Blue Origin faces months of delays after rocket explosion damages launch pad

New York: Blue Origin faces a months-long setback after the explosion of a rocket damaged its launch pad, company and industry sources said, scrambling schedules for Amazon satellite launches ⁠and bolstering SpaceX's dominance in the commercial launch market.

The mishap, which occurred during a test fire of the engines for the New ⁠Glenn rocket's launch next week, comes at a critical time for Jeff Bezos' business empire. His ‌companies Blue Origin and Amazon are seeking to ​establish themselves as viable challengers in the heavy-lift and global satellite internet network industries, competing with Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Thursday's setback could also complicate NASA's lunar ambitions.

Damage at the site of a launchpad.

A Blue Origin booster called "No, It's Necessary" - a nod to a line from the film Interstellar - was wrecked in the incident on Thursday. The launch pad was "practically destroyed" and engineers expect at least a six-month disruption, if not longer, said a person familiar with ​the matter who declined to be named because ⁠they are not authorized to speak with media.

"It's only been a year since the SpaceX Starship also exploded on the launch pad and Blue Origin can also recover. But it will take months to rebuild," said Antoine Grenier, partner and head of space consulting at Analysys Mason.

Months-long rebuild expected

After a Falcon 9 exploded on the launch pad in ⁠2016, SpaceX spent more ‌than a year repairing the damaged facility, though it resumed launches within 4-1/2 months by shifting operations to a second Florida pad.

While Amazon's decision to bring aboard more launch partners, including SpaceX, has reduced ‌its dependence on any single rocket, it gives Musk's business leverage over Bezos, his long-running rival.

"Sorry to see this, I hope you recover quickly," Musk said in ⁠a post on X, later replying to Bezos with “Ad astra per aspera,” a Latin phrase that speaks to overcoming impossible goals.

Amazon LEO was relying on New Glenn's rapid launch cadence to ‌deploy half of its more than 3,200 satellite broadband constellation by July 2026 to meet regulatory deadlines. ‌An extended grounding by the FAA will severely threaten the timeline.

Constellation deployment in jeopardy

Analysys Mason's Grenier said Amazon ‌has already tapped much of the near-term capacity available from other heavy launch providers. While SpaceX could absorb some additional ‌demand, its Falcon 9 rocket can carry roughly half as many Amazon LEO satellites per launch as New Glenn, meaning any major shift of launches could require a significant increase in mission count, he said.

As well, lunar payloads are designed around specific launch vehicles, making a switch to an alternative ⁠rocket complicated.

The rocket was ⁠also scheduled to launch Blue Origin's first Blue Moon lunar lander later this year. Days earlier NASA awarded the company a contract to deliver two lunar rovers ahead of the Artemis 4 mission in 2028.

The space agency said on Thursday it would assess near-term impact on its Artemis and Moon Base programs, though it remains unclear whether any missions would need to be reassigned.

Still, it is yet to be seen how much of a setback the incident is to Blue Origin's long-term prospects and a gain for SpaceX, whose order book is crowded with its own Starlink satellite deployments, alongside commercial and government missions.

The ​U.S. Space Force and National Reconnaissance Office on Friday affirmed their commitment to Blue Origin, standing by a newly awarded ​national security launch contract on Thursday despite the catastrophic ​launch pad explosion of the company's New Glenn rocket just hours later.

"Long term, the market still needs viable alternatives, so this strengthens SpaceX’s position at the margin, but ​doesn't change the broader trajectory toward a multi-provider ecosystem," said Mark Boggett, CEO of British space investor Seraphim Space.