Gerry Palmers Science 09.20.2022 04:Sep AM EDT

Launch of Blue Origin’s BE-4 Rocket Nears, Set to Power Pentagon-backed Vulcan Missions

Blue Origin's much-anticipated BE-4 engine may soon hit launching pads soon.

This came after a Bloomberg report said that the U.S. Space Force announced that the Vulcan launch system development activities have achieved much progress ahead of a planned test launch in December.

The Vulcan rocket, which is built by the United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture of Pentagon contractors Boeing, Inc. and Lockheed Martin, which is using two of the large liquid oxygen-methane engines from the Jeff Bezos-founded aerospace company.

BE-4 Development Testing Completed, Ready for Vulcan Launch

The ULA and Blue Origin have likewise completed the BE-4 development testing, and have successfully showed full engine performance, the report further said.

As such, the BE-4 seems ready it can bring heavy payloads to space for the Pentagon after several years of delay. This development brings the U.S. closer to ending dependence on a Russian-made rockets.

Blue Origin had originally predicted in 2014 that the BE-4 would be ready by 2017 for the Vulcan rocket launch. But technical challenges had since hindered the fulfillment of this goal.

United Launch Alliance used the Russian-made RD-180 engine for its Atlas V heavy rocket on around 80 successful civil, commercial and national security launches since 2000.

But U.S. Congress then demanded that the Russian engines be replaced after Russia invaded Crimea in 2014, and that push only gained force since Russia's military action againstt Ukraine last February.

Elon Musk, Bezos's fellow multibillionaire and space entrepreneur challenged the Russian connection by successfully overcoming what he called the "Boeing-Lockheed monopoly" for Pentagon satellite launches.

Musk's own aerospace company, SpaceX, has received final certifications to fly its Falcon Heavy rocket to launch the Pentagon's most sensitive classified missions, including the first one between October and December using reusable boosters.

However, for Bezos, the U.S. Space Force's favorable view on his company's progress on the BE-4 offers some good news after Blue Origin aborted a launch of its suborbital New Shepard rocket shortly after takeoff in West Texas last September 12. This was Blue Origin's first major failure since transitioning to routine commercial flights. The New Shepard is powered by an engine unlike the BE-4.

U.S. Spaace Force SetsVulcan-BE-4 Rocket Timeline

The U.S. Space force also said that United Launch Alliance's Vulcan program has focused its attention to "completing BE-4 qualification testing and flight engine deliveries." Other elements, it added, are "progressing through final qualification testing to support initial launch capability." ULA needs two successful flight tests to get U.S. Space Force certification that rockets powered by the new engine can launch the most sensitive U.S. military and intelligence cargo to space.

The U.S. Space Force further said that it expects to complete ULA's initial certification of the Vulcan rocket with the BE-4 engine by March 2023 for "lower launch vehicle performance and payload capabilities" and final certification in 2025 for THE "largest and most stressing" national security missions.