Plate Nº 21 · recorded November 9, 2026
Space & AstronomyReported finding
Blue Origin Unveils New Glenn Third Stage and Northstar Booster Engine
Blue Origin's new GS3 stage promises up to 14 tonnes to geostationary orbit, while the 3D-printed Northstar engine delivers 715,000 pounds of thrust.
By Priya Raman4 min read888 words
In brief
- GS3 third stage quoted at up to 14 tonnes to GEO and 20 tonnes to trans-lunar injection on the 9x4 New Glenn variant
- Northstar booster engine produces 715,000 pounds of thrust; more than 65 percent is additively manufactured
- First composite liquid-hydrogen tank pressurised to 150 percent of flight pressure for 10 minutes at Launch Site One, Texas
- GS3 is contracted for an unnamed government cis-lunar mission launching in 2028
- New Glenn returns to flight with NG-4.1 using booster 'Never Tell Me The Odds' in early 2027
Blue Origin has announced a third stage for its New Glenn rocket, capable of sending up to 14 metric tonnes directly to geostationary orbit and 20 tonnes toward the Moon, alongside a new booster engine rated at 715,000 pounds of thrust. Chief executive Dave Limp unveiled both developments on November 5, 2026, expanding the rocket's reach into high-energy orbits and deepening the company's American-made propulsion line-up.
The announcements arrived at a turning point for the programme. New Glenn has flown as a two-stage vehicle from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral, including its NG-1 debut with the Blue Ring Pathfinder, the NG-2 ESCAPADE mission for NASA, and AST SpaceMobile satellites on NG-3. NG-4 was destroyed in a pad explosion during a static fire attempt in May. Following a rapid pad repair effort, Blue Origin is preparing to return to flight with NG-4.1, using the booster named "Never Tell Me The Odds," early in 2027. The company has also promoted an ambitious schedule for 2027 and beyond, with a higher launch cadence, a second pad designated LC-36B, and a larger rocket variant.
What does the third stage change?
The new stage, called GS3, addresses high-energy missions that the two-stage stack is not designed to handle in the same way, including direct injection to geostationary orbit (the belt 36,000 kilometres above the equator where communications satellites hover over fixed points) and Earth-escape trajectories.
Blue Origin quotes the following performance figures:
- On the current 7-metre-fairing, seven-engine architecture: up to 8 metric tonnes to GEO and 10 tonnes to trans-lunar injection (the trajectory that carries a spacecraft toward the Moon).
- On the larger 9x4 variant: up to 14 metric tonnes to GEO and 20 tonnes to TLI.
GS3 is already under contract for a cis-lunar mission with an unnamed government customer, scheduled to launch in 2028. The stage is not required for Blue Origin's lunar lander architecture, but the company says it can support sustained operations around the Moon: more mass delivered straight to TLI would allow faster transits while leaving propellant available for on-orbit work.
How does GS3 fit existing payloads?
The stage builds on existing New Glenn hardware and leaves the customer payload experience unchanged. It uses the same fixed payload adapters and payload fairing as the two-stage vehicle, and its integration inside an interstage preserves the full fairing volume for spacecraft.
Mission options listed for GS3 include direct insertion into medium Earth orbit and GEO, multi-payload deployment, extended coast phases, and multiple precision burns. Blue Origin says those features target national security and other high-energy missions requiring precise orbital insertion and tight mission assurance.
GS3 is powered by the BE-7 engine, the same liquid-oxygen and liquid-hydrogen family already tied to the company's Blue Moon landers. For GS3 mission profiles, Blue Origin quotes a vacuum specific impulse (a measure of engine efficiency, in seconds of thrust per unit of propellant) better than 460 seconds. The stage also reuses New Glenn fluids, mechanical systems, and avionics, which the company presents as a way to cut technical risk.
At Launch Site One in Texas, teams have completed a first composite liquid-hydrogen tanking test for the stage. Using flight fluid systems, the tank was pressurised to 100 percent of Maximum Expected Operating Pressure for 2.5 hours, longer than any GS3 mission requires, and then to 150 percent of that pressure for 10 minutes.
"The team recently completed testing of what we expect will be the largest composite LH2 tank ever flown in space," Limp wrote on X. Blue Origin expects the GS3 tank to be the first composite liquid-hydrogen tank flown in space.
What is Northstar?
In the same unveiling, Blue Origin introduced Northstar, a liquid-oxygen and liquefied-natural-gas booster engine producing 715,000 pounds of thrust. It becomes the company's second booster engine alongside BE-4, which powers New Glenn's first stage and United Launch Alliance's Vulcan.
"Our new booster engine, Northstar, was built from the ground up by a scrappy team focused on weight, cost, manufacturability, and performance," Limp said. More than 65 percent of the engine is produced through additive manufacturing (industrial 3D printing) using in-house capability. Compared with BE-4, Blue Origin claims a 30 percent mass reduction and a 50 percent cut in parts count, while thrust rises from 640,000 to 715,000 pounds-force.
The programme moved from approval to development testing in 11 months, keeping the methane-fuelled, oxygen-rich staged combustion cycle and single-shaft turbopump architecture used on BE-4. Final assembly is now described as taking less than a day.
What comes next?
Together, GS3 and Northstar point to a New Glenn family that is no longer only a two-stage low-Earth-orbit workhorse. Direct GEO delivery, multi-burn high-energy profiles, and a booked 2028 cis-lunar flight give GS3 a clear near-term role, while Northstar adds a higher-thrust, lighter booster path beside the flying BE-4 fleet.
Blue Origin still has to convert tanking milestones and engine development testing into flight hardware, and the performance figures remain company claims. For now, the numbers stand on paper.
via nasaspaceflight.com (Source)
More from Priya Raman
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Senior reporter covering people, launches and day-to-day practice in general science news at SciBeat.
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