Blue Origin says initial data suggests one of two BE-3U upper-stage engines did not deliver sufficient thrust to dispatch the AST SpaceMobile BlueBird 7 satellite to its intended orbit.

The power issue occurred on the GS2 upper stage’s second burn, Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said April 20. The issue has temporarily sidelined New Glenn as the company assesses what caused the malfunction.

AST SpaceMobile on April 19 declared the satellite lost and said it would be deorbited, which occurred April 20.

The New Glenn NG-3 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral SFS at 7:45 a.m. EDT April 19. Second-stage separation occurred as planned a little over 3 min. into the mission, with the fairing separating and the initial second-stage engine burn completing 10 min. later. The second burn was due about 69 min. after liftoff.

Blue Origin, which for the first time flew a refurbished first stage, recovered that booster later.

“While we are pleased with the nominal booster recovery, we clearly didn't deliver the mission our customer wanted and our team expects,” Limp says.

Blue Origin says it is leading the anomaly investigation with FAA oversight to determine what happened and “implement the improvements needed to quickly return to flight operations.”

AST SpaceMobile says it expects its insurance to cover the financial cost of the lost spacecraft and that it still aims to have around 45 satellites in orbit by year-end.

“We have been in steady communication with the team at AST SpaceMobile,” Limp says. “We appreciate their partnership, and we’re looking forward to many flights together.”