Blue Origin announced Friday morning a major expansion of its already considerable launch facilities in Florida, with plans to eventually fly more than 100 rockets per year from there.
The company announced it would add two launch pads for the New Glenn rocket, in addition to the two already under construction at Cape Canaveral. The company is also investing heavily in a new manufacturing facility that will produce up to 150 upper stages for a larger variant of the New Glenn rocket.
The company also plans to acquire two additional landing ships to capture and return the first stage of the New Glenn rocket (it currently has one, named jacklyn). Finally, Blue Origin announced that it will add a new Customer Integration Facility, built in collaboration with the US Space Force, which will feature four payload bays to handle multiple missions at the same time.
“These investments are focused on a single goal: building the capacity to support more missions, more reliably and more efficiently,” Ian Richardson, senior vice president of operations at Blue Origin, wrote in an update on the company’s website this morning. “Going forward, this infrastructure is designed to support multiple flights per week by the end of the decade.
$3 billion and counting
To date, Blue Origin has invested approximately $3 billion in facilities and infrastructure in Florida, largely to support the construction and launch of the New Glenn heavy-lift rocket. The company now has more than 5,000 employees working in Florida and 500 suppliers in the state.
“Our manufacturing and operations footprint has more than doubled over the past two years, now spanning more than 20 locations across Brevard and Orange counties,” Richardson wrote. “Blue Origin is the only company – and largest employer – manufacturing, launching and refurbishing rockets on the Space Coast. »
This would appear to be a reference to replacing the 800-pound gorilla on Florida’s Space Coast, SpaceX, which has launched hundreds of rockets into orbit over the years from Florida. Blue Origin has been launched into orbit twice.
Gn bussni
