highlighting the scale difference.
• Ring Fin: Bezos explains the ring fin's aerodynamic function, acting as a shield during ascent and a descent stabilizer after capsule separation. Popup fins provide additional reentry stabilization, and drag brakes improve the ballistic coefficient for propulsive landing.
• Wind Measurement: New Shepard uses inertial navigation to measure high-altitude winds during ascent and adjusts its trajectory for accurate landing.
• X-33 Umbilical Panel: An X-33 umbilical panel is displayed, inspiring engineers. Bezos emphasizes that while manufacturing, sensors, and computation have improved since the 1960s, fundamental rocketry principles like regenerative cooling and common bulkheads remain unchanged. The focus now is on making spaceflight more affordable through reusability and advanced manufacturing.
• Apollo 11 F1 Engine Recovery: Bezos recounts his mission to recover Apollo 11's F1 engines from the Atlantic Ocean. Using Google to find booster impact coordinates, he launched a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) mission in 14,000 feet of water. One engine is now in the Smithsonian, next to an unflown F1, and another from Apollo 13 is in Seattle.

Tank Manufacturing

• GS1 LNG Tank: The tour begins with the GS1 (Glenn Stage One) LNG tank. The common dome separates the LNG from the LOx. The LNG travels through a downcomer inside the LOx tank.
• Friction Stir Welding: The common dome is attached using friction stir welding. The inner part of the domes features a spun-formed isogrid, with gore panels friction stir welded to increase the dome's diameter.
• Barrel Sections: Barrel sections of the LOx tank are being prepared for friction stir welding. The process involves trimming, aligning, and clamping the sections before welding.
• Vertical Welds: Vertical welds are performed on panels that are milled and bump-formed. These panels are then horizontally attached to form barrel sections.
• Orthogrid vs. Isogrid: Bezos clarifies the difference between orthogrid (rectangles) and isogrid (triangles) structures. Orthogrid is cheaper to mill and bump-form, while isogrid offers higher performance, especially for multi-directional loads.

GS2 Hydrogen Tank

• Helium Bottles: Inside the GS2 (second stage) hydrogen tank, helium bottles are being installed.
• Size Comparison: Bezos notes that the GS2 hydrogen tank is the second largest LH2 tank ever made, only surpassed by the S-II stage on the Saturn V.
• Slosh Baffles: Slosh baffles are present, but less critical on the LH2 side due to hydrogen's low density (4.4 pounds per cubic foot). Utilization is a bigger concern, requiring features to ensure the last bit of liquid hydrogen is collected without sucking bubbles.

GS1 Aft and Forward Sections

• Flight Articles: The aft and forward sections of GS1 are flight articles for mission one.
• Thermal Insulation: The fabric covering is a reusable thermal insulation developed by Blue Origin, tested on New Shepard. It's designed for operable reusability, allowing for low inspection and fast turnaround (16 days target). The vehicle is designed for a minimum of 25 missions.
• Landing Gear: The aft section houses six landing gear, deploying via gravity assist starting 14 seconds before landing, fully deployed six seconds before landing. The number of landing gear affects the required splay for tip-over prevention. Six gears fit well with the seven-engine configuration.
• Engine Configuration: New Glenn has seven BE4 engines. Three are gimballing engines used for deceleration during return, and the final landing is performed on a single engine.
• Landing Strategy: New Glenn will land on a floating platform downrange, not returning to the launch site initially due to performance penalties.
• Entry Burn: An exoatmospheric deceleration burn is performed, made more efficient by strakes on the vehicle, which optimize the ballistic coefficient. Flight data will refine heating environment models.

Mid Module and Fin Actuators

• Fin Actuators: The fins have an operating range of 60 degrees and are moved by hydraulic actuators five times larger than those used on the Space Shuttle SRB thrust vector control system.
• RCS System: Nitrogen bottles provide pressure for the RCS system. Quad thruster packets offer control authority for terminal landing, aiding in position control.
• Vertical Landing Analogy: Bezos compares vertical landing to balancing a broomstick, easier with larger rockets due to higher inertia. The RCS system helps control the top of the vehicle, similar to holding a pencil from the top while balancing it.
• Lunar Landing Comparison: Lunar landing is easier in some ways due to the absence of aerodynamic disturbances, but harder due to unprepared landing surfaces.

Composite Bay

• Fairing and Payload Adapter Construction: The composite bay is where fairings and payload adapters are built using carbon fiber tape laying machines.
• Escapade Payload Adapter: The Escapade payload adapter distributes loads from the payload to the GS2 tank walls.
• Curing Oven: A large oven cures the composite articles at temperature.
• Non-Destructive Testing: Ultrasound is used for non-destructive testing to detect imperfections.
• Carbon Fiber Tape Laying: The machine lays narrow carbon fiber tape in engineered patterns to match load requirements. The tape has glue and is heated to stick. The machine is versatile and can create payload adapters with different tools and programs. The process is repeatable, minimizing the need for repairs.

Engine Prep

• BE3U Engines: The tour moves to engine prep, showcasing the flight BE3U engines for the second stage.
• Open Expander Cycle: The BE3U uses an open expander cycle. Fuel flows through the thrust chamber for regenerative cooling, then to back-to-back turbines. Hot hydrogen flows through the hydrogen pump turbine first, then the oxygen turbine. The turbines rotate in opposite directions to capture wasted rotational energy.
• Turbine Exhaust Cooling: Turbine exhaust cools the nozzle skirt through a manifold, providing film cooling.
• High ISP: The engine achieves 445 seconds of ISP.
• Dual Shafts: The engine has two in-line, back-to-back turbines.
• BE-4 Engine Production: Next year, Blue Origin will be building a BE-4 engine every three days.
• Ox Rich Staged Combustion Cycle: The BE-4 engine uses an Ox rich staged combustion cycle, similar to the RD-180 but with methane instead of kerosene. It operates at a modest temperature due to the large mass flow of warm GOx through the turbine.

Reusable vs. Expendable Second Stage

• Monocoque Tank: For GS2, Blue Origin is switching to a monocoque tank, eliminating the orthogrid due to performance gains elsewhere (BE3U engine thrust increase).
• Cost vs. Performance: The decision to use orthogrid on GS1 (reusable) and monocoque on GS2 (expendable) is based on cost versus performance trades.
• Reusable Second Stage Development: Blue Origin is developing a reusable second stage, creating a "horse race" between expendable and reusable options. The goal is to make the expendable stage so cheap that reusability is uneconomical, and vice versa.
• Aluminum vs. Stainless Steel: For the reusable second stage, there's an interesting trade between aluminum and stainless steel due to stainless steel's higher thermal properties.

Conclusion

Dodd expresses his amazement at the scale and complexity of New Glenn. He thanks Blue Origin and Jeff Bezos for the tour and access. He encourages viewers to subscribe for part two and support his work through Patreon and merchandise purchases.