Blue Origin conducted a successful hotfire test of its New Glenn rocket's seven BE-4 engines at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The 38-second test marks the final major milestone before the rocket's second launch, potentially as early as November 9. The mission will carry NASA's ESCAPADE probes to study Mars' atmosphere.
On Thursday night, Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, standing over 320 feet tall on a seaside launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, ignited its seven BE-4 main engines at 9:59 pm EDT (01:59 UTC Friday). The engines burned for 38 seconds while the rocket remained secured to the ground, simulating conditions for its upcoming flight.
This hold-down firing was the last significant pre-launch test for the heavy-lift vehicle, following earlier tests of its second-stage engines. Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp celebrated the achievement on X, posting: “Love seeing New Glenn’s seven BE-4 engines come alive! Congratulations to Team Blue on today’s hotfire.” The engines operated at full power for 22 seconds, producing nearly 3.9 million pounds of thrust. Engineers extended the burn and shut down some engines to mimic the booster's landing sequence, which Limp explained helps "understand fluid interactions between active and inactive engine feedlines during landing."
The test paves the way for New Glenn's second mission, after the rocket's inaugural flight in January missed its first-stage landing. Blue Origin plans to recover and reuse this booster for a third launch early next year, carrying the company's unpiloted Blue Moon lander to the Moon. No exact launch date has been announced, but sources indicate readiness as soon as November 9.
Post-test, ground crews will lower the rocket, inspect it, and install a new payload fairing containing NASA's twin ESCAPADE spacecraft, built by Rocket Lab and weighing just over a ton—about 15 percent of the rocket's capacity on this trajectory. The $20 million mission, costing under $80 million total, will study solar wind interactions with Mars' magnetosphere to explain atmospheric escape. Launching outside the typical Mars window, the probes will loiter near Earth until November 2026 before heading to Mars, arriving in September 2027 to begin observations.