How New Glenn explosion hands Elon Musk's SpaceX an edge, and whitewashes NASA's plans

Blue Origin’s launchpad sustained considerable damage after the New Glenn rocket exploded recently, and NASA chief Jared Isaacman does not think it can be restored until 2028. Talking to CNBC, he said it will “take some serious time”. That is a huge hit to the company's space mission as well as to the American space agency. But the unintended beneficiary of this incident could be SpaceX. NASA needs to send a lander to the moon by the end of this year, which was supposed to piggyback on New Glenn. However, Isaacman has hinted that they might have to go to Falcon 9, SpaceX's rocket, for this mission.

What happened to New Glenn rocket?

The rocket erupted into a fireball during a hot-fire test on Thursday at a Space Force launch facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Jeff Bezos, who owns Blue Origin, said it was a "very rough day" and promised to rebuild it as soon as possible. NASA has awarded Blue Origin a $188 million contract to help build a Moon Base and ferry two lunar rovers in 2028. Isaacman believes that the latter is still achievable on the current timeline. “A couple of them were rovers that are meant to go to the moon on Blue Origin through their Mark 1, leveraging New Glenn, but that’s a 2028 time frame,” he said.

Blue Origin and Isaacman are now working to salvage the company's reputation and what's at stake. Isaacman told the outlet, “We’re all getting organized generally around the idea that we certainly want to see Blue Origin be very successful. Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp also posted on X, saying that they can "fly before the end of this year", informing that the site’s support tower is damaged, but “it can be repaired in place" and doesn't need to be torn down or replaced. Notably, Blue Origin was scheduled to launch an uncrewed Blue Origin cargo lander - Mark 1 - atop New Glenn later this year to deliver scientific cargo to the lunar south pole.

Also Read: Watch: Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket explodes in massive fireball during launch pad ‘hotfire test’

Watch New Glenn exploding into a fireball

The monopoly in space race

The company is in a pickle if you look at the missions it was supposed to undertake as part of NASA's vision to land humans on the Moon. Besides, this could also hand an edge to SpaceX, whose super heavy-lift rocket Falcon 9 can carry a significant amount of mass. Isaacman said NASA will likely have to go in “Falcon Heavy land" for the lander because of its carrying capabilities. “In terms of heavy lift, you know, real heavy lift, you’ve got SpaceX and Blue Origin, and obviously one of them is down a pad right now,” Isaacman said. NASA deliberately chose Blue Origin to provide a competitive alternative to SpaceX's Starship HLS. However, NASA is racing to beat China in the race to reach the Moon, and so would have to rely on SpaceX if Blue Origin's launchpad is not restored on time.

Deadline for dress rehearsal of lander hit

Blue Origin is also working on a New Glenn launchpad at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, but it is still under development. It was under a strict timeline to launch an uncrewed Blue Moon Mark 1 cargo lander before the crewed Artemis IV mission in 2028. However, industry experts note that hitting the necessary milestones by 2027 to stay on track for the 2028 landing now seems highly unlikely.