Blue Origin Chief Executive Officer Dave Limp said an engine valve malfunction caused the explosion of the New Glenn heavy rocket during May static fire tests. Limp stated on social media platform X that the failure involved the main liquid oxygen supply valve on one of the seven BE-4 engines powering the rocket's first stage.
Limp said teams confirmed the cause after retrieving hardware and conducting inspections. Engineers ran extensive component and engine tests at high temperatures to analyze the failure, and the company plans to make minor design changes to the valves.
Impact on Vulcan Rocket
SpaceNews reported that the BE-4 engine defect could also create problems for United Launch Alliance, which uses the engine on the first stage of its Vulcan rocket.
Launch Pad Repairs
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in July on the CBS program Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan that engine trouble likely caused the May explosion. Isaacman praised Blue Origin in July for its work repairing the launch pad after the failed stage test.
Isaacman previously reported in June that fixing the launch pad at Cape Canaveral after the heavy New Glenn rocket explosion will take about two years.
