articles

Investing in Space: Why Blue Origin’s engine explosion matters

Space-News.io

Jul 13, 2023 • 4 min read

Credit Cards

Loans

Banking

Mortgages

Insurance

Credit Monitoring

Personal Finance

Small Business

Taxes

Help for Low Credit Scores

Investing

SELECT

All Credit Cards

Find the Credit Card for You

Best Credit Cards

Best Rewards Credit Cards

Best Travel Credit Cards

Best 0% APR Credit Cards

Best Balance Transfer Credit Cards

Best Cash Back Credit Cards

Best Credit Card Welcome Bonuses

Best Credit Cards to Build Credit

SELECT

All Loans

Find the Best Personal Loan for You

Best Personal Loans

Best Debt Consolidation Loans

Best Loans to Refinance Credit Card Debt

Best Loans with Fast Funding

Best Small Personal Loans

Best Large Personal Loans

Best Personal Loans to Apply Online

Best Student Loan Refinance

SELECT

All Banking

Find the Savings Account for You

Best High Yield Savings Accounts

Best Big Bank Savings Accounts

Best Big Bank Checking Accounts

Best No Fee Checking Accounts

No Overdraft Fee Checking Accounts

Best Checking Account Bonuses

Best Money Market Accounts

Best CDs

Best Credit Unions

SELECT

All Mortgages

Best Mortgages

Best Mortgages for Small Down Payment

Best Mortgages for No Down Payment

Best Mortgages with No Origination Fee

Best Mortgages for Average Credit Score

Adjustable Rate Mortgages

Affording a Mortgage

SELECT

All Insurance

Best Life Insurance

Best Homeowners Insurance

Best Renters Insurance

Best Car Insurance

Travel Insurance

SELECT

All Credit Monitoring

Best Credit Monitoring Services

Best Identity Theft Protection

How to Boost Your Credit Score

Credit Repair Services

SELECT

All Personal Finance

Best Budgeting Apps

Best Expense Tracker Apps

Best Money Transfer Apps

Best Resale Apps and Sites

Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) Apps

Best Debt Relief

SELECT

All Small Business

Best Small Business Savings Accounts

Best Small Business Checking Accounts

Best Credit Cards for Small Business

Best Small Business Loans

Best Tax Software for Small Business

SELECT

All Taxes

Best Tax Software

Best Tax Software for Small Businesses

Tax Refunds

SELECT

All Help for Low Credit Scores

Best Credit Cards for Bad Credit

Best Personal Loans for Bad Credit

Best Debt Consolidation Loans for Bad Credit

Personal Loans if You Don't Have Credit

Best Credit Cards for Building Credit

Personal Loans for 580 Credit Score or Lower

Personal Loans for 670 Credit Score or Lower

Best Mortgages for Bad Credit

Best Hardship Loans

How to Boost Your Credit Score

SELECT

All Investing

Best IRA Accounts

Best Roth IRA Accounts

Best Investing Apps

Best Free Stock Trading Platforms

Best Robo-Advisors

Index Funds

Mutual Funds

ETFs

Bonds

CNBC's Investing in Space newsletter offers a view into the business of space exploration and privatization, delivered straight to your inbox. CNBC's Michael Sheetz reports and curates the latest news, investor updates and exclusive interviews on the most important companies reaching new heights. Sign up to receive future editions.

There's a reason the saying that's why we test exists. I've seen it a lot in my mentions the past few days. Unfortunately, and crucially, it ignores that tests happen for different reasons.

Let's get into that, especially in light of the recently unveiled explosion of a BE-4 rocket engine during Blue Origin's testing in Texas. The engine was bound for the second launch of its customer United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket.

It's worth understanding the three main phases of rocket engine testing: Development, qualification and acceptance. An industry specialist with over a decade of experience in this type of testing posted a helpful rundown about how these phases differ. Here's a tl;dr version:

I don't report on every rocket engine that blows up. Most of the ones I hear about are in the first two phases. But more importantly, BE-4 is years behind schedule (the first flight engines were originally contracted for delivery in 2017), and this was the third production engine. Of course it's better to lose an engine in testing than during a launch, especially on a rocket that can't lose an engine to succeed, but that's an overly dismissive way to view the loss of expensive production hardware – let alone another setback.

The downstream effects are especially why this matters. The first pair of BE-4 engines recently passed a critical test on Vulcan for the first launch. ULA CEO Tory Bruno is adamant that it's very unlikely the incident will set back the timeline for Cert-1, currently scheduled for the fourth quarter. (Bruno will be sitting down with reporters Thursday for a roundtable, which was on the schedule before word got out about the BE-4 incident. I'll be listening in – so stay tuned for any more potential details on Vulcan's situation.)

But ULA doesn't need just Cert-1 to fly: The company needs Vulcan to complete two launches successfully before the U.S. Space Force will sign off on it flying valuable national security missions. SpaceX is dominating the launch market and many in the industry, both competitors and customers, fear a monopoly. All six of ULA's recently assigned Space Force missions are set to fly on Vulcan, since the company's currently operational rockets are retiring.

So maybe this doesn't affect Cert-1, but what about Cert-2? Bruno believes the BE-4's failure in acceptance testing does not affect the previous qualification tests that Blue Origin has done. Even if they don't need to re-qualify the engine, they still need to close the investigation – in which Blue Origin says it's already found a likely cause of the explosion – check future production engines for the same flaw or flaws, and test the replacement.

As one propulsion engineer wrote on social media: You learn a lot in development testing. You learn a little bit in qualification testing. Blessed be they who continue to learn in acceptance testing.

Which brings us to another refrain I've seen in my mentions these past few days: Space is hard. It's sounding a little too much like thoughts and prayers these days.

Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.

Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.

Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis.

Data also provided by