Blue Origin Slapped With Fine Ahead of New Glenn L...

Just days before Blue Origin’s highly anticipated rocket launch, the company was fined for a previous New Glenn test conducted without a permit.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) issued a $3,000 fine (adding up to a paltry $3,250 plus costs) to Blue Origin for the unauthorized use of a water deluge system during a static fire test of its New Glenn rocket, according to local media reports.

In September 2024, Blue Origin ran a fueling test of its upcoming rocket at Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The hot fire test lasted for 15 seconds, and its purpose was to “validate interactions between the subsystems on the second stage, its two BE-3U engines, and the ground control systems,” Blue Origin wrote in a statement at the time. The FDEP, however, had not yet issued Blue Origin the required permission to use the launch pad’s water deluge system, but the company went ahead and used it anyway, resulting in the fine.

“While Blue Origin applied for a permit for the LC-36 deluge system on May 31, 2024, no permit has been issued to date and the system may not be placed into service,” The FDEP wrote in a letter. “This static fire appears to constitute an intentional unauthorized discharge of untreated industrial wastewater to the environment.”

Blue Origin’s heavy-lift vehicle is set for launch no earlier than Friday, January 10 during a three-hour launch window that opens at 1 a.m. ET. For its inaugural flight, New Glenn will carry Blue Origin’s Blue Ring Pathfinder, and its debut will also double as the rocket’s first certification flight, paving the way for it to carry national security payloads on future missions.

The rocket has been in development for nearly a decade, but a recent series of tests that took place last year paved the way for its first liftoff. New Glenn was originally scheduled to debut in 2020, however, delays in the development of its seven BE-4 engines (which are designed by Blue Origin) have pushed its inaugural flight back by several years.

Standing at around 320 feet tall (98 meters), New Glenn is capable of lifting 45 tons to low Earth orbit and 13 tons to Geostationary orbit. The rocket features a reusable first stage that’s designed to last for 25 missions.

Like Blue Origin, industry rival SpaceX has also bypassed regulations with its launch pad’s water deluge system. In 2023, SpaceX tested its water deluge system without applying for the environmental permits necessary to do so. The company was fined for discharging wastewater around the launch pad without a permit, but it left little impact on SpaceX. The fines were merely a slap on the wrist—hardly a deterrent for a company owned by the richest man in the world. In August 2024, CNBC reported that SpaceX had allegedly violated environmental regulations by releasing industrial water through the water deluge system at the company’s Starbase facility in Texas.

With New Glenn’s upcoming debut, Blue Origin may have a chance at competing with industry giant SpaceX, further fueling a feud between the two rocket billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, both of whom are notorious for their contempt of regulations. Under a Donald Trump presidency, with Musk by his side, these types of regulations could become even less effective as the space industry looks to bolster its activities with no strings attached.