The company Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, is currently looking into the development of a reusable, stainless steel New Glenn rocket second stage, an approach adopted by SpaceX for several years. The goal:to reduce the cost of access to space.
Blue Origin recently distinguished itself with the first manned launch of its New Shepard launcher, but this rocket will not be the company's only workhorse. For several years, the company has been developing a 95-meter high rocket called New Glenn, supposed to offer a lifting capacity of up to fourteen tons in geostationary orbit and up to fifty tons in low Earth orbit.
So far, there was talk of only the first stage of this launcher being reusable. Like SpaceX, Blue Origin aims to land it vertically at sea on a dedicated barge. However, and even though the New Glenn has not yet made any flights, it seems that Blue Origin has taken the rubber in order to rework certain points. And there again, it would be a question of relying on the expertise and experience of SpaceX.
According to Ars Technica, which relies on the statements of three sources, Blue Origin has indeed started working on a project to develop a fully reusable upper stage for its New Glenn launcher, which could potentially use stainless steel propellant tanks.
SpaceX officially ditched a carbon fiber design for its Starship/Super Heavy combo in 2019 and eventually used a "simple" special alloy based on stainless steel.
Naturally, it was not easy to convince SpaceX engineers, since stainless steel is much heavier than carbon fiber. However, Elon Musk had finally put forward several convincing arguments:the cost of the material per kilo (135 dollars per kg, against 3 dollars for steel), the ease of use (faster assembly) and its mechanical properties thanks to its high in chrome-nickel.
If at the announcement of this turnaround many were skeptical, it seems that SpaceX has since convinced some of them, including Jeff Bezos, who has just set up this famous Jarvis project . Its main objective will therefore be to reduce the overall cost of launching the New Glenn rocket by offering a second stage in stainless steel. The first tank tests could begin as early as this fall in Texas.
If it turns out that Blue Origin offers effectively a reusable second stage, Bezos would therefore mimic Musk's ambitious plan to land and reuse both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship. For now, the company's plan is to launch New Glenn initially with a consumable second stage before potentially moving to the fully reusable upper stage in the mid-2020s.
