The New Glenn rocket’s seven powerful engines may light up as soon as today

"Maybe, maybe, maybe today, maybe soon. I think it's very soon."

In a widely anticipated test, Blue Origin may ignite the seven main engines on its New Glenn rocket as soon as Thursday at Launch Complex-36 in Florida.

This is the final test the company must complete before verifying the massive rocket is ready for its debut flight, and it is the most dynamic. This will be the first time Blue Origin has ever test-fired the BE-7 engines altogether, in a final rehearsal before launch.

The company did not respond immediately to a request for comment, but the imminent nature of the test was confirmed by a NASA official.

"New Glenn, you know, obviously, you know that they're vertical on LC-36, so they're going through all their ground processing, getting ready for their hot fire," Lisa Watson-Morgan, the program manager for the Human Landing System, said Thursday morning in an interview with Ars. "Maybe, maybe, maybe today, maybe soon. I think it's very soon. And so to that, we are really looking forward to that Blue Ring flight that is coming up for Blue Origin. So we get insight into their processing, their hot fires, into their early commercial launches. And that gives us confidence that as we're moving forward, that the launch vehicle system is making progress."

Watson-Morgan said the agency is watching the development of New Glenn closely, as the rocket is expected to play a role in the Artemis Program to return humans to the Moon. The super heavy lift rocket will be used to launch a lunar lander, as well as elements to fuel it in space for missions to the Moon.

Moving forward with some urgency

Blue Origin has been making steady progress toward a debut launch this fall. At the end of October, the company rolled the rocket's first stage from its production facility in Florida out to Launch Complex-36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Base, and about three weeks later, just before the US Thanksgiving holiday, the company moved the integrated first and second stage out to the launch pad for testing.

In the nearly month since then the company has performed various tests on the vehicle and its ample ground systems, working up to the hot firing.

Theoretically, at least, it remains possible that Blue Origin could launch New Glenn this year—and the company's urgency certainly speaks to this. On social media this week, some Blue Origin employees noted that they were being asked to work on Christmas Day this year in Florida.

About 10 days ago, the company said its rocket would be ready for a launch this year. New Glenn will be carrying a prototype of the "Blue Ring" space vehicle, which provides power and propulsion to payloads for deployment beyond where they are dropped off by the rocket. However, as of Thursday, it's unclear whether Blue Origin has obtained final regulatory approval for a launch from the Federal Aviation Administration.

After years of delays for the rocket, originally due to debut in 2020, Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos hired a new chief executive to run the company a little more than a year ago. Dave Limp, an executive from Amazon, was given the mandate to change Blue Origin's slower-moving culture to be more nimble and urgent and was told to launch New Glenn by the end of 2024. He appears to be delivering on that promise.

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