Enlarge / Frame from a short video of Blue Origin's hot fire engine test Wednesday. (credit: Blue Origin) New space company Blue Origin has spent the better part of this decade developing a powerful rocket engine for use in its orbital rocket, New Glenn, and potentially other US-based launchers. This engine, the liquid natural gas-powered BE-4, has been closely watched both within the aerospace industry and in military space because it uses innovative new technology, has largely been developed with private funding, and is fully reusable. However, while there was great promise with the new engine, it still had to perform.