Vulcan rocket pushes forward as Blue Origin’s BE4 ‘Path Finder’ engines reach Decatur

While Blue Origin and ULA are competitors who will be launching payloads into space, they have been partners in the development of a new engine used to power both of their newest rockets.

CEO of ULA Tory Bruno tweeted images from their Decatur factory showing off two path finder BE-4 engines. The BE-4 engine is a methane (methalox) powered engine, similar to SpaceX’s Raptor engine, and is planning to power both ULA’s Vulcan and Blue Origin’s New Glenn rockets.

Path finder objects have been used in the aerospace industry to help test the fit and procedures around these objects before the more expensive and advanced final version arrive. When asked about this in a reply to the photo, Bruno mentioned that the first flight ready BE-4s will arrive next year.

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