Blue Origin has introduced Northstar, a new liquid oxygen and liquefied natural gas (LOX/LNG) booster engine producing 715,000 pounds-force of thrust.
The engine becomes the company's second booster engine alongside BE-4, expanding its portfolio of propulsion systems for launch vehicles and in-space applications.
Northstar is designed to deliver more thrust with a lighter, simplified architecture. Compared with BE-4, it reduces engine mass by 30% and parts count by 50%, while increasing thrust from 640,000 to 715,000 pounds-force. More than 65% of the engine is produced using additive manufacturing, leveraging Blue Origin's in-house production capabilities.
The company says these manufacturing advances have reduced assembly time to less than a day.
The engine retains the liquefied natural gas-fueled, oxygen-rich staged combustion cycle and single-shaft turbopump architecture used in Blue Origin's existing propulsion development.
The company moved Northstar from program approval to development testing in just 11 months.
Image Credits: Blue Origin
Space
Blue Origin Unveils Northstar: New 715,000 Pounds of Thrust Booster Engine
Telemetry Today—
Blue Origin unveils Northstar, a 715,000-pound-thrust LOX/LNG booster engine that is 30% lighter and uses 50% fewer parts than BE-4.
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