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WASHINGTON — Blue Origin has traced the explosion of its New Glenn rocket during a static-fire test in May to a valve in the rocket’s BE-4 engine, an issue that could also affect United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur.
In an Aug. 5 statement on social media, Blue Origin Chief Executive Dave Limp said the investigation into the May 28 explosion that destroyed a New Glenn rocket and severely damaged its launch pad traced the cause to a liquid oxygen valve in one of the first stage’s seven BE-4 engines.
“The anomaly originated at the main oxygen valve on one of the BE-4 engines, which was later confirmed by hardware recovery and inspections,” he said. “Extensive component-level and engine hotfire tests have been conducted to understand the failure mode better and inform mitigations.”
His statement is the first major update on the failure investigation since the explosion. The company has focused its updates since the incident on the reconstruction of Launch Complex 36, its Cape Canaveral launch pad.
Limp did not reveal details about how the valve malfunctioned but said it can be corrected while the company completes the fault tree analysis for the investigation.
“We’re making small modifications to the valve that can be quickly retrofitted to existing engines,” he said. “We’re manufacturing the updated hardware, which will be ready by the end of this month.”
Because the problem is with the BE-4 engine, it may also be an issue for United Launch Alliance, whose Vulcan rocket uses the engine in its first stage.
Vulcan, though, has not flown since February, when it experienced an unrelated anomaly with one of its solid rocket boosters, which use motors provided by Northrop Grumman. The rocket was able to successfully complete its mission, but the companies have been investigating the problem since then.
Northrop said in a July 21 earnings call that it had taken unspecified “corrective actions” with the GEM 63XL motor that included a component redesign verified in ground testing. The company expects to start delivering redesigned motors “by the end of the year.”
ULA has not announced plans for Vulcan’s return to flight, including in configurations that do not use solid rocket motors, and the company did not state how the BE-4 investigation might affect those plans.
Blue Origin has stated since the accident its intent to rebuild LC-36 and return New Glenn to flight by the end of this year, an ambitious schedule given the time required to rebuild other pads affected by vehicle explosions. Limp did not provide a schedule update when he discussed the BE-4 investigation.