Overview
- The New Glenn 9×4 adds nine BE-4 booster engines and four upper‑stage engines, raising capability to over 70 metric tons to low Earth orbit, over 14 metric tons direct to GEO, and over 20 metric tons to trans‑lunar injection with an 8.7‑meter fairing.
- Blue Origin will keep flying the current New Glenn 7×2 alongside 9×4 to offer customers multiple lift classes for mega‑constellations, lunar missions, deep space probes, and national security payloads such as Golden Dome.
- Planned propulsion upgrades increase first‑stage total thrust from 3.9 million lbf to 4.5 million lbf and raise BE‑3U upper‑stage thrust from 320,000 lbf to 400,000 lbf.
- Recent BE‑4 tests have reached 625,000 lbf per engine with a plan to hit 640,000 lbf using subcooled propellant, while additional changes include a reusable fairing, a lower‑cost tank design, and a higher‑performing reusable thermal protection system.
- Blue Origin says the enhancements will begin phasing in with NG‑3, with reporting pointing to 2026, following NG‑2’s NASA ESCAPADE launch and the first successful recovery of a New Glenn booster on the droneship Jacklyn.