SpaceX is crushing Amazon stock funded Blue Origin. Blue Origin new Glenn rocket might be flying by 2020 and could have 3 to 8 commercial flights by 2023. By the end of 2020, SpaceX should have 100 more commercial launches and by 2023 will have 200+ commercial launches and should be flying the SpaceX BFR. SpaceX completed its 18 successful launches in 2017.
SpaceX probably had $1.4 billion in revenues and rising levels of profitability. SpaceX has had 7 paid launches in 2018 and the successful SpaceX heavy launch. SpaceX is targeting 30 launches in 2018 and several are Air Force and NASA launches which earn more money.
SpaceX is heading to over $2 billion per year in revenue.
SpaceX plans to launch a constellation of 4425 high bandwidth internet satellites by 2023. These satellites could be generation $30+ billion per year in revenue. SpaceX revenue crushes a billion per year in Amazon stock funding Blue Origin
Jeff Bezos is funding Blue Origin with $1 billion per year in liquidated Amazon stock.
Blue Origin began work on the BE-4 rocket engine in 2011. ULA expected the first flight of the new launch vehicle—the Vulcan—no earlier than 2019. As of March 2018, Blue intends to complete engine qualification testing by late 2018, but no date for the first launch event has been recently stated by ULA. The New Glenn rocket is a 7-meter (23 ft)-diameter two- or three-stage orbital launch vehicle that is expected to launch prior to 2020.
The first stage is designed to be reusable for up to 100 missions, and will land vertically, a technology previously developed by Blue Origin and tested in 2015–2016 on its New Shepard suborbital launch vehicle. The second stage will share the same diameter as the first and use two BE-3U vacuum optimized engines. It will use hydrogen/oxygen as propellant and will be expendable.
The optional third stage will use one BE-3U engine. This engine is manufactured by Blue Origin and has already been used on the New Shepard, as the “BE-3” sea-level-optimized version. The company has revealed the planned payload capacity of the 2-stage version of New Glenn as 13,000 kg (29,000 lb) to GTO and 45,000 kg (99,000 lb) to LEO.
By September 2017, Blue Origin had contracts in place with three customers for New Glenn flights. Eutelsat, and Thailand startup mu Space Corporation have geosynchronous orbit commsat launches planned after 2020, while internet satellite constellation fleet operator OneWeb has contracted for five launches.