Kilograms?!
Kilograms of thrust? Pounds, ok, well that's the funny way they do things over there, but surely someone there must have realized the equivalent metric unit of thrust is the Newton...
Amazon supremo Jeff Bezos' private space outfit Blue Origin has announced it has successfully tested its BE-3 space rocket engine "in a pattern that simulated a suborbital mission". The BE-3 firing. Pic: Blue Origin The BE-3 roared to life at the company's test facility near Van Horn, Texas, on 20 November. Burning liquid …
This is an impressive feat by BO. Thumbs up.
However if they are planning to do SSTO on 1 engine it will have to throttle down much farther as the structure will have to be much lighter to make orbit, say around 5%.
People might like to note this is (AFAIK) a completely new engine, in comparison with NASA's J-2X. They might also like to note the schedule it's taken to get to here.
Let's see.
BE3. Completely new LO2/LH2 gas generator engine built from scratch by newly assembled team.
The current NASA J-2X project is
Combustion chamber. Scaled down from RS68
Gas generator. Scaled down from RS68
Injectors. From original J2 design.
Nozzle extension. From RL10.
Why do it this way you ask? Simple the RS68 cannot be "man rated" according to NASA so new super duper man rated engine needed for SLS upper stage.
Apparently using the J2 injectors makes the new J-2 "man rated."
Hint. If the RS68 were man rated one of the reasons for needing SLS goes away as you you can launch the crew and MPCV on a Delta IV.