Aerospace manufacturer Blue Origin has finally revealed its BE-4 liquid rocket engine — an engine the company has been developing for more than four years. The BE-4s will be used in Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, which founder Jeff Bezos hopes will one day shuttle humans to and from the moon. In true Bezos fashion, the announcement was made without notice on his personal Twitter account.
Image: Jeff Bezos via Twitter
1st BE-4 engine fully assembled. 2nd and 3rd following close behind. #GradatimFerociter pic.twitter.com/duE4Tnzvkx
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) March 6, 2017
According to Blue Origin’s website, not only will the BE-4 end America’s reliance on the Russian RD-180 engine, it requires no taxpayer dollars, since it’s entirely funded by the private sector. To top it all off, two of these bad boys provide up to 500,000kg of thrust — not too shabby.
While the New Glenn is just an idea right now (the facility that will reportedly build it is itself currently under construction in Cape Canaveral), it will be a beast once it’s built. The heavy-lift orbital rocket will come in two size varieties — one standing 82m, the other at 95m. When it’s done, the New Glenn rockets will be some of the largest and most powerful in the world. According to Blue Origin, each New Glenn first stage will be powered by seven of the engines pictured below.
Here’s one more shot of BE-4 in its transport cradle. pic.twitter.com/T2HdZ3UtQZ
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) March 6, 2017
The BE-4’s teaser fuels the fire of the current space race between noted billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. Of course, when you’re that rich, playing rocket man is probably a casual hobby.