Blue Ring is a spacecraft platform designed to support spacecraft operation, under development by Blue Origin. The platform is to be capable of refueling, transporting, and hosting satellites. A prototype was launched on
New Glenn's inaugural flight in January 2025.
History
The Blue Ring platform accommodates satellites using a primary payload adapter, capable of supporting a satellite, as well as 12
ESPA and ESPA Grande adapters, capable of supporting -class satellites. In total, the platform can carry up to of payload, depending on the target orbit. The platform is marketed toward a number of destination orbits, include
geosynchronous
A geosynchronous orbit (sometimes abbreviated GSO) is an Earth-centered orbit with an orbital period that matches Earth's rotation on its axis, 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds (one sidereal day). The synchronization of rotation and orbital ...
orbits,
Lagrange point
In celestial mechanics, the Lagrange points (; also Lagrangian points or libration points) are points of equilibrium for small-mass objects under the gravitational influence of two massive orbiting bodies. Mathematically, this involves t ...
s,
cislunar and
lunar orbit
In astronomy and spaceflight, a lunar orbit (also known as a selenocentric orbit) is an orbit by an object around Earth's Moon. In general these orbits are not circular. When farthest from the Moon (at apoapsis) a spacecraft is said to be at apo ...
s, and potentially Interplanetary Space. Because of this capability, Blue Origin markets Blue Ring as a
space tug
''Space Tug'' is a young adult fiction, young adult science fiction novel by author Murray Leinster. It was published in 1953 in literature, 1953 by Shasta Publishers in an edition of 5,000 copies. It is the second novel in the author's Joe K ...
as well as a
satellite support platform. Other capabilities of Blue Ring include thermal management, communications relaying, and spacecraft refueling. Blue Ring itself is to be capable of refueling in orbit.
The spacecraft is to use a combination of
chemical
A chemical substance is a unique form of matter with constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Chemical substances may take the form of a single element or chemical compounds. If two or more chemical substances can be combin ...
and
electric propulsion
Spacecraft electric propulsion (or just electric propulsion) is a type of spacecraft propulsion technique that uses electrostatic or electromagnetic fields to accelerate mass to high speed and thus generating thrust to modify the velocity of a ...
—chemical propulsion for major maneuvers and electric propulsion for
station-keeping maneuvers or to reduce the propellant demands of orbit changes. Electric power is provided by solar array wings made up of
roll-out solar array blankets.
Blue Ring is designed to be launch-vehicle agnostic, allowing launch aboard carrier rockets with
EELV-class fairings such as the
Vulcan Centaur
Vulcan Centaur is a heavy-lift launch vehicle developed and operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA). It is a two-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle consisting of the Vulcan first stage and the Centaur second stage. Replacing ULA's Atlas V and Del ...
,
Falcon 9
Falcon 9 is a Reusable launch system#Partial reusable launch systems, partially reusable, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured in the United States by SpaceX. The first Falcon 9 launch was on June 4, 2010, an ...
, and
Atlas V
Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas (rocket family), Atlas launch vehicle family. It was developed by Lockheed Martin and has been operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA) since 2006. Primarily used to ...
. The platform is also to be launched on Blue Origin's own
New Glenn
New Glenn is a heavy-lift launch vehicle developed and operated by the American company Blue Origin. The rocket is designed to have a Reusable launch vehicle, partially reusable, two-stage design with a diameter of . The first stage is powered ...
space launch vehicle.
References
Blue Origin
Service satellites
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