\u201cThis vehicle has evolved significantly since we first won,\u201d he said of the transporter. The purpose of the vehicle remains to aggregate liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant in Earth orbit and then transport it to a near-rectilinear halo orbit around the moon, where it will transfer the propellants to the Blue Moon lander there to enable it to perform a lunar landing.<\/p>\n
The transporter will be launched into low Earth orbit on a New Glenn rocket and then fueled using excess propellant from New Glenn upper stages, although he did not disclose how many refuelings will be needed. It will use tanks seven meters in diameter, same as the upper stage. \u201cInstead of doing bespoke tanks for individual vehicles, it\u2019s using the same assembly line,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A key enabler for the system is \u201czero-boiloff\u201d technology to prevent losses of cryogenic propellants. \u201cYou always hear, \u2018wow, that\u2019s hard to do,\u2019 and it is hard to do,\u201d he said, but noted the company is making progress on that zero-boiloff technology that maintains liquid hydrogen at 20 kelvins \u2014 20 degrees Celsius above absolute zero \u2014 and liquid oxygen at 90 kelvins.<\/p>\n
Working with NASA, Blue Origin has integrated its first prototype and put it in a thermal vacuum chamber. \u201cBy June, we will be showing that we are consistently holding hydrogen and oxygen as storable propellants,\u201d he said. \u201cBy December, we\u2019ll start our flight units.\u201d<\/p>\n
Couluris argued that being able to store liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen for extended periods would be a breakthrough. That propellant combination has the highest performance of major chemical propulsion systems and can be obtained from water on the moon or other celestial bodies.<\/p>\n
A fully fueled transporter can carry about 100 metric tons from Earth orbit to lunar orbit, he said, with applications beyond the moon as well. \u201cThis vehicle with minimal changes, mainly on comms, can bring up to 30 metric tons to Martian orbit,\u201d he said. \u201cIt can open up the asteroid belt. This opens up the solar system.\u201d<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t offer schedules for testing the transporter or the Blue Moon Mark 2 lander. During a separate panel at the conference May 20, Jacki Cortese, Senior Director of Civil Space, senior director of civil space at Blue Origin, said the company expected to conduct both an uncrewed test landing of Blue Moon Mark 2 as well as a crewed landing before the end of the decade.<\/p>\n
![\"Blue](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/bluemoon-mk1-text.jpeg\")
Blue Origin\u2019s Blue Moon Mark 1 robotic lunar lander will fly to the moon by the end of 2025.Preparing Blue Moon Mark 1<\/p>\n
Blue Origin is also working on the Blue Moon Mark 1, a robotic lander capable of placing up to three metric tons on the lunar surface. It uses some of the same technologies, such as the BE-7 engine, as the larger Mark 2 lander.<\/p>\n