Gen. Hyten Excited but Cautious on New ULA-Blue Origin Partnership

摘要

When Jeff Bezos, the founder of Blue Origin, and Tory Bruno, the chief executive of United Launch Alliance, called the U.S. Air Force's top space official to tell him about their partnership on a new rocket engine, they found an engineer who is a fan of methane-fueled propulsion technology but also aware of the challenges the companies face. Gen. John Hyten, commander of Air Force Space Command, told reporters Sept. 17 here that he was excited about the Blue Origin-ULA partnership on a replacement for the RD-180 engine that powers ULA's Atlas 5 rocket, but wondered when the new engine might be ready. Blue Origin says its planned BE-4 engine has been in development for three years and builds upon the company's smaller BE-3, which has racked up more than 10,000 seconds of firing time on the test stand. Bezos and Bruno said the BE-4 is fully funded and will be ready to fly in four years.