Blue Origin bets big on Florida for frequent New Glenn launches

Blue Origin has announced a major expansion of its Florida operations, aimed at eventually flying more than 100 rockets a year from the Space Coast, Ars Technica reports. The plan centres on its heavy-lift New Glenn rocket.

What Blue Origin is building

• Two more launch pads for New Glenn, in addition to the two already under construction at Cape Canaveral. They will copy the design and building approach used for Launch Complex 36B.
• A new upper-stage factory able to produce up to 150 upper stages for a larger version of New Glenn. The Verge says $330 million of the investment goes to this manufacturing expansion.
• Two more landing ships to catch and return New Glenn first stages. The company currently has one, named Jacklyn.
• A customer integration facility, built together with the US Space Force, with four payload bays so several missions can be prepared at once.

"These investments are centered on one goal: building the capacity to support more missions, more reliably, and more efficiently," wrote Ian Richardson, Blue Origin's senior vice president of operations. The infrastructure is designed to support multiple flights per week by the end of the decade. The Verge adds that Blue Origin is also asking to raise its permitted launches from 12 to 50 a year.

Big money, two orbital launches

Blue Origin says it has invested about $3 billion in Florida facilities so far and now has more than 5,000 employees and 500 suppliers in the state, across more than 20 sites in Brevard and Orange counties. By comparison, it has launched to orbit twice, while SpaceX has flown hundreds of missions from Florida.

The timing is notable. As Ars has reported, satellite operators are struggling to book Falcon launches after 2028 as SpaceX pulls back from the commercial market, leaving room for other heavy-lift rockets.

The road back to flight

The New Glenn programme stalled in late May, when a problem with one of the rocket's BE-4 engines led to the loss of the vehicle and its only launch site, LC-36A. Blue Origin is rebuilding the pad and aims to fly again before the end of 2026; Ars thinks the first months of 2027 are more likely.

The bigger New Glenn 9×4, with nine first-stage engines instead of seven, is designed to carry 70 tonnes to low Earth orbit and more than 20 tonnes towards the Moon. It could debut in 2028 if development goes well and is likely needed for Blue Origin's NASA lunar lander plans.

Launch traffic is rising elsewhere too: SpaceX has asked the FAA for up to 456 Starship launches a year from Starbase, and NASA is stacking boosters for Artemis III.