New Glenn 9x4 discussion

[Tywin]

https://twitter.com/davill/status/1991544049095045367

New New Glenn, is a MONSTER!!!

[StraumliBlight]

https://x.com/davill/status/1991544049095045367

Getting closer to Saturn V's liftoff thrust:

9 subcooled BE-4s	25,622 kN
5 F-1s	33,362 kN

In the reddit thread, NG upgrade's internal name was revealed as "KITSUNE". Someone suggested "Because it's a nine tailed fourx?"


Explicit comparison in this job description:

We are building a road to space, and a rocket that approximates the size of the Saturn V. The path is long, with challenges at every step of the way.

[Tywin]

Great to see Blue Origin make this official. 

Thrust to weight for the 7x2 should improve closer to 1.3 as a rough guess, perhaps more if the first 2 launches were throttled a bit. 

So these improvements will be phased in starting with NG3.  I'm curious how many of these changes can be incorporated into NG3 if the launch target is Q1.

I'm also curious on the timeline for the 9x4.  Damn that's a big rocket.

So if that's New Steroid Glenn, will there still be a New Armstrong in the future?

YES!! is a beast, New Glenn coming to compete with Everybody!! and be the best rocket...

[SpaceLizard]

About time Blue showed something genuinely competitive, even if it falls a little short of the leader.
Are those the suggestions of landing legs I see on the second stage? I sure hope so...

[wannamoonbase]

About time Blue showed something genuinely competitive, even if it falls a little short of the leader.
Are those the suggestions of landing legs I see on the second stage? I sure hope so...

1) I think what you suggest as legs on the US are actually the prop lines from the upper tank going around the lower tank.  (Hydrogen and LOx are different enough in temps you won't want them flowing through each other)
2) I love big rockets, however, not every customer flight needs a super heavy lift.  SpaceX and Blue seem to be abandoning the small and medium market for others.

[ZachF]

See, I told you guys NG had an easy path to large performance upgrades. 

[ZachF]

Anyone want to ask Tory Bruno if Vulcan will take advantage of the increased BE-4 thrust (2,847 kN)?

Could be some large cost savings if fewer GEM 63XLs are required ($7 million per solid?).

Good chance Blue will be offering 14 tonnes direct to geo with a cost basis lower than ULA’s cheapest Vulcan…. When Blue and SX start competing on price and the price drifts closer to the cost basis of a semi-reusable LV, it’s joever for expendable LVs.

[Tywin]

See, I told you guys NG had an easy path to large performance upgrades. 

Me too, I said

[Tywin]

Anyone want to ask Tory Bruno if Vulcan will take advantage of the increased BE-4 thrust (2,847 kN)?

Could be some large cost savings if fewer GEM 63XLs are required ($7 million per solid?).

Good chance Blue will be offering 14 tonnes direct to geo with a cost basis lower than ULA’s cheapest Vulcan….

Yes and that 70 tons to LEO, could be the price, be lower of 1.000$ per kg?

[SpaceLizard]

Well if they're not landing legs that will be disappointing. Disposable stages really ought to become a thing of the past and clash badly with Blue's environmentally friendly vision...

[StraumliBlight]

Comparing engine skirts (assuming each pixel is ~0.2-0.206 m):

New Glenn Section	Pixels	Diameter (m)
Body	34	7
Old skirt	42	~8.4-8.65
New skirt	50	~10-10.3

Using a perspective tool, the new skirt diameter is 10.1 m. Coincidentally the same diameter as a Saturn V...

[Rakietwawka2021]

New skirt is 12 wide

[hkultala]

9x4 variant is insane! GS2 in this configuration is effectively just EUS, but mass produced. I can't get over how impressed I am with Blue over the past week.

Each BE-3U engine has ~7-8 times more thrust than each RL-10.

This upper stage is MUCH bigger and MUCH more powerful than EUS.

[sstli2]

New skirt is 12 wide

Wouldn't you just move to a larger diameter tank at this point?

[lightleviathan]

9x4 variant is insane! GS2 in this configuration is effectively just EUS, but mass produced. I can't get over how impressed I am with Blue over the past week.

Each BE-3U engine has ~7-8 times more thrust than each RL-10.

This upper stage is MUCH bigger and MUCH more powerful than EUS.

Good point, I lose scale when rockets get this large.

[DrTadd]

New skirt is 12 wide

Wouldn't you just move to a larger diameter tank at this point?

If they keep the current diameter, then they can utilize the current tooling and methods that have been developed, right?

I would think that diameter is more difficult to change than overall length... especially since the domes can keep the current manufacturing method?

[Tywin]

Berger post...

https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/11/blue-origin-says-its-just-getting-started-with-the-new-glenn-rocket/

[Tywin]

Good comparation vs FH...

https://twitter.com/KenKirtland17/status/1991568180666667236

[Brigantine]

making it a market competitor to Starship.

More like a direct competitor to Long March 10, which is also 70 tons to LEO, 27 tons to TLI and in a not too dis-similar stage of development
(maiden launch of the reusable^(?) no-boosters version next year)

[Brigantine]

not every customer flight needs a super heavy lift.  SpaceX and Blue seem to be abandoning the small and medium market for others.

Wait for NG with Blue Ring deploying multiple payloads to (moderately?) different orbits in one launch.

Who saw Transporter and Bandwagon coming, before it happened?