Blue Origin held a groundbreaking ceremony in Huntsville, Alabama, Jan. 25 to formally mark the start of construction of a factory that will be used for building BE-4 engines. The company announced plans to build the factory there in June 2017, contingent on the selection of the engine by United Launch Alliance for its Vulcan rocket. ULA picked the BE-4 in September 2018.
The factory, scheduled for completion in March 2020, will build dozens of BE-4 engines a year for both Vulcan as well as Blue Origin's own New Glenn vehicle. Both rockets are scheduled to make first launches in 2021. Vulcan will use two BE-4 engines in its first stage while New Glenn's reusable first stage will be powered by seven BE-4 engines.
Maybe, if we work real hard at it, we won't have to use Russian launch vehicles to take us to our space station.
ReplyDeleteAlso there is a perfectly good loader and backhoe to dig with. Beats a shovel.
ReplyDeleteBut can you imagine the havoc resulting from letting corporate executives at the controls? That'd be a good subject for Dilbert strip?
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