Disaster! What Exactly Went Wrong With Blue Origin BE 4 Engine?
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Disaster! What Exactly Went Wrong With Blue Origin BE 4 Engine?.
United Launch Alliance, or ULA, first agreed to buy the engines from Blue Origin back in 2014. It was a bold bet by ULA, a blueblood in space launch, on a new entrant to the market. But with the BE-4 engine, Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos was promising a relatively low-cost, high-performing engine with a power output comparable to a Space Shuttle main engine. At the time of this initial agreement, Blue Origin said the BE-4 would be "ready for flight" by 2017. 5 years have passed since, but that dream has not come true yet. What exactly went wrong with Blue Origin’s BE-4 engine? All will be revealed in today's video.
Disaster! What Exactly Went Wrong With Blue Origin BE 4 Engine?
Why are the engines late in the first place?
One of the most persistent problems is that the BE-4 engine testing and development program has been relatively "hardware poor" in recent years. Effectively, this means that the factory in Washington has not had enough components to build development engines, and this has led to extended periods during which no testing has occurred on the stands in Texas. It was surprising to hear this because back in the spring of 2017 Blue Origin stated publicly that its development program was hardware rich. After arriving as CEO in late 2017, however, Bob Smith appears to have focused more on a substantial reorganization of Blue Origin's leadership rather than hardware development. Other programs were prioritized, too, so the BE-4 team did not get all the resources and freedom it needed to proceed at full throttle.
Disaster! What Exactly Went Wrong With Blue Origin BE 4 Engine?
Many speculate that the problem lies in the engine itself.
The GAO report last summer appears to support this assertion. Although the report does not identify the engine directly, it states that technical challenges facing the development of Vulcan’s engines have endangered the timely launch of national security missions.
“A U.S. produced rocket engine under development for ULA’s Vulcan launch vehicle is experiencing technical challenges related to the igniter and booster capabilities required and may not be qualified in time to support first launches beginning in 2021.”
Disaster! What Exactly Went Wrong With Blue Origin BE 4 Engine?
But the recent moves of Blue Origin are giving hope to ULA and space enthusiasts to see Vulcan fly this year.
When asked on 22 Feb., “what’s the latest on BE-4”. Tory Bruno replied: “In Blue's production factory getting built. So far so good. Quality testing in parallel. Gazillion seconds of run time and starts. Better performance than I expected. Supports Vulcan flying this year”
Disaster! What Exactly Went Wrong With Blue Origin BE 4 Engine?
