Blue Origin Makes ‘Secret Project’ Called 'Jarvis’ as SpaceX’s Competitor; What Makes This Special?

As a direct response to SpaceX's reusable Starship project, Jeff Bezos' space exploration firm will launch "Project Jarvis," which aims to design reusable rockets. Blue Origin is making a new program to compete with SpaceX.

The project follows another speculation that Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket will use stainless steel instead of metal. Stainless steel is also the same item used in SpaceX's Super Heavy rockets and Starship series.

Rumors On Blue Origin's New Glenn

NASA Space Flight's reporter, Trevor Sesnic, wrote on his Twitter account that Blue Origin modified New Glenn from 6061 aluminum-copper to 304 stainless steel.

However, Ars Technica's Senior Space Editor Eric Berger said on his Twitter account that the rumor is untrue. He said the initial stage of the New Glenn was not going to be stainless steel.

Ars Technica said many people in the industry were suspicious of Musk's proposal to develop a huge, reusable launch system when he first revealed the Starship project in 2016. They were still skeptical in early 2019 when Musk said that the rocket's core structure would be made of low-cost stainless steel rather than carbon fiber. Stainless steel is nearly five times heavier than composites. Still, it is cheaper and better suited to endure atmospheric heating during reentry.

Standing of Project Jarvis

Bezos appears to be attempting to guarantee that the project is constructed without enduring bureaucracy. As a result, insiders suggest that "Project Jarvis" moves forward quickly. Ars Technica said that by mid-2020s, Blue Origin aims to relaunch New Glenn with a completely reusable upper stage.

When the reusable rocket is fully operational, it will be a major competitor to SpaceX to transport large payloads into orbit. However, no one of the Blue Origin top alloy has been willing to remark on Project Jarvis' funding.

Bezos asked his senior employees about reusable upper stages. Still, sources said in the same Ars Technica report that advisers informed him that the strategy might not succeed. Bezos also appears to have been advised that SpaceX's "fail forward" strategy of quickly testing and prototyping Starships with few rules and steps would not be successful.

Nothing Special About Blue Origin's Reusable Rockets

Some claim that Bezos is simply following Musk's lead in developing reusable spacecraft, similar to Futurism's claim. If you want to call it that, SpaceX isn't as harmless of "copying."

NASA was the first to produce a fully reusable spacecraft in history through the space agency's Space Shuttle program. The shuttle, which was meant to look like a regular airplane, was propelled into space on a rocket and then glided down to Earth, landing on a runway.

Despite breakthroughs in technology, the Space Shuttle program was retired after 30 years. According to Astronomy, the Challenger and Columbia catastrophes and high expenditures and delayed turnaround made it difficult for NASA to continue the program. Since then, most of the spacecraft that have carried modern astronauts to and from orbit have been single-use.

The Indian space agency, on the other hand, has a proposal to construct a new Space Shuttle program. However, it has been years since the first unmanned launch, indicating that the technology is still far from ideal.

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