Jeff Bezos’ New Glenn rocket, the reusable launch vehicle created by Blue Origin to put people and large cargo into orbit, has a new confirmed payload for one of its first missions: mu Space. The Thai satellite startup announced it would be working with Blue Origin late last year, but now it has confirmed that the agreement is in place, with a launch window that opens in late 2020.
This launch will be the first ever geostationary transfer orbit satellite to be put into space by New Glenn, Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith confirmed at the Satellite 2018 event taking place in Washington D.C. this week. This is also the first partnership between Blue Origin and an Asia-based company.
mu Space was founded in 2017 by James Yenbamroong, a self-described space enthusiast and former Northrop Grumman employee. The goal of mu Space is to build and deploy communications satellites that can enable smart city technologies in Asia-Paceific, and eventually across the world. It also has ambitions to delve into space tourism, though it hasn’t yet revealed much in the way of specifics on those plans.
