Could Blue Origin offer its own Moon rocket?

(Image credit Ken Kirtland.)

Estimates of the propellant load on the New Glenn commonly are in the range of 1,150 tons. However, making a comparison of the size of the tanks to those of the Superheavy booster it’s capacity could be estimated as 1/2.6th that of the Superheavy.

Since the maximum capacity of the Superheavy tanks is ca. 3,600 tons, the New Glenn booster tanks can be estimated to have a maximum capacity of 3,600/2.6 = 1,380 tons.

With tanks filled to this maximum capacity though it would need higher thrust to lift-off. Given the thrust upgrades already planned by Blue Origin for New Glenn, running a delta-v calculation suggests it could get in the range of ca. 100 tons to LEO, a Saturn V class launcher.

But 100 tons to LEO, i.e., Saturn V class, is commonly given as the launch capacity needed for a Moon rocket. Then New Glenn could possibly serve as a single launch Moon rocket. Remarkably, Blue Origin as soon as next month in March plans to launch a lunar cargo lander to the Moon, the Blue Moon Mk1. At ca. 21 ton mass and 3 ton payload capacity, this could actually serve also as a manned lander if given a 3 ton crew module. The far larger Blue Moon Mk2 multi-billion dollar manned lander would be unnecessary.

Could Blue Origin offer it’s own rocket to the Moon? https://exoscientist.blogspot.com/2025/01/could-blue-origin-offer-its-own-rocket.html