My post yesterday on New Glenn, ULA and Space Force transferring payloads to SpaceX got reply from Elon Musk.
He agreed Space is hard.
Blue Origin New Glenn rocket is grounded during an FAA investigation into the second stage problem they had on the weekend.
ULA Vulcan has mishaps with their solid rocket boosters made by Grumman and are also grounded.
Blue Origin New Glenn had ten months between first and second launch. First launch also had a mishap investigation.
Third launch took five months.
They will have to find and fix the problem(s) and this may not be trivial. If they need redesign, then it would take longer.
They still have to get to rapid launch cadence.
Space Force is shifting up to 70 payloads contracted to ULA over to SpaceX. ULA has only launched 4 Space Force payloads over the last 26-28 months.
Currently, the only reliable volume launcher of larger space payloads is SpaceX. Small payloads can also be launched by Rocket Labs.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
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