CENTENNIAL, Colo. - United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Blue Origin, LLC have entered into an agreement to jointly fund development of a new rocket engine being developed by Blue Origin. Tension between Russia and the U.S. over Ukraine has put pressure on ULA to find a domestically-built engine to replace the RD-180, which currently powers the Atlas V.

The ULA/Blue Origin agreement allows for a four-year development process with full-scale testing in 2016 and first flight in 2019. The BE-4 will be available for use by ULA and Blue Origin for both companies' next generation launch systems.

The BE-4 is a liquid oxygen, liquefied natural gas (LNG) rocket engine that delivers 550,000-lbf of thrust at sea level. Two BE-4s will power each ULA booster, providing 1,100,000-lbf thrust at liftoff. ULA is investing in the engineering and development of the BE-4 to enable availability for national security, civil, human and commercial missions. Costs were not revealed by the companies, but Blue Origin expects the new engine will cut costs for launch vehicles that use it once it enters production.

Development of the BE-4 engine has been underway for three years and testing of BE-4 components is ongoing at Blue Origin's test facilities in West Texas. In May 2014, Blue Origin commissioned a new large test facility for the BE-4 to support full engine testing.

The new engine is not a direct replacement for the RD-180. It will also not support ULA flights to fulfill current contracts with the U.S. Air Force. Instead, the engine is intended to power next generation ULA launch vehicles. The new engine will also power future Blue Origin vehicles, and could be sold commercially as well.

ULA and Blue Origin have worked together in the past, for example as part of a bid under NASA's Commercial Crew Development Program (CCDev) in 2009. The agreement to develop the BE-4 will further the relationship between the two companies. The alliance is interesting because Blue Origin is part of a wave of "new space" companies that are trying to disrupt the space establishment, while ULA is typically considered part of that space establishment. However, the alliance makes sense. ULA has a steady stream of cash from government contracts, while Blue Origin has innovative ideas and techniques that could help ULA better serve its customers.

Source: ULA
Associated URL: http://www.ulalaunch.com/news-press-details.aspx?id=232&title=United-Launch-Alliance-and-Blue-Origin-Announce-Partnership-to-Develop-New-American-Rocket-Engine
Author: B. Ostrove, Analyst