Blue Origin says it is building a higher-performing rocket engine at 1/4 the cost

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.—Blue Origin announced two significant upgrades to its New Glenn rocket on Thursday, reducing the cost of manufacturing the vehicle and expanding its capacity for payload delivery to geostationary orbit and the Moon. With these upgrades, the company aims to eventually position New Glenn to launch more than 1,000 times a year. "There has never been higher demand for launch, ever," Dave Limp, chief executive officer of Blue Origin, said during the UP.Summit conference at the Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida.