Blue Origin blames faulty oxygen valve for rocket explosion

Aug. 6 (UPI) — Blue Origin has pinned the cause of the explosion of its New Glenn rocket in May on an issue with a valve that controls oxygen flow into one of its engines.

The New Glenn was being prepared for its fourth launch, which was to carry a communications satellite into orbit, when it exploded during a routine engine test on May 28. The rocket and its payload were destroyed in the blast, and Blue Origin’s launch facility in Cape Canaveral, Fla., was damaged.

Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said on Wednesday that an anomaly, which originated in the main valve that controls the flow of oxygen into one of the rocket’s seven BE-4 engines, led to the accident.

“Extensive component-level and engine hotfire tests have been conducted to understand the failure mode better and inform mitigations,” he said. “The path forward is clear.”

Modifications to the valve could be applied to engines that have already been manufactured for future flights, Limp said, adding the fixes will be ready by the end of the month.

The BE-4 engine was developed and is manufactured by Blue Origin, which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Blue Origin has begun rebuilding a modified launch facility at Cape Canaveral and plans to launch New Glenn again by year’s end.

United Launch Alliance, another commercial space company, uses the BE-4 engine on its Vulcan rocket. ULA, which is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, reportedly has not said if the fix would be applied on its Vulcan rockets.

Blue Origin has planned to use the New Glenn to send its Blue Moon lunar lander for NASA in a crewed test mission in Earth’s orbit as soon as next year. That test mission would involve two other spacecraft in NASA’s Artemis lunar program.