Blue Origin developing higher-performing Northstar rocket engine at a quarter of the cost

Blue Origin announced significant upgrades to its New Glenn rocket, which include a new engine called Northstar that is designed to eventually replace the current BE-4 engine. According to the company, the Northstar engine features half the number of parts, lower mass, and can be manufactured at 25 percent of the cost of the BE-4 while delivering increased thrust. In addition to the Northstar engine, the company is developing a hydrogen-oxygen third stage for the rocket called GS3 to expand its payload capacity for missions to geostationary orbit and the Moon. Blue Origin has already begun test firing the Northstar engine as part of its goal to lower space access costs and increase launch frequency.