Blue Origin Details New Glenn Upgrades Following Successful ESCAPADE Mission

One week after the successful November 13, 2025, launch of NASA's ESCAPADE mission and the inaugural recovery landing of its orbital-class booster, Blue Origin announced significant performance enhancements for its New Glenn vehicle on November 20, 2025. These upgrades, encompassing propulsion, structures, avionics, and reusability systems, are scheduled for integration beginning with the NG-3 launch in early 2026, with the stated objectives of increasing payload capacity and launch cadence. The NG-2 flight on November 13, 2025, which deployed the twin ESCAPADE spacecraft toward Mars, also marked the first successful recovery landing of the New Glenn booster, named “Never Tell Me the Odds,” onto the recovery barge *Jacklyn* in the Atlantic Ocean.

The core of the performance increase centers on elevating the total thrust output of the first stage’s seven BE-4 engines from 3.9 million pounds-force to 4.5 million pounds-force, a gain partially achieved through the implementation of propellant subcooling techniques. The BE-4 engine has previously demonstrated 625,000 pounds-force on the test stand and is targeted to reach 640,000 pounds-force by year-end, an increase from its prior flight rating of 550,000 pounds-force. Concurrently, the thrust from the two BE-3U engines powering the second stage will be raised from a combined 320,000 pounds-force to 400,000 pounds-force for upcoming missions, with the BE-3U having already achieved over 211,658 pounds-force in ground testing. These propulsion adjustments are intended to immediately benefit customers scheduled for missions to low-Earth orbit and the Moon.

In addition to engine power, Blue Origin detailed structural and operational improvements designed to accelerate vehicle turnaround time and reduce operational costs. These include the introduction of a reusable payload fairing to support higher flight rates, a redesigned, less costly lower tank structure, and an improved reusable thermal protection system to expedite post-flight processing. CEO Dave Limp expressed confidence in the company’s operational tempo, setting a production target exceeding twenty expendable second stages annually and stating conviction in achieving "a bunch of times next year" (2026) for launches.

Strategically, Blue Origin also formally introduced plans for the New Glenn 9x4, a super-heavy class derivative intended to compete with SpaceX’s Starship. This enlarged variant will feature nine BE-4 engines on the first stage and four BE-3U engines on the second stage, utilizing a substantially larger 8.7-meter diameter fairing. The New Glenn 9x4 is projected to lift over 70 metric tons to low Earth orbit and more than 20 metric tons on a translunar injection trajectory, positioning the vehicle for missions involving large satellite constellations and national security requirements such as Golden Dome. This comprehensive upgrade follows the successful NG-2 flight, which deployed the ESCAPADE mission—a dual-spacecraft endeavor built by Rocket Lab and led by the University of California, Berkeley—to study the interaction between the Martian atmosphere and the solar wind. Following the NG-2 success, Mr. Limp indicated that Blue Origin has submitted proposals to NASA that could potentially advance the timeline for a human lunar landing beyond the current Artemis III target. The New Glenn vehicle remains central to Blue Origin’s lunar objectives, scheduled to launch the company’s Blue Moon Mark 1 lunar lander on robotic missions anticipated for early 2026.