New Glenn and Starship: Super Rockets for Two Billionaires in Trump’s Court

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos compete for the future of space exploration. But SpaceX, as always, is many steps ahead.

BY EMILIO COZZI

In a memorable month for space exploration, we witnessed two spectacles that our eyes are still struggling to get used to. Scenes that promise to become commonplace very soon.

Two launch systems of the near future lifted off from U.S. soil. One was three quarters successful, while the other was three quarters a failure.

Although this highlights the amount of work still to be done, the impression is that progress will be swift. First, because Blue Origin’s New Glenn, in its debut, demonstrated its ability to reach orbit without issues. Second, because Elon Musk, the mastermind and owner of SpaceX, is now in government and is pushing for intensive testing regardless of explosions and partial failures. At stake are Nasa’s lunar program and the prestige of the United States, especially considering that from day one Donald Trump’s presidency has raised the bar even higher. Mars is now the new extraterrestrial destination for Donald II’s America.

The Debut of New Glenn

For once, let’s not start with SpaceX.

On January 16, after several delays due to technical issues and bad weather, Blue Origin ignited the engines for its first orbital launch. The massive New Glenn, a powerful rocket designed for a variety of functions, reached orbit on its first attempt. The return of the first stage, however, was less successful. It was supposed to land on the Jacklyn platform in the Atlantic Ocean but failed to do so.

It was not a success on all fronts, but that would have been a major surprise. Even SpaceX went through numerous attempts before perfecting the landing and reuse of its booster. The company even published an ironic video online documenting this “epic saga” of failures.

The second stage of New Glenn entered orbit with its payload, the Blue Ring Pathfinder, a technology demonstrator for in orbit servicing. However, it was not released but remained attached to the rocket to test communications. This test was also successful. Jeff Bezos’ company is developing it for the U.S. Department of Defense. According to the company, it is a “multi orbital logistics vehicle” capable of performing various functions such as hosting, transportation, refueling, data transmission, and satellite logistics, including an edge computing capability in space.

A Powerful and Versatile Launcher

Once certified, the rocket will be included in the National Security Space Launch program of the U.S. Space Force for launching U.S. military and intelligence spacecraft. This includes GPS, communication, and weather satellites that provide data and services to the U.S. government.

New Glenn is 98 meters tall, about twenty meters shorter than the current Starship configuration, and can carry 45 tons of payload to low Earth orbit and 13 tons to geostationary transfer orbit.

Originally, it was supposed to launch NASA’s two Escapade Mars probes, now scheduled for spring, but the space agency decided to postpone the mission until the rocket proved its reliability. For comparison, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, which also features reusable first stage boosters, up to three depending on the mission’s power requirements, can carry about 70 tons to low Earth orbit.

The extraordinary feature of New Glenn is not actually its power. While it surpasses Falcon 9 in payload capacity, it does not exceed the Heavy version. Its standout feature is its payload volume. The payload fairing is enormous, standing 22 meters tall and 7 meters wide, second only to Starship, which has a usable diameter of about 8 meters.

This means that Bezos’ company is targeting a diverse market, ranging from commercial payloads, with a likely satellite dispenser, to probes and large government satellites. In theory, it offers a solution that could eliminate the need for costly and risky deployment mechanisms in orbit. It could also host large antennas, typical of geostationary communication satellites. Additionally, it is expected to be the primary vehicle for deploying the nodes of Amazon’s Kuiper megaconstellation, just as SpaceX does with Starlink.

Even more significant will be the price for its customers. Although official costs have not been announced, European competitor Arianespace has estimated that the launch price of New Glenn is around 68 million dollars. This would translate to a price per kilogram of 1,511 dollars, making it the first real competitor to the current market leader, SpaceX’s Falcon 9, which costs just under 4,000 dollars per kilogram, with a significant profit margin.

In other words, we may have just witnessed the debut of a new orbital and lunar launch service provider. It should not be forgotten that Blue Origin is also working on Blue Moon, the lunar lander that will be used in some of the upcoming Artemis program missions. New Glenn will be the rocket responsible for sending it beyond Earth orbit toward the Moon. Blue Origin’s competition starts here, even though in terms of power and costs, Starship promises entirely different records.

Musk’s Starship Beyond Failure

The power demonstrated by Starship this time manifested in an unconventional way, with a shower of burning debris that caused considerable concern in the Caribbean skies. The problem was that Starship was expected to make a controlled splashdown somewhere in the Indian Ocean. Instead, the new version, Block 2, exploded just nine minutes after launch over Haiti. It appears the cause was a fuel system leak. Block 2 features significant modifications to its tanks as well as its aerodynamic surfaces.

Despite things not going as planned, Elon Musk remains confident. Starship will soon fly again. This is no small detail, as the goal was and remains to launch up to 25 times this year. It is reasonable to ask whether, now that the world’s richest man is part of the U.S. administration and responsible for regulatory streamlining, the back and forth with the Federal Aviation Administration will become more flexible. Less bureaucracy and more freedom of action. In this regard, Musk, at least on paper, holds an advantage over his competitor Bezos.

Space Billionaires at the King’s Court

Bezos was also invited to the inauguration ceremony of the U.S. president’s second term. The president has a soft spot for bold entrepreneurs and has even proposed another one, Jared Isaacman, as head of NASA. However, New Glenn is not designed for “Martian migrations,” although Amazon’s founder already has an impressive track record in ambitious ventures and revolutions. Moreover, Bezos had promised to contribute one million dollars to Donald’s Inauguration Day, while Musk donated around 250 million, and he is building a lunar lander for Artemis.

On the other hand, Starship is designed to land on Mars, the new target of Trump’s extraterrestrial ambitions. The launch system, the first to promise complete reusability, will be used to return humans to the Moon and to revolutionize space economy dynamics once again. The cost of launching the most powerful rocket could drop to figures impossible for any competitor to match. Some estimates suggest just a few hundred dollars per kilogram, while others speculate it could go below 100 dollars.

Given the current relationship between Musk and the newly elected president, SpaceX might have a clear path ahead. During his second inaugural address, Trump promised to send American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on Mars. Time and progress will tell if this is possible. But at this point, a winner has already emerged. The only unknown factor is the relationship between these two dominant and unpredictable personalities.

It is difficult to say when the lunar version of Starship, renamed Moonship, will be ready for the Artemis program. An uncrewed mission will certainly be needed to prove to NASA that it can reach the lunar surface and return safely. At that point, there will be no need to hold back imagination. A spacecraft for the Red Planet will also be ready.