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For other uses, see BE-4 (disambiguation).

BE-4 (Blue Engine 4)
The first hotfire-tested BE-4, serial number 103, at the 34th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs in April 2018, showing the liquid methane inlet side of the engine
Country of originUnited States
First flightJanuary 8, 2024 (2024-01-08)
DesignerBlue Origin
ManufacturerBlue Origin
Associated LVVulcan Centaur
New Glenn
StatusIn production
Liquid-fuel engine
PropellantLOX / CH4
CycleOxygen-rich staged combustion
Performance
Thrust, sea-level
  • Original: 2,460 kN (550,000 lbf)
  • Improved: 2,847 kN (640,000 lbf)[1]
Throttle range40–100%
Chamber pressure140 bar (14,000 kPa)
Specific impulse340 s (3.3 km/s)[2]
Burn time
  • Vulcan: 299 seconds[3][4]
  • New Glenn: 191 seconds[5]
Gimbal range±5°

The BE-4 (Blue Engine 4)[6] is a liquid rocket engine developed by Blue Origin. It uses liquefied methane fuel and operates on an oxygen-rich staged combustion cycle.[7] The BE-4 produces 2,400 kN (550,000 lbf) of thrust at sea level.[8]

Development of the BE-4 was funded through a combination of private investments and public contracts.[9]

Although initially intended solely for use on Blue Origin's proprietary launch vehicle, the New Glenn, the engine was also selected in 2014 by United Launch Alliance (ULA) for its Vulcan Centaur rocket, which replaces the Atlas V and Delta IV.[10] ULA finalized the BE-4 as its choice in September 2018.[11]

The BE-4 made its first flight aboard the Vulcan Centaur rocket on January 8, 2024. It was later launched on New Glenn for the first time on January 16, 2025.

History

[edit]

Following Aerojet's acquisition of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne in 2012, Blue Origin president Rob Meyerson saw an opportunity to fill a gap in the defense industrial base.[12] Blue Origin publicly entered the liquid rocket engine business by partnering with ULA and other companies on the development of BE-4. Meyerson announced the selection of Huntsville, AL as the location of Blue Origin's rocket engine production factory in June 2017.[13]

Blue Origin began work on the BE-4 in 2011,[14] although the public announcement was made in September 2014.[15] This was their first engine to combust liquid oxygen and methane propellants.

In September 2014 ULA selected BE-4 as the main engine for the Vulcan launch vehicle. Vulcan is a successor to the Atlas V, and BE-4 would replace the Russian-made RD-180 engine.[16] Blue Origin said that the "BE-4 would be 'ready for flight' by 2017".[9] Blue Origin indicated that they intend to make the engine available to companies beyond ULA.[17]

By April 2015, two parallel development programs were under way. One program was testing full-scale versions of the BE-4 powerpack, the set of valves and turbopumps that provide the proper fuel/oxidizer mix to the injectors and combustion chamber. The second program was testing subscale versions of the engine's injectors.[18] The company planned to begin full-scale engine testing in late 2016 and expected to complete development in 2017.[18]

By September 2015, Blue Origin had completed more than 100 development tests of several elements of the BE-4, including the preburner and a "regeneratively cooled thrust chamber using multiple full-scale injector elements". The tests were used to confirm the theoretical model predictions of "injector performance, heat transfer, and combustion stability", and data collected was used to refine the engine design.[19] A test device exploded on the test stand during 2015 during powerpack testing. Blue Origin built two larger and redundant test stands to follow, capable of testing the full thrust of the BE-4.[20]

In January 2016, Blue Origin announced that they intended to begin testing full engines of the BE-4 on ground test stands prior to the end of 2016.[21] Following a factory tour in March 2016, journalist Eric Berger noted that a large part of "Blue Origin's factory has been given over to development of the Blue Engine-4".[10]

Initially, both first-stage and second-stage versions of the engine were planned. The second stage of the initial New Glenn design was to share the same stage diameter as the first stage and use a single vacuum-optimized BE-4, the BE-4U.[22] Later, they backed away from this plan.

The first engine was fully assembled in March 2017.[23][non-primary source needed] Also in March, ULA indicated that the economic risk of the Blue Origin engine selection option had been retired, but that the technical risk on the project would remain until engine firing tests were completed.[24] In June 2017, Blue Origin announced that they would build a new facility in Huntsville, Alabama, to manufacture BE-4.[13][needs update]

BE-4 was first test-fired, at 50% thrust for 3 seconds, in October 2017,[25] rising by March 2018, to 65% for 114 seconds,[26] by February 2019 to 73%,[27] and by August 2019 to 100%.[28] Testing and support took place at the company's orbital launch facility at Exploration Park in Florida, where Blue Origin invested more than US$200 million in facilities and improvements.[29]

Blue Origin BE-4 rocket engine powerhead and combustion chamber, April 2018—methane inlet side view. This was the first BE-4 engine to be hotfire tested; the test occurred on October 18, 2017.

In October 2018, Blue Origin President Bob Smith announced that the first New Glenn launch had been moved back to 2021,[30] followed in 2021 by an additional slip to late 2022.[31] The first flight test of the BE-4 was then redirected for the initial Vulcan Centaur launch rather than on New Glenn.

In July 2020, the first pathfinder BE-4 was delivered to ULA for integration testing with Vulcan Centaur.[32][33]

In August 2020, ULA CEO Tory Bruno stated that the second test BE-4 would be delivered soon, followed quickly by flight-qualified ones.[34] He noted an ongoing issue with the BE-4's turbopumps. At the time, Blue Origin was still troubleshooting the 75,000-horsepower pumps.[35] The issue continued until 2022.[9]

On October 31, 2022, Blue Origin announced that the first two BE-4 engines were being integrated on a Vulcan rocket.[36]

On May 11, 2023, Bruno stated that BE-4 qualification testing had been completed "several weeks ago", i.e,, by the end of April 2023.[37]

On June 30, 2023, a BE-4 engine exploded 10 seconds into testing, damaging the test stand.[38]

On January 8, 2024, ULA successfully launched Vulcan-Centaur powered by BE-4.[citation needed]

As of 2024, there were two BE-4 production lines, one to supply ULA and one for New Glenn.[39]

In November 2025, Blue Origin announced another demonstrated performance increase for BE-4, stating the maximum thrust had increased to 2,847 kN (640,000 lbf).[1]

Applications

[edit]

Vulcan Centaur

[edit]
Further information: Vulcan Centaur

Vulcan uses two of the 2,400 kN (550,000 lbf) BE-4 engines on each first stage.[40][41][15]

The BE-4 competed with and defeated the AR1 engine for the Atlas V RD-180 replacement program. The AR1, like the RD-180, is kerosene-fueled.[42]

In February 2016, the US Air Force issued a contract that provides partial development funding of up to US$202 million to ULA in order to support use of the Blue Origin BE-4 engine on the ULA Vulcan launch vehicle.[43][44]

The original USAF contract to Aerojet Rocketdyne (AR) to advance development of the AR1 engine was US$536 million,[43] but by June 2018, the USAF had decreased its contribution—5/6ths of the total cost—to US$294 million. ARR put no additional private funds into effort after early 2018.[45] [relevant?]

Vulcan launched on January 8, 2024. The engines performed flawlessly, propelling Peregrine Mission One to Trans-lunar injection. Vulcan was the first methane-fueled rocket to reach orbit on its first attempt, and the first to reach orbit from the US.[46]

New Glenn

[edit]
Main article: New Glenn

The BE-4 is used on Blue Origin's New Glenn, a 7.0-meter (23 ft)-diameter two-stage orbital launch vehicle with an optional third stage. The first stage is powered by seven BE-4 engines and is reusable, landing vertically. The second stage has same diameter and use two BE-3 vacuum-optimized LH2/LOX engines.[47] The second stage is expendable.[22]

New Glenn launched on January 16, 2025, in which all of the seven engines performed well in ascent flight, except on the landing attempt, where the first stage booster failed at some point during the atmospheric reentry.

XS-1

[edit]
Further information: XS-1 (spacecraft)

Boeing secured a contract to design and build the DARPA XS-1 reusable spaceplane in 2014. The XS-1 was to accelerate to hypersonic speed at the edge of the Earth's atmosphere to enable its payload to reach orbit.[48] In 2015, a modified BE-4 was believed to be the primary source of propulsion.[49] In May 2017, the contract award selected the RS-25-derived Aerojet Rocketdyne AR-22 engine instead.[50] The XS-1 was cancelled in 2020.[51][52]

Orbital ATK

[edit]

As of March 2016, Orbital ATK was evaluating Blue Origin engines for its launch vehicles, although they eventually went in another direction.[10][needs update]

Technical specifications

[edit]

The BE-4 is a staged combustion cycle engine, with a single oxygen-rich preburner, and a single turbine driving both the fuel and oxygen pumps.[53] The cycle is similar to the kerosene-fueled RD-180 currently, although it uses only a single combustion chamber and nozzle.

The BE-4 is designed for long life and high reliability, partially by aiming the engine to be a "medium-performing version of a high-performance architecture".[10] Hydrostatic bearings are used in the turbopumps rather than the more typical ball and roller bearings specifically to increase reliability and service life.[54]

Using methane allows for autogenous pressurization, which is the use of gasified propellant to pressurize liquid propellant. This is beneficial because it eliminates the need for pressurization systems that require the storage of a pressurizing gas such as helium.

  • Thrust (sea level): 2,400 kN (550,000 lbf) at full power[54][15]
  • Chamber pressure: 14 MPa (2,000 psi), substantially lower than the 26 MPa (3,700 psi) of the RD-180 and 35 MPa (5,100 psi) of Raptor 3[10][55]
  • Designed for reusability — up to 100 flights[10][54][56][57]
  • Relightable in-flight via head-pressure start of the turbine[20]
  • Tested deep throttling capability to at least 40% power[58]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Upgraded Engines and Subcooled Components Drive Enhanced Performance". Blue Origin. November 20, 2025. Retrieved November 21, 2025.
  2. ^ Jeff Bezos, Tim Dodd (August 15, 2024). First Look Inside Blue Origin's New Glenn Factory w/ Jeff Bezos. Event occurs at 1:10:48.
  3. ^ Jan. 8 LIVE Broadcast: Vulcan Cert-1. United Launch Alliance. Event occurs at 57:11. Retrieved July 11, 2024 – via YouTube.
  4. ^ "Vulcan Cert-1". United Launch Alliance. January 8, 2024. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  5. ^ @blueorigin (November 13, 2025). "New Glenn-2 mission timeline" (Tweet). Retrieved November 21, 2025 – via Twitter.
  6. ^ Boyle, Alan (September 17, 2014). "Bezos vs. Musk: Blue Origin and ULA Turn Up the Heat in Rocket Battle". NBC News. Archived from the original on June 11, 2015. Retrieved June 11, 2015.
  7. ^ "Rocket Engines Designed for Reuse". Blue Origin. Archived from the original on February 3, 2019. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  8. ^ "BE-4 Rocket Engine" (PDF). ULA. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 27, 2020. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  9. ^ a b c Berger, Eric (August 5, 2021). "Blue Origin's powerful BE-4 engine is more than four years late—here's why". Ars Technica. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  10. ^ a b c d e f Berger, Eric (March 9, 2016). "Behind the curtain: Ars goes inside Blue Origin's secretive rocket factory". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on March 9, 2016. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
  11. ^ "United Launch Alliance Building Rocket of the Future with Industry-Leading Strategic Partnerships". September 28, 2018. Archived from the original on September 28, 2018. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
  12. ^ #01 Building Blue Origin with Rob Meyerson, retrieved May 19, 2021
  13. ^ a b Berger, Eric (June 28, 2017). "Why is Jeff Bezos building rocket engines in Alabama? He's playing to win". Ars Technica. Retrieved May 19, 2021.
  14. ^ Foust, Jeff (September 30, 2015). "Blue Origin Reaches Milestone in BE-4 Engine Development". Space News. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
  15. ^ a b c Ferster, Warren (September 17, 2014). "ULA To Invest in Blue Origin Engine as RD-180 Replacement". Space News. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
  16. ^ Mike Gruss (April 24, 2015). "Evolution of a Plan: ULA Execs Spell Out Logic Behind Vulcan Design Choices". Space News. Archived from the original on April 25, 2015. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
  17. ^ Foust, Jeff (September 22, 2014). "Commercial crew and commercial engines". The Space Review. Archived from the original on March 26, 2021. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
  18. ^ a b Jeff Foust (April 7, 2015). "Blue Origin Completes BE-3 Engine as BE-4 Work Continues". Space News. Archived from the original on April 8, 2015. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  19. ^ "Blue Origin Completes More Than 100 Staged-Combustion Tests in Development of BE-4 Engine". Blue Origin. September 20, 2015. Archived from the original on September 21, 2017. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
  20. ^ a b de Selding, Peter B. (March 16, 2016). "ULA intends to lower its costs, and raise its cool, to compete with SpaceX". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on March 17, 2016. Retrieved March 19, 2016. [Blue Origin] did blow up one of their engines on the test stand ... restart the engine ... head pressure start of the turbine ... [Blue] blew up a powerpack under test ... [Bezos] opened up his checkbook, ... need to rebuild test stand, move up to 500 k powerpack for the Vulcan BE-4 engine; not one but two test stands ... agility to ... write with own checkbook is just refreshing
  21. ^ Berger, Brian (January 23, 2016). "Launch. Land. Repeat: Blue Origin posts video of New Shepard's Friday flight". SpaceNews. Retrieved January 24, 2016. Also this year, we'll start full-engine testing of the BE-4
  22. ^ a b Bergin, Chris (September 12, 2016). "Blue Origin introduce the New Glenn orbital LV". NASASpaceFlight.com. Archived from the original on September 13, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2018. the two-stage New Glenn is 270 feet tall, and its second stage is powered by a single vacuum-optimized BE-4 engine (the BE-4U)
  23. ^ @JeffBezos (March 6, 2017). "1st BE-4 engine fully assembled. 2nd and 3rd following close behind. #GradatimFerociter" (Tweet). Archived from the original on March 7, 2017. Retrieved March 6, 2017 – via Twitter.
  24. ^ "Bruno: Vulcan engine downselect is Blue's to lose". SpaceNews. April 5, 2017. Archived from the original on April 6, 2017. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
  25. ^ Berger, Eric (October 19, 2017). "Blue Origin just sent a jolt through the aerospace industry". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on October 19, 2017. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
  26. ^ Blue Origin (March 14, 2018), BE-4 Engine test: 65% power level and 114 seconds, archived from the original on September 28, 2018, retrieved March 20, 2018.
  27. ^ Mosher, Dave (February 23, 2019). "Jeff Bezos just gave a private talk in New York. From utopian space colonies to dissing Elon Musk's Martian dream, here are the most notable things he said". Business Insider. Archived from the original on February 24, 2019. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
  28. ^ Alan Boyle (August 2, 2019). "Jeff Bezos touts a full-power firing of Blue Origin's next-generation BE-4 rocket engine". geekwire.com. Retrieved May 14, 2023.
  29. ^ Price, Wayne T. (March 12, 2016). "Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin could change the face of space travel". Florida Today. Archived from the original on January 6, 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
  30. ^ @b0yle (October 10, 2018). "Latest schedule from @blueorigin CEO Bob Smith at #afasummit2018: People to fly on #NewShepard starting n first hal…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  31. ^ "Blue Origin delays first launch of New Glenn to late 2022". SpaceNews. February 25, 2021. Archived from the original on September 22, 2021. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  32. ^ "Blue Origin delivers the first BE-4 engine to United Launch Alliance". SpaceNews. July 2, 2020. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  33. ^ "Blue Origin Rocket Engine Delivered to US' United Launch Alliance, to End Russian Imports". Defense World. July 5, 2020. Archived from the original on August 7, 2020. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  34. ^ "Tory Bruno on ULA's big win: 'We knew we were going to be competitive'". SpaceNews. August 11, 2020. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
  35. ^ "United launch alliance space force spacex contract". www.bizjournals.com. August 20, 2020. Archived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
  36. ^ Boyle, Alan (October 31, 2022). "Blue Origin completes delivery of BE-4 rocket engines for first ULA Vulcan launch". GeekWire. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
  37. ^ @torybruno (May 11, 2023). "Yes. BE qual was complete several weeks ago" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  38. ^ Sheetz, Michael (July 11, 2023). "Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket engine explodes during testing". CNBC. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
  39. ^ Atkinson, Ian (June 4, 2024). "Blue Origin works towards New Glenn debut, ramps BE-4 deliveries". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved June 16, 2024.
  40. ^ Achenbach, Joel (September 17, 2014). "Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin to supply engines for national security space launches". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on September 25, 2014. Retrieved September 27, 2014.
  41. ^ "ULA taps Blue Origin for powerful new rocket engine". Spaceflightnow.com. September 17, 2014. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  42. ^ Mike Gruss (February 27, 2015). "Timing of Russian Engine Ban Puts ULA, Air Force, in a Bind". Space News. Archived from the original on February 28, 2015. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  43. ^ a b Gruss, Mike (February 29, 2016). "Aerojet Rocketdyne, ULA win Air Force propulsion contracts". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on December 18, 2016. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  44. ^ "United States Department of Defense". Archived from the original on September 24, 2019. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  45. ^ Foust, Jeff (September 25, 2018). "Aerojet Rocketdyne seeks other customers for AR1 engine". SpaceNews. Retrieved February 7, 2023. 'It's performing quite well', Blue Origin Chief Executive Bob Smith said of BE-4 on the same panel as Bruno. 'We've gone through several hundred seconds of firing, including an over 200-second firing of that engine, so we're feeling very good about its progress and what we're going to be able to deliver to the market, as well as for our own consumption.'
  46. ^ Belam, Martin (January 8, 2024). "Nasa Peregrine 1 launch: Vulcan Centaur rocket carrying Nasa moon lander lifts off in Florida – live updates". the Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved January 8, 2024.
  47. ^ "Blue Origin switches engines for New Glenn second stage". SpaceNews.com. March 29, 2018. Archived from the original on March 29, 2018. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
  48. ^ "Work Commences on Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1) Designs". Darpa.mil. July 15, 2014. Archived from the original on October 30, 2016. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
  49. ^ David Axe (August 3, 2015). "Pentagon Preps for Orbital War With New Spaceplane". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on August 4, 2015. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
  50. ^ "Aerojet Rocketdyne Selected As Main Propulsion Provider for Boeing and DARPA Experimental Spaceplane". May 24, 2017. Archived from the original on May 30, 2017. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
  51. ^ Jason Rhian (May 7, 2017). "DARPA selects rocket engine for XS-1 experimental spaceplane". SpaceFlightInsider. Archived from the original on June 27, 2017. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
  52. ^ "Boeing drops out of DARPA Experimental Spaceplane program". SpaceNews.com. January 22, 2020. Archived from the original on August 26, 2020. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
  53. ^ "BE-4 Engine". Blue Origin. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
  54. ^ a b c Boyle, Alan (March 20, 2017). "Jeff Bezos does a deep dive into bearings in Blue Origin's BE-4 rocket engine update". Yahoo Finance. Archived from the original on April 23, 2018. Retrieved April 23, 2018. [550,000 lbf thrust rocket engine] performance can involve a lot of wear and tear, particularly if you're using traditional ball and roller bearings. To maximize the engine's reusability, Blue Origin's team is taking a different approach. To keep the BE-4 running smoothly, Bezos says the turbine at the heart of the engine's turbopump will use a thin film of the fluid propellants as its bearings.
  55. ^ Musk, Elon [@elonmusk] (May 13, 2023). "Raptor V3 just achieved 350 bar chamber pressure (269 tons of thrust). Congrats to @SpaceX propulsion team! Starship Super Heavy Booster has 33 Raptors, so total thrust of 8877 tons or 19.5 million pounds" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  56. ^ @CHenry_QA (June 25, 2018). "Correction from Ariane: New Glenn first stage can do 25 missions, BE-4 engines designed for 100 flights each" (Tweet). Archived from the original on March 26, 2021. Retrieved May 27, 2019 – via Twitter.
  57. ^ Sheetz, Michael (April 18, 2018). "Blue Origin's new rocket engine will be able to launch '100 full missions', CEO says". CNBC. Archived from the original on May 27, 2019. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
  58. ^ "Deep-throttling and rapidly-responding rocket engines enable a rocket launch vehicle to land vertically. Here we tested those capabilities for the #BE4, resting at a 40% power level before being commanded back to full power just milliseconds later". Facebook. May 24, 2022. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
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