Blue Origin Will Make Its New Glenn Rocket Even Bigger to Rival SpaceX

Following the success of New Glenn’s second test flight, Blue Origin announced a super-heavy variant of its rocket that could compete with SpaceX’s Starship.

Jeff Bezos’ rocket company unveiled the new design for its rocket, named New Glenn 9×4 for the number of engines it boasts on the booster and upper stage. That’s an increase of two engines for each stage from New Glenn’s current design, which features seven engines on the booster and two on the upper stage.

“The next chapter in New Glenn’s roadmap is a new super-heavy class rocket,” Blue Origin wrote in a statement. The company recently launched New Glenn for its second mission , sending NASA’s ESCAPADE mission on its way to Mars. Although Blue Origin didn’t specify when it would start launching the larger variant of New Glenn,