Blue Origin still doesn’t know why its New Glenn rocket blew up last month

Jeff Bezos’ abstraction institution Blue Origin is doubling down connected utilizing its New Glenn mega-rocket again this twelvemonth aft past month’s explosion. But the institution inactive doesn’t cognize wherefore that detonation happened successful the archetypal place.

In his astir elaborate nationalist connection astir the detonation yet, CEO Dave Limp wrote connected Blue Origin’s website connected Tuesday that his institution is inactive trying to “identify and close the basal cause” of the explosion. “Early investigation points to the aft conception of the archetypal stage” of the rocket, Limp wrote, saying the institution is pulling connected “extensive information from aggregate camera angles and sensors.”

After spending much than a decennary to dilatory and deliberately make New Glenn, Blue Origin had been moving rapidly with the caller rocket. Its archetypal motorboat was successful January 2025, and New Glenn was preparing to alert for the 4th clip erstwhile it exploded during investigating connected May 28 this year. (Nobody was wounded successful the explosion.)

Blue Origin wants to instrumentality the rocket to formation arsenic rapidly arsenic it tin due to the fact that the institution has go 1 of the cardinal players successful NASA’s propulsion to instrumentality humans to the satellite earlier President Trump leaves office.

To bash so, Blue Origin volition not lone request to find and hole what caused the detonation past month, it volition request to rebuild the company’s motorboat pad successful Cape Canaveral, Florida, arsenic it is presently the company’s lone motorboat pad that tin enactment the monolithic rocket.

In his post, Limp praised Blue Origin’s employees for making speedy advancement connected this front.

The institution mislaid a lightning operation successful the explosion, arsenic good arsenic the ample portion of instrumentality that moves New Glenn to the launchpad and stands it up (known arsenic the transporter-erector). Nearby buildings connected the tract were damaged successful the blast, too. Still, Limp wrote that the institution “caught a batch of breaks, too, and mean to marque the astir of them.”

Some of those breaks see the information that the on-site h2o tower, state tanks, and rocket integration installation are “in bully shape.”

Limp shared much details astir however Blue Origin volition alteration its existent motorboat analyzable successful Cape Canaveral. The institution is doing distant with the transporter-erector idea, and volition alternatively usage a monolithic crane to basal New Glenn up connected the motorboat pad earlier flights.

Besides allowing Blue Origin to instrumentality to formation sooner than expected, this attack would summation New Glenn’s formation cadence, according to Limp. Blue Origin was readying arsenic galore arsenic 12 launches this twelvemonth earlier the May explosion.