A BE-4 engine at Blue Origin’s Launch Site One facility in West Texas experienced a catastrophic failure during testing last month.
Video footage of the incident shows a dramatic explosion that destroyed the engine and caused significant damage to the test stand infrastructure.
The explosion occurred approximately 10 seconds into the test, and the engine was expected to finish testing in July before being shipped to United Launch Alliance for use on their second Vulcan rocket.
Blue Origin has confirmed the incident, stating that they encountered an issue while testing Vulcan’s Flight Engine 3. They are currently assessing the root cause and working on remedial actions.
No personnel were injured during the explosion, and Blue Origin immediately informed ULA of the incident.
ULA, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, competes with SpaceX for lucrative military launch contracts.
Despite the setback, Blue Origin reassures that they will be able to continue testing engines in West Texas and meet their engine delivery commitments this year.
Vulcan delays
The BE-4 engine failure poses a potential delay to the first Vulcan launch, which was previously rescheduled to the fourth quarter of this year.
ULA, however, states that the testing issue is not expected to impact their plans for the Vulcan Cert-1 mission and that the engines for Cert-1 have successfully passed acceptance testing and are qualified to launch.
The Vulcan rocket for the Cert-1 mission stands at SLC-41 during testing in Cape Canaveral, Florida, May 12, 2023.
ULA needs to successfully launch two Vulcans to complete the U.S. Space Force’s certification process for the rocket.
Last month, Space Force assigned SpaceX and ULA each with six missions under the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 program. ULA’s NSSL missions are set to fly on Vulcan.
Blue Origin’s New Glenn
In addition to supporting ULA, Blue Origin needs to produce multiple BE-4 engines annually for its own reusable New Glenn rocket.
Vulcan and New Glenn are contracted to fly satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper, with a large number of launches planned.
Blue Origin’s BE-4 engine and New Glenn rocket have faced significant development delays, pushing back their expected completion dates.
Despite the challenges, Blue Origin remains committed to engine production and testing, and has expanded its facilities to support its ongoing projects.
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