The CRAZY truth about Blue Origin BE-4!

SpaceX is renowned as a leading company in the space industry in terms of the rocket launch frequency and highest production rate of rockets and engines, standing out with the 100 Raptor engine milestone in just 29 months. In contrast, when mentioning Blue Origin, one of SpaceX's biggest competitors, we often associate them with their sluggish pace and frequent setbacks in rocket manufacturing. The BE-4 engine, in particular, has faced criticism for its consistent tardiness in deliveries to ULA customers. What exactly went wrong with the BE-4 engine? Is there any way for Blue Origin to surpass SpaceX's remarkable achievements? All will be revealed in today's episode. The initial step is to understand the reasons behind the engine's delays. Blue Origin started developing the BE-4 engine in 2011, but did not make it public until 2014. In a surprising decision reported by Space News in September 2014, ULA, a major launch vehicle producer and service provider, chose the BE-4 as the primary engine for its new flagship launcher. Blue Origin projected that the BE-4 would be flight-ready by 2017, yet it wasn't until early 2024 that the BE-4 engine was actually used in the inaugural flight of the Vulcan rocket. Thus, a question arises, why did it take Blue Origin seven years to prepare the BE-4 engines for the first Vulcan's launch? One of the continuous issues with the BE-4 engine program has been a shortage of hardware for testing and development in recent years, indicating that the Washington factory lacked sufficient components for building the engines. This was unexpected since, in early 2017, Blue Origin claimed its program had an abundance of hardware. However, after Bob Smith took over as CEO later that year, his focus seemed to shift towards major restructuring at the leadership level, rather than on developing hardware. Additionally, the BE-4 project was not given priority over other programs, restricting the resources and freedom needed for rapid development. Some believe the core issue is with the engine itself, a sentiment echoed by a GAO report last summer which, while not naming the engine specifically, suggested that technical hurdles with the Vulcan's engine development could jeopardize timely launches for a national security mission. Challenges with igniters and boosters might delay the qualification of a U.S.-made rocket for ULA's Vulcan launches, originally scheduled to start in 2021. By August 2021, it was publicly acknowledged that the BE-4 engine program faced significant setbacks over four years, including issues with turbopumps, combustion instability, overheating, and engines not lasting as long as expected. ULA's strict requirements, particularly regarding combustion instability, a problem that has historically affected U.S. rocket engines since the F-1 engine for the Saturn V rocket added to the challenges. Combustion instability, which involves sudden pressure fluctuations in the thrust chamber during ignition, could potentially lead to engine destruction. Further development hurdles included Blue Origin's extensive redesign of the engine's turbo machinery in 2019, followed by tests of these modifications into 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic also disrupted development and testing processes, with engineers forced to work remotely, complicating direct hands-on work with the engines at the factory. So, many obstacles have occurred in the development of the BE-4 engine, leading to its delays and resulting in substantial expenditures for its enhancement. In fact, Blue Origin has notably invested over $1 billion in creating the BE-4 engine from scratch and has also constructed a large production facility in Alabama dedicated to its high-rate manufacturing. In February 2016, the U.S. Air Force granted ULA a contract that provided up to $202 million in partial development funding to facilitate the integration of the Blue Origin BE-4 engine into ULA's Vulcan launch vehicle. Initially, the government committed $40.8 million, matched by an equal amount from a ULA subsidiary, for the development of the Vulcan BE-4. While Blue Origin has not disclosed the exact cost of the BE-4 engine, the company has indicated it will offer the engine at a price 30-40% lower than the RD-180 engine. Given that ULA was paying between $25-30 million for each RD-180 engine in the early 2020s, this pricing strategy would set the cost of each BE-4 engine for the Vulcan rocket at approximately $E15-18 million. This price is significantly higher than the cost of SpaceX's individual Raptor engines. In 2019, SpaceX reported the marginal cost of a Raptor engine at $1 million and had plans to increase production up to 500 engines per year, aiming to reduce costs to under $50,000 per engine. Due to the significant demand for the BE-4 engine in both Blue Origin's and ULA's rockets, Blue Origin is gearing up to increase its production rates. The company's initial target is to manufacture up to 50 BE-4 engines annually to meet the needs of its New Glenn program and ULA's Vulcan Centaur program. However, even if Blue Origin achieves this production rate, it still falls short of SpaceX's output. Blue Origin has been developing the BE-4 engine for approximately seven years, from 2011 to 2017. In July 2021, SpaceX unveiled plans for a second Raptor production facility in South Texas, close to its existing engine test site, with projections to produce between 800 and 1,000 engines annually. Clearly, Blue Origin lags significantly behind SpaceX in development, posing a challenge for Blue Origin as it seeks to elevate its position in the space industry. Despite numerous challenges, Blue Origin's BE-4 engine has shown strong performance since its debut, with its full thrust levels nearly matching those of SpaceX's new-generation Raptor V3 engine. The BE-4 was first test-fired at 50% thrust for three seconds in October 2017. By March 2018, it had been tested at 65% of its design thrust for 114 seconds, and there were plans announced in May to reach 70% thrust in the upcoming months. A few months later, the engine had undergone several long-duration tests, including one that lasted over 200 seconds. By February 2019, the BE-4 had accumulated a total of 1,800 seconds of hot-fire testing at approximately 73% of its full design thrust of 2,400 N. Notably, the BE-4's maximum thrust of 550,000 lbf 2400 N surpasses that of the Raptor II, which consistently achieved 510,000 lbf 2,260 N by February 2022, although this is still less than the Raptor III's targeted maximum thrust of 593,000 lbf 2,640 N, reaching such high thrust levels that can even compare to SpaceX's latest design of the Raptor. The engine could also be considered a remarkable achievement of the BE-4 engine. Its future development is really something to look forward to, isn't it? How about the BE-4's reusability? The BE-4 engine's impressive thrust is truly a major selling point that draws interest from other competitors. Besides, its reusability is also a crucial factor in its cost-effectiveness. We draw so many comparisons between the BE-4 and the Raptor because these are two of the first rocket engines to utilize a new type of chemical fuel, which is liquefied natural gas, also known as methane. Like SpaceX's Raptor engine, the BE-4 employs a staged combustion cycle. In this design, a portion of the fuel and oxidizer is directed to a pre-burner, where it ignites to produce gases that drive the engine's turbopumps. The fuel mixture in the pre-burner is typically rich in either oxygen or fuel, and the resulting combustion gases flow into the main engine's combustion chamber, establishing a closed cycle. This method is more efficient than older engine designs that either vent combustion gases or rely on separate systems to power the pumps. Consequently, the closed cycle approach simplifies engine reuse compared to traditional hydrocarbon fuels. In theory, methane engines like the BE-4 should be capable of rapid reuse, allowing a booster to land, be returned to the launch pad, refueled and flown again within just a few hours. This feature is crucial for Blue Origin's New Glenn, which aims for a fully reusable first stage. Similarly, ULA plans to leverage this capability with the Vulcan Centaur. On January 8, 2024, ULA successfully launched its Vulcan Centaur rocket using the BE-4 engine. On the other hand, Blue Origin's New Glenn, after multiple delays over five years, hasn't launched yet so far. By December 2020, Blue Origin announced a further schedule slip for the first launch of New Glenn in March 2021, when the company said New Glenn would not launch until the fourth quarter of 2022 at the earliest. As of April 2024, its first launch is expected to take place no earlier than September 29, 2024, carrying NASA's ESCAPADA spacecraft to Mars. Although the New Glenn has undergone over a decade of development, Blue Origin has not launched it yet due to its slow progress and delays in rocket production. This also indicates Blue Origin's shortcomings in company operations, as well as the inefficiency of its long-term development strategy in the space industry. Nevertheless, in May 2024, it was announced the spacecraft had reached substantial completion in preparation for launch later in the year. Rob Lillis, the principal investigator for ESCAPADE, said about New Glenn, It hasn't launched yet, and we are concerned about that, but having seen the Blue Origin's facilities at Cape Canaveral, I was much less concerned after seeing all the work they've done. I'm confident they will likely be ready for the launch of ESCAPADE, so hopefully we will be able to witness the first successful flight of the New Glenn this year. That wraps up today's episode. Please feel free to share your feedback in the comments section. Your feedback is very important to help us make better videos. Thank you for tuning in and see you in the next episode.