BE-4 is one of the most powerful rocket engines. It is developed by Blue Origin. At the end of June 2023 he became
What is known
On the last day of June, Blue Origin heldengine testing at a site in Texas. The media reports in a "dramatic outburst". It occurred 10 seconds after the start of the tests, destroyed the engine and damaged the infrastructure.
Blue Origin preparing BE-4 for second launchVulcan Centaur missiles. CNBC reports that the company has confirmed reports of an engine explosion during testing on June 30. It is also noted that there were no casualties, fortunately.
Blue Origin is currently investigating the cause of the incident andtakes steps to prevent this from happening in the future. The company said it immediately alerted ULA (a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing, operator of the Vulcan Centaur rocket) of the engine explosion.
The Vulcan Centaur rocket is also having problems.In March, as part of the tests, the upper stage exploded. This led to the postponement of the launch date of the new mission from May indefinitely. It is expected that the ULA will announce the details of the launch today or tomorrow.
The BE-4 isn't just for the Vulcan Centaur.The engine will be installed in Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket. The date of the first launch has not yet been specified, although the launch was originally scheduled for 2020.