Making Tech Headlines · Page 9
Blue Origin Says Its Next Engine Will Do More for a Quarter of the Cost
· New York time
Blue Origin says it is building a higher-performing rocket engine at one-quarter the cost, describing the effort as a potential game-changer. The cost and performance claims are the company's goals, not demonstrated savings for customers. Rocket engines are expensive, complex machines, so a substantial reduction would be significant if the project delivers as described. For now, the announcement belongs to the aerospace tradition of making the future sound wonderfully efficient before the hardware has to prove it. The arithmetic is certainly attractive: more performance and less cost make a persuasive pair on a presentation slide. The engineering assessment will come later, when the engine and its actual economics can be evaluated. In space business, the distance between a claim and a working system is often measured in years. A bold promise may get the audience's attention, but the engine must eventually do more than improve the presentation.
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