BE-4

Blue Engine 4
The first BE-4 in its transport cradle[1]
Country of origin United States
Manufacturer Blue Origin
Predecessor BE-3[2]
Liquid-fuel engine
Propellant Liquid oxygen / liquid methane
Under development
Performance
Thrust (SL) 2,400 kN (550,000 lbf)
Chamber pressure 13,400 kPa (1,950 psi)
Gimbal range ±5°
Used in
Vulcan
New Glenn

The Blue Engine 4[3] or BE-4 is a staged-combustion rocket engine under development by Blue Origin. The BE-4 is being developed with private and public funding. The engine has been designed to produce 2,400 kilonewtons (550,000 lbf) of thrust at sea level.[4] Both first-stage and second-stage versions of the engine are planned. First flight is expected no earlier than 2019.

Although it was initially planned to be used exclusively on a Blue Origin proprietary launch vehicle, it is currently planned that the engine will also be used on the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan launch vehicle, the successor to the Atlas V launch vehicle, where it has been the leading candidate engine to replace the Russian-made RD-180 engine currently used by ULA since 2014.[5] Final engine selection by ULA happened in September 2018.[6]

History

Blue Origin began work on the BE-4 in 2011 and the new engine marks a change in that this is their first engine that will combust liquid oxygen and liquid methane propellants. Blue Origin did not announce the new engine to the public until September 2014.[7] In September 2014—in a choice labeled "a stunner" by SpaceNews[8]—the large US launch vehicle manufacturer and launch service provider United Launch Alliance selected the BE-4 as the main engine for a new primary launch vehicle.[8]

As of April 2015, the engine development work was being carried out in two parallel programs. One program is testing full-scale versions of the BE-4 powerpack, the set of valves and turbopumps that provide the proper fuel/oxidizer mix to the injectors and combustion chamber. The second program is testing subscale versions of the engine's injectors.[9] Also in early 2015, the company indicated it is planning to begin full-scale engine testing in late 2016, and that they expected to complete development of the engine in 2017.[9]

As of September 2015, Blue Origin had completed more than 100 development tests of several elements of the BE-4, including the preburner and a "regeneratively-cooled thrust chamber using multiple full-scale injector elements". The tests were used to confirm the theoretical model predictions of "injector performance, heat transfer, and combustion stability", and data collected is being used to refine the engine design.[10] There was an explosion on the test stand during 2015 during powerpack testing. Blue Origin built two larger and redundant test stands to follow, capable of testing the full thrust of the BE-4.[11]

In January 2016, Blue Origin announced that they intended to begin testing full engines of the BE-4 on ground test stands prior to the end of 2016.[12] Following a factory tour in March 2016, journalist Eric Berger noted that a large part of "Blue Origin’s factory has been given over to development of the Blue Engine-4".[5]

The first engine was fully assembled in March 2017.[13] Also in March, United Launch Alliance indicated that the economic risk of the Blue Origin engine selection option had been retired, but that the technical risk on the project would remain until a series of engine firing tests were completed later in 2017.[14] A test anomaly occurred on 13 May 2017 and Blue Origin reported that they lost a set of powerpack hardware.[15]

In June 2017, Blue Origin announced that they would build a new facility in Huntsville, Alabama to manufacture the large BE-4 cryogenic rocket engine.[16]

The BE-4 was first test fired, at 50% thrust for 3 seconds, in October 2017.[17] In March 2018, the BE-4 engine had been tested at 65% of design thrust for 114 seconds[18] with a goal expressed in May to achieve 70 percent of design thrust in the next several months.[19] By September 2018, multiple hundreds of seconds of engine testing had been completed, including one test of over 200 seconds duration.[20]

Blue Origin BE-4 rocket engine powerhead and combustion chamber, April 2018—liquid methane inlet side view. This was the first BE-4 engine to be hotfire tested; test occurred on 18 October 2017.

Applications

As of 2017, the BE-4 was being considered for use on two launch vehicles currently in development. Prior to this, a modified derivative of the BE-4 was also being considered for the experimental XS-1 spaceplane for a US military project, but was not selected.

Atlas V successor - Vulcan

In late 2014, Blue Origin signed an agreement with United Launch Alliance to co-develop the BE-4 engine and to commit to use the new engine on the Vulcan launch vehicle, a successor to the Atlas V, which would replace the single RD-180 Russian-made engine.[8] Vulcan will use two of the 2,400 kN (550,000 lbf) BE-4 engines on each first stage. The engine development program began in 2011.[2][21][7]

The ULA partnership announcement came after months of uncertainty about the future of the Russian RD-180 engine that has been used in the ULA Atlas V rocket for over a decade. Geopolitical concerns had come about that created serious concerns about the reliability and consistency of the supply chain for the procurement of the Russian engine.[22] ULA expects the first flight of the new launch vehicle no earlier than 2019.[7][8]

Since early 2015, the BE-4 has been in competition with the AR1 engine for the Atlas V RD-180 replacement program. While the BE-4 is a methane engine, the AR1, like the RD-180, is kerosene-fueled.[23] In February 2016, the US Air Force issued a contract that provides partial development funding of up to US$202 million to ULA in order to support use of the Blue BE-4 engine on the ULA Vulcan launch vehicle.[24][25]

Initially, only US$40.8 million will be disbursed by the government with US$40.8 million additional to be spent by a ULA subsidiary on Vulcan BE-4 development.[26] Although US$536 million was the original USAF contract amount to Aerojet Rocketdyne (AJR) to advance development of the AR1 engine, as an alternative for powering the Vulcan rocket,[24] by June 2018, the USAF had renegotiated the agreement with AJR and decreased the Air Force contribution—5/6ths of the total cost—to US$294 million. AJR is putting no additional private funds into the engine development effort after early 2018.[20]

Bezos noted in 2016 that the Vulcan launch vehicle is being designed around the BE-4 engine; ULA switching to the AR1 would require significant delays and money on the part of ULA.[27] This point has also been made by ULA executives, who have also clarified that the BE-4 is likely to cost 40% less than the AR1, as well as benefit from Bezos capacity to "make split-second investment decisions on behalf of BE-4, and has already demonstrated his determination to see it through. [whereas the] AR1, in contrast, depends mainly on U.S. government backing, meaning Aerojet Rocketdyne has many phone numbers to dial to win support".[28]

New Glenn launch vehicle

The engine is to be used on the Blue Origin large orbital launch vehicle New Glenn, a 7.0-meter (23 ft)-diameter two-stage orbital launch vehicle with an optional third stage and a reusable first stage. The first flight and orbital test is planned for no earlier than 2020.[29]

The first stage will be powered by seven BE-4 engines and will be reusable, landing vertically. The second stage of New Glenn will share the same diameter and use two BE-3 vacuum-optimized engines.[30] The second stage will be expendable.[29]

XS-1 engine

Boeing secured a contract to design and build the DARPA XS-1 reusable spaceplane in 2014. The XS-1 is to accelerate to hypersonic speed at the edge of the Earth's atmosphere to enable its payload to reach orbit.[31] In 2015 it was believed a modified derivative of the BE-4 engine was to power the craft.[32] In 2017, the contract award selected the Space Shuttle main engine-derived Aerojet Rocketdyne AR-22 engine instead.[33]

Availability and use

Blue Origin has indicated that they intend to make the engine commercially available, once development is complete, to companies beyond ULA, and also plans to utilize the engine in Blue Origin's own new orbital launch vehicle.[22] As of March 2016, Orbital ATK was also evaluating Blue engines for its launch vehicles.[5] The BE-4 uses Liquefied natural gas rather than more commonly used rocket fuels such as kerosene. This approach allows for autogenous pressurization, which is the use of gaseous fuel to pressurize remaining liquid fuel. This is beneficial because it eliminates the need for costly and complex pressurization systems which require storage of a pressurizing gas, such as helium.

Although all early BE-4 components and full engines to support the test program were built at Blue's headquarters location in Kent, Washington, production of the BE-4 will be in Huntsville, Alabama.[34] Testing and support of the reusable BE-4s will occur at the company's orbital launch facility at Exploration Park in Florida, where Blue Origin is investing more than US$200 million in facilities and improvements.[27]

Technical specifications

The BE-4 is designed for long life and high reliability, partially by aiming the engine to be a "medium-performing version of a high-performance architecture".[5] Hydrostatic bearings are used in the turbopumps rather than the more typical ball and roller bearings specifically to increase reliability and service life.[35]

  • Thrust (sea level): 2,400 kN (550,000 lbf) at full power[35][7]
  • Chamber pressure: 13,400 kPa (1,950 psi), substantially lower than the 26,000 kPa (3,700 psi) of the RD-180 engine that ULA wants to replace[5]
  • Designed for reusability[35][5]
  • Design life: 25 launches and landings[5]
  • Restartable during flight, via head-pressure start of the turbine during coast[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ https://twitter.com/JeffBezos/status/838748973598900225
  2. 1 2 Achenbach, Joel (2014-09-17). "Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin to supply engines for national security space launches". Washington Post. Retrieved 2014-09-27.
  3. ↑ Alan Boyle (17 September 2014). "Bezos vs. Musk: Blue Origin and ULA Turn Up the Heat in Rocket Battle". NBC News.
  4. ↑ "Spring Meetings 2017 - GNF "A step by step approach to low-cost access to space"". 7 April 2017. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Berger, Eric (2016-03-09). "Behind the curtain: Ars goes inside Blue Origin's secretive rocket factory". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  6. ↑ "United Launch Alliance Building Rocket of the Future with Industry-Leading Strategic Partnerships". 28 Sep 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Ferster, Warren (2014-09-17). "ULA To Invest in Blue Origin Engine as RD-180 Replacement". Space News. Retrieved 2014-09-19.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Gruss, Mike (2015-04-24). "Evolution of a Plan : ULA Execs Spell Out Logic Behind Vulcan Design Choices". Space News. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  9. 1 2 Foust, Jeff (7 April 2015). "Blue Origin Completes BE-3 Engine as BE-4 Work Continues". Space News. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  10. ↑ "Blue Origin Completes More Than 100 Staged-Combustion Tests in Development of BE-4 Engine". Blue Origin. 20 September 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  11. 1 2 de Selding, Peter B. (2016-03-16). "ULA intends to lower its costs, and raise its cool, to compete with SpaceX". SpaceNews. Retrieved 2016-03-19. [Blue Origin] did blow up one of their engines on the test stand ... restart the engine ... head pressure start of the turbine ... [Blue] blew up a powerpack under test ... [Bezos] opened up his checkbook, ... need to rebuild test stand, move up to 500 k powerpack for the Vulcan BE-4 engine; not one but two test stands ... agility to ... write with own checkbook is just refreshing
  12. ↑ Berger, Brian (2016-01-23). "Launch. Land. Repeat: Blue Origin posts video of New Shepard's Friday flight". SpaceNews. Retrieved 2016-01-24. Also this year, we’ll start full-engine testing of the BE-4
  13. ↑ "1st BE-4 engine fully assembled. 2nd and 3rd following close behind". 2017-03-06. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
  14. ↑ http://spacenews.com/bruno-vulcan-engine-downselect-is-blues-to-lose/
  15. ↑ http://spacenews.com/blue-origin-suffers-be-4-testing-mishap/
  16. ↑ https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/06/heres-why-jeff-bezos-is-building-rocket-engines-in-alabama/
  17. ↑ Berger, Eric (19 October 2017). "Blue Origin just sent a jolt through the aerospace industry". Ars Technica. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  18. ↑ Blue Origin (2018-03-14), BE-4 Engine test: 65% power level and 114 seconds, retrieved 2018-03-20
  19. ↑ SpaceNews writer Jeff Foust.
  20. 1 2 Foust, Jeff (25 September 2018). "Aerojet Rocketdyne seeks other customers for AR1 engine". SpaceNews. Retrieved 27 September 2018. It’s performing quite well,” Blue Origin Chief Executive Bob Smith said of BE-4 on the same panel as Bruno. “We’ve gone through several hundred seconds of firing, including an over 200-second firing of that engine, so we’re feeling very good about its progress and what we’re going to be able to deliver to the market, as well as for our own consumption.
  21. ↑ "ULA taps Blue Origin for powerful new rocket engine". Spaceflightnow.com. September 17, 2014. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
  22. 1 2 Foust, Jeff (2014-09-22). "Commercial crew and commercial engines". The Space Review. Retrieved 2014-10-01.
  23. ↑ Mike Gruss (27 February 2015). "Timing of Russian Engine Ban Puts ULA, Air Force, in a Bind". Space News. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
  24. 1 2 Gruss, Mike (2016-02-29). "Aerojet Rocketdyne, ULA win Air Force propulsion contracts". SpaceNews. Retrieved 2016-03-01.
  25. ↑ http://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/682238
  26. ↑ "Contracts: Press Operations Release No: CR-037-16". U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE. 2016-02-29. Archived from the original on 2016-03-01. Retrieved 2016-03-01. United Launch Services LLC, a majority owned subsidiary of United Launch Alliance, Centennial, Colorado, has been awarded a $46,629,267 other transaction agreement for the development of the Vulcan BE-4 and Advanced Cryogenic Evolved Stage (ACES) rocket propulsion system prototypes for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program. ... This other transaction agreement requires shared cost investment with United Launch Services for the development of prototypes of the Vulcan BE-4 rocket propulsion system, which is a booster stage engine, and .... The Vulcan BE-4 award is for $45,820,515, or 98.3 percent of the total awarded amount. ... intended for use on United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan launch vehicle. ... The work is expected to be completed no later than Dec. 31, 2019. Air Force fiscal 2015 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $26,344,603 are being obligated at the time of award. United Launch Services is contributing $40,828,213 at the time of award. The total potential government investment, including all options, is $201,655,584. The total potential investment by United Launch Services, including all options, is $134,196,971.
  27. 1 2 Price, Wayne T. (2016-03-12). "Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin could change the face of space travel". Florida Today. Retrieved 2016-03-13.
  28. ↑ Foust, Jeff (2016-03-17). "ULA VP resigns following remarks on company's competitive position, strategy". SpaceNews. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
  29. 1 2 Bergin, Chris (2016-09-12). "Blue Origin introduce the New Glenn orbital LV". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
  30. ↑ "Blue Origin switches engines for New Glenn second stage - SpaceNews.com". SpaceNews.com. 2018-03-29. Retrieved 2018-04-28.
  31. ↑ "Work Commences on Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1) Designs". Darpa.mil. 15 July 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  32. ↑ David Axe (2015-08-03). "Pentagon Preps for Orbital War With New Spaceplane". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
  33. ↑ Jason Rhian (2017-05-07). "DARPA selects rocket engine for XS-1 experimental spaceplane". SpaceFlightInsider. Retrieved 2017-07-12.
  34. ↑ Emre Kelly (2017-06-26). "Blue Origin selects Alabama for rocket engine production, ending Florida's hopes". Florida Today. Retrieved 2017-07-12.
  35. 1 2 3 Boyle, Alan (2017-03-20). "Jeff Bezos does a deep dive into bearings in Blue Origin's BE-4 rocket engine update". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved 2018-04-23. [550,000 lbf thrust rocket engine] performance can involve a lot of wear and tear, particularly if you’re using traditional ball and roller bearings. To maximize the engine’s reusability, Blue Origin’s team is taking a different approach. To keep the BE-4 running smoothly, Bezos says the turbine at the heart of the engine’s turbopump will use a thin film of the fluid propellants as its bearings.
  • ULA February 2016 statement following US Air Force partial-funding of BE-4 development
  • BE-4 in Transport Cradle
  • Irene Klotz (Oct 27, 2017). "Blue Origin Fires Up BE-4 Methane-Fuel Rocket Engine". Aviation Week & Space Technology. Blue Origin marks successful first hotfire of BE-4 rocket engine.
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