Watch Blue Origin’s BE-4 engine gimble at full power during hotfire test

The BE-4 engine is the “most powerful liquefied natural gas fueled rocket engine ever developed,” according to Blue Origin. Watch it gimble at full power in these hotfire test views.

[shanemeyer]

I’m amazing how cool the engine bell appears to be during this static test

[HowToSpacic]

Hopefully this means Tory will finally get his engines soon.

[seanbaskett]

I'm curious to the plume color asymmetry in this video. The bottom portion of the plume seems to have a lot more "orange" than the top part of the plume. Is there a methane overpressure vent at the very bottom of the engine bell that I can't see, or is it some kind of combustion asymmetry in the thrust chamber/injectors? Those are the only 2 explanations that I can feasibly come up with. BTW, that engine was purrin' like a kitten. NICE.

[deltonlomatai]

Nice but where is the rest of the rocket?

[patricklewis]

This is a towering achievement for those engineers and the whole manufacturing team. BO has its quirks, but it will be great to see these AMERICAN MADE rocket engines fly. No more Russian engines!!

[dubsar]

This is what ancient peoples identified as fiery dragons.

[deadzero]

That's some mad gimbaling right there

[shannonwoodcock]

Why can't Blue Origin deliver them to their client ULA who is now out of Russian rocket engines?

5 years late on delivery and still counting.

Blue Origin has yet to announce any production numbers(how many BE-4 engines can be built, tested & delivered)

A video of a engine test is no better than a snazzy Power Point or animated video.

Stop talking and deliver the goods!

If lawyers could get you into space, Blue Origin would be on Pluto by now.

[greg]

Awesome. but please kill the music next time..

[zoidburg]

Well, it's never coming back from Mars using liquified natural gas... Also, it's spelt 'gimbal'.

[ALPHA-heib]

How complex is and oxygen rich staged combustion

[rs]

Now put them on the Vulcan for gods sakes!!!

[ReadTheShrill]

One wonders why Blue Origin didn't just have the members their legal team form a lawyer pyramid to get to orbit...

[bluewater]

“First engine to eclipse 4, 000sec of test fire.”

…..and?? That’s like bragging that your kid has spent more time using training wheels than any other kid. Finish the thing and get it operational. Talk about a delayed project.

[mjw]

No way does this thing fly in 2022 or even 2023 maybe

[mauricegold]

Please spell 'gimbal' instead of 'gimble'. And you have ignored the potential inefficiencies of the engine:
Its sheer complexity.
its mass and dimensions are not optimised compared to say, Raptor 2.
Its relatively low chamber pressure.
its dependence on a single point-of-failure turbo-pump for both fuel and oxidiser.
Its oxidiser-rich combustion suggests that it operates within an inch of its life, and may not last as long as hoped. There might be scope for surprise RUDs when operational.
That it has taken so many years to get to this point, with all the potentials for failure (and performance increase unrealised), likely with a scary build-price per unit, suggests that this article is both naive, premature and uncritical.

[thesteampunkmachine]

Crazy how they killed the wither and made a beakon 😲