WEBVTT - Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp Talks Glenn Rocket 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:07.000 Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. 0:00:07.800 --> 0:00:11.160 Would you start by just giving Blue Origins perspective on 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:14.280 why New Glen three is so important. 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:16.360 Yeah. 0:00:16.400 --> 0:00:19.200 You know, the whole purpose of our company is to 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:22.680 build a foundation to lower the cost of space, you know, 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:25.599 so that we can benefit this planet and get millions 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:28.400 of people working in space. And one of the absolute 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:31.280 keys to that is reusability. You know, you don't throw 0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:33.840 away an airplane every time you fly it. And so 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:38.400 the booster that we'll be flying hopefully tomorrow is the 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:40.879 one we flew on our last flight. We've refurbished it 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:43.960 and we'll be able to launch it again, the booster 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:48.000 again and land it and then we'll just rinse and repeat. 0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:50.400 So it's a big milestone. 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:52.400 For us to show that a refurbished booster can go 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:55.000 through the same intensity of a launch and a landing 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:56.600 and be able to do that. 0:00:56.960 --> 0:00:58.800 These are very large machines. 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:01.680 This is the this is the largest thing that's ever 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:04.760 gotten into orbit and and and landed. 0:01:06.120 --> 0:01:06.679 On Earth. 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:09.920 And so so we're kind of cutting new ground here. 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:12.800 But you know, team's confident and we're looking forward to tomorrow. 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:15.960 The world was watching when when New Glen two went 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:19.880 in November give give some insight into the engineering that 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:23.640 goes on between the two missions. There will be some 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:29.000 data that would have informed strategy from New Glen to 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:31.839 Did you have to make some changes on the engineering 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:34.680 side or was this just a refurbishment focus. 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:39.040 It was mostly refurbishment, you know, the flight for there's 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:41.840 little things on the edges. We've updated some software, We've 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:44.319 done a few other things, but for the most part, 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:47.559 the second mission was incredibly incredibly clean. 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:50.640 You know, the data review after that was we we. 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:52.880 Learned a lot, but most of it was inside the 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:54.640 box that we knew and so we could make minor 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:56.440 tweaks and kind of kind of do this. 0:01:57.200 --> 0:01:59.000 There's the refurbishing campaign. 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:01.400 There's things that we learned earned you know, some of 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:04.240 the places where we have we have parts of the 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:09.040 booster that have thermal protection on them, and we've we've 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:12.160 adjusted where we put that thermal protection. We've changed some 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:17.080 materials that are a little more blative and and but 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:19.240 beyond that, it was kind of pretty straight ahead. 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:21.320 Between kind of two and two and three. 0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:24.640 We did a much deeper inspection of the booster than 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:27.680 we normally will do ongoing because it was our first 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:29.720 one and we just really wanted to understand what were 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:33.080 the stresses and loads on the vehicle. But we're ready 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:36.360 to go, and it looks it looks, it looks clean 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:36.920 and ready to go. 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:39.639 Dave introduced New Glenn to the world. You know, for 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:43.040 those that aren't familiar with the launch stack, maybe even 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:45.520 not even with the company, you know, what do they 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:48.519 need to know about this system and what its big 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:49.440 picture goals are. 0:02:50.480 --> 0:02:53.320 Yeah, as I said, the mission of the company is 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:56.000 to build infrastructure to get things to space at much 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:59.240 lower cost. And when you want to have lower cost, 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:02.560 I mentioned the first thing you need reusability. If you're 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:05.360 throwing away a rocket every time, you're just never going 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:08.320 to get the cost. And when I talk about lowering 0:03:08.360 --> 0:03:10.639 the cost, we think of it as how much how 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:13.200 many dollars does it take to get a kilogram of 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:17.400 payload to orbit the rocket? You know, it can be reused, 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:20.600 but it's not benefiting a customer. It's not getting anything 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:23.040 to orbit it in itself. It's the payload that's on 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:26.320 the top of the rocket. And so reusability helps a lot. 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:29.120 And for that you have to build. You have to 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:32.799 get the cost down on the rockets themselves. The second stages, 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:34.679 but you also have to build engines that can be 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:37.880 used over and over again, and again the airline analogy 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:39.880 is probably the right one there. And then I think 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:43.560 the second thing that's super important about this is you 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:46.400 want to throw a lot of mass to orbit, and 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:50.240 to do that, rockets want to be much much larger 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:53.360 than they have been in the past. So a new 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:56.960 Glen which you've seen being built behind me, the current version, 0:03:56.960 --> 0:03:59.520 which has seven engines in the booster and two engines 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:02.760 in the upper stage, it can take forty five metric 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:06.920 tons to lower Earth orbit in a seven meter fairing. 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:10.320 So that's just it's about double what the rockets that 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:13.040 are out there today are doing in terms of throwaway 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:16.080 to LEO. And then if you look forward, we have 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:20.240 a next generation vehicle that we're currently building now that'll 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:25.000 be ready late next year probably is it has nine 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:27.480 engines on the main stage, it has four engines on 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:29.719 the second stage, and it has an eight point seven 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:32.440 meter fairing the part where the payload goes, and that 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:36.240 will be able to throw seventy metric tons to lower 0:04:36.240 --> 0:04:38.400 Earth orbit. So you can see as the scale of 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:42.520 this goes up, the rocket doesn't linearly scale in cost 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:45.160 and it has reusability, and then you're starting to get 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:48.039 to the overall mission, which is to dramatically take an 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:52.680 order of magnitude off the cost of payload to orbit. 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:55.000 What is that current dollar per kilogram? 0:04:55.600 --> 0:04:55.840 Dave? 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:59.120 You know, it varies depends on the orbits that you're at, 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:01.200 but it's measured in thou thousands of dollars. 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:02.680 Of kilogram today, you know. 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:05.120 You know, if you look at a Falcon nine, I 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:08.560 think they're pretty public and they're pricing it's thousands of dollars, 0:05:08.600 --> 0:05:10.200 and I think you want to in What we want 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:12.479 to do is take an order of magnitude off of that. 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:15.080 Someday maybe two orders of magnitude. That's That's a way 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:15.720 is in the future. 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:19.400 But I think in my span in this career, in 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:22.599 this career, if I was able to take a zero 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:24.680 off that and the team were able to take a 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:28.360 zero off, that I would I considered a huge victory 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:30.800 for not only Blue but for the planet itself. 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:34.480 Success for New Glen three is putting a customer payload 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:37.480 into orbit, right, and it is having that first or 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:42.600 primary stage land back on Earth and so thus can 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:44.760 become reusable. But I think what people really are trying 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:48.720 to understand is jumping from November from New Glen two 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:52.720 to today, how a successful mission changes the cadence of 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:54.279 launch for Blue Origin. 0:05:55.400 --> 0:05:58.720 Yeah, and again you describe the mission goals exactly right. 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:00.920 We want to we want to customer in this case 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:04.440 ast to get their payload right on the spot that 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:09.440 we're telling them to get it, which is in a LEO. 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:10.839 Orbit, a circular orbit. 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:13.880 And then we want to land the booster and so 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:17.120 we can bring it back and recycle again. But the 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:22.000 real thing to get to caves and is to build 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:25.320 the machine that makes the machine. So I think I 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:27.239 talked to you about this back when I was living 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:29.840 my first thirty years of my life in consumer electronics. 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:33.240 It's very easy to build a prototype of consumer electronics. 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:35.920 To build a machine that makes ten million. 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:37.919 Of them a month or twenty million of a month, 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:40.920 that is a very hard problem. That you have to 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:43.440 build the factory and build the software that builds the factory. 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:46.560 And same thing is true if we want to get 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:48.120 to a point where we fly once a week or 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:51.080 twice a week, and that is our aspiration is we 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:54.919 have to build the factories that can that can turn 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:58.119 out the second stages. That's what you see being built 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:02.159 over my shoulder here, And so you think about what 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:03.120 rate you have to do. 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:05.440 So if we want to fly once a week, we 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:07.000 have to build fifty two of. 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:09.320 Those things down there. And these are not small objects. 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:13.000 These are large objects. So you have to think about robotics, automation, 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:17.520 You have to think about supply chain and simplifying your 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:23.440 designs such that that is manufacturable. And aerospace rockets weren't 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:27.680 dramatically different forty years ago. They just were being made 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:30.560 at very very slow cadence. You know, you might make 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:33.480 one a year or one every two years, whereas we 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:35.880 want to make you know, one of these every week 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:39.720 and even more than that over time. And that's the 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:42.000 challenge is we think about scaling the cadence. 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:44.760 Dave, how many times are you modeling for New Glenn 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:46.280 to fly in twenty twenty six. 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:49.320 Yeah, I think it'd be a really good year. 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:51.480 If we could do you know, eight to twelve flights 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:53.640 this year, up from two last year, that would be 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:55.480 you know, that'd be a good cadence for us. 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:57.360 I can see a path that we have plenty of 0:07:57.440 --> 0:07:59.720 hardware to do that. It really is what we learn. 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:04.720 From I would tell you that there's never been a 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:07.920 time where launch is in such demand. And by the way, 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:10.240 I think the demand's going up with all these directed 0:08:10.320 --> 0:08:15.480 device announcements. Amazon made one obviously, other ast is doing 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:19.520 directive device and these mega constellations. We have our own constellation. 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:23.640 We announced with Tero Wave that I, if I could 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:26.320 fly a rocket every week right now, I would be 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:30.119 sold out for the indefinite future. And so our job 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:34.080 is to get out there, get as fast a cadence 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:37.080 as we can, as quickly as possible. And the foundation 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:39.240 of that, again is just to build a world class 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:40.400 manufacturing business. 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:42.800 And you know, that's something I've done. 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:44.360 For a long time, and the team's done for a 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:46.000 long time, and I think we're on the right path. 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:48.800 We still have ways to go, but I'm excited about 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:49.599 the progress. 0:08:49.720 --> 0:08:53.520 The world became familiar with Blue Origin through New Shepherd, 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:58.360 the smaller form factor launch system, and the first focus 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:01.880 of that was kind of spaced tourism, you know, going 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:06.280 to a pretty low altitude relatively speaking, for a few 0:09:06.320 --> 0:09:08.560 minutes of weightlessness. And you know, of course I was 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:11.559 in Van Horn, Texas when Jeff Bezos himself went up 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:17.080 but you took the decision to halt that program in 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:23.119 large part to focus on Blues participation in getting America 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:25.800 back to the Moon. And so you know, in the 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:30.000 first instance, Dave, what has the result of that decision been. 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:32.800 Have you been able to accelerate that other program, the 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:36.840 lunar program? How have you moved and reassigned resource and 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:39.280 people to fulfill that ambition? 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:43.640 Yeah, you know, we were able to fly ninety eight 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:46.440 people above the Carmen line. I've never seen so many 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:48.920 smiles on every astronaut that we were able to. 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:49.520 Do that for. 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:51.959 And I think if you had to make the decision 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:55.000 to put New Shepherd on pause, we put on pause 0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:57.880 for at least two years. With your heart, it would 0:09:57.920 --> 0:09:59.920 have been a very hard decision because you see the 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:00.920 you saw it when you. 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:01.560 Saw Jeff fly. 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:05.520 Every customer is the happiest customer you've ever seen. But 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:08.199 when you make it, when you make that decision with 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:12.079 your head, it was probably one of the simpler business 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:16.679 decisions that I and Jeff have ever made, because you know, 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:20.480 I'm so passionate about getting the US back to the Moon, 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:24.520 as is Jeff. It's you know, I don't think the 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:28.640 country wants another Sputnik moment. We have been saying it 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:31.440 blue for twenty plus years that the Moon is this 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:33.040 incredible gift. 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:33.480 Given to us. 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:36.840 You know, it's three days away, It's got all the 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:40.120 resources that we'll ever need right there, at least for 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:42.840 the foreseeable millennium ahead of us, and. 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:45.400 We know how to get there. 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:48.079 And so what we've done is, as you said, we've 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:51.600 repurposed those those very talented people that have worked on 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:55.800 New Shepherd. They're unbelievable engineers, and we've moved them into 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:59.319 our lunar efforts. They're already up and running. I already 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:03.760 see it curial changes and the cadence. We just brought 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:08.040 our Mark one lander back from being cryo tested, and 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:10.200 it's now back here at the Cape. We'll finish up 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:12.760 testing and I think we have a very good chance 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:15.000 of landing the largest thing that's ever landed on the 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:17.240 Moon in the second half of this year, and then 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:20.160 you know, we'll see what NASA says. I'm very excited 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:23.680 about Jared's new plans and if he wants to help, 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:26.320 we are ready to go. So we have a huge 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:29.360 lunar plant just across the street here, and we want 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:32.400 to build as many landers as the US wants. 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:35.920 You know that the imagination of the nation was captured 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:37.920 by Artemis too, but I still think it's always worth 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:40.679 going back to basics. So Blue is working on a 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:45.000 lunar lander. Could you just explain the technology and I 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:49.720 guess the engineering and physics and how you think it 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:52.800 will get to the Moon's surface, so that everyday people, 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:57.199 all the most sophisticated investors who are desperate to back 0:11:57.280 --> 0:12:00.120 the commercial space industry understand how. 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:02.000 Yeah we have. 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:04.480 I think of it as we have two product lines 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:07.680 of lunar landers. I know that sounds amazing, but the 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:12.080 first one is our Mark one lander, and it's, like 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:13.559 I said, it's going to be the largest thing that's 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:14.560 ever landed on the Moon. 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:15.719 It's almost two x the. 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:19.640 Size of the Apollo limb and it can take three 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:21.800 metric tons, and over time, I think we might get 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:25.280 got more cargo of cargo to the lunar surface. So 0:12:25.440 --> 0:12:26.800 one of the things that we need to do over 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:29.600 the next three to four years, and I think NASA 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:32.000 just laid that out in their plan, is we need 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:34.719 to kind of swarm the Moon with lots of experiments 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:38.840 and cargo and to try to build the basis for 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:42.320 a moon base, and so Mark one is really efficient 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:44.760 on that. It takes one reusable launch of new glan 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:47.320 to throw that to the Moon, so you don't there's 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:51.800 no refueling. It's got a single B seven engine which 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:55.320 runs on hydrogen and oxygen, and it's very efficient path 0:12:55.360 --> 0:12:57.600 to the Moon, and so we can just lob those 0:12:57.800 --> 0:13:00.480 off to the Moon over simplifying obviously there's a lot 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:03.640 of orbital dynamics to that and get a lot of 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:06.160 cargo to the Moon. And then we have under our 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:11.920 HLS contract with NASA, we are building a human capable lander. 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:15.480 It's again twice as big as the Mark one, and 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:18.800 that's our Mark I lander, and that has the ability 0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:23.600 to bring astronauts down to the lunar surface and not 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:26.320 only put them there, but have them loiter there for 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:31.960 thirty plus days. And so it's an important nuance about 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:34.840 the line of business that we call our lunar line 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:38.000 of business. We actually call it lunar permanence. We don't 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:40.559 want to just go to the Moon and come back again. 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:43.240 That will be the path to get there over time, 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:46.080 but what we want to do is establish a permanence 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:49.920 on the Moon, and we've had that group named that 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:52.280 for four years because we think, again, it's such a 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:54.200 good gateway to the rest of the Solar System. 0:13:54.720 --> 0:13:57.679 This was a part of the original thesis of Blue 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:01.520 right that Jeff had the idea that there is opportunity 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:05.520 and commodity in space that the human race can take 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:06.360 advantage of. 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:11.120 David, the Moon's been being you know, pummeled by asteroids 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:14.079 for four and a half billion years, and unlike the Earth, 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:16.360 it doesn't have running water to erode all that away. 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:20.440 And so with you know, every known element is likely 0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:23.320 on the Moon at at our fingertips to be able 0:14:23.360 --> 0:14:26.840 to build heavy industry in orbit and out on the Moon, 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:29.720 and then we can reduce the amount of heavy industry 0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:30.200 here on Earth. 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:34.320 I should ask you, Dave, you know, myself and my 0:14:34.320 --> 0:14:38.800 colleague Lorin crush a broker's story that you know, in 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:42.800 future stages of the Artemis program. There are basically two 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:46.520 proposals on NASA's desk. One is from SpaceX and the 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:49.040 other is from Blue And what they're trying to work 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:53.000 out is the best method to get the Orion spacecraft 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:57.240 developed principally by Lockheed Martin from low Earth orbit to 0:14:57.520 --> 0:14:59.960 a lunar orbit. And part of what we reported is 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:04.800 SpaceX's Starship is one example, would basically go nose to 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:08.280 nose whether Ryan and push it to the moon. That's 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:10.600 a stage that's somewhere in between what you and I 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:14.160 have discussed thus far. But could you say anything about 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:17.600 blues proposal and how you feel you can fit into 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:21.440 the current artomis architecture for Automis three four and five, 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:25.160 and what the current status of the program is. 0:15:26.360 --> 0:15:28.960 Yeah, good reporting on your own behalf, first of all, 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:31.840 But I would say that I won't give too much 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:34.240 away because I think it's That's not because I'm being 0:15:34.320 --> 0:15:36.800 cag I just think it's for NASA to decide and 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:39.720 when they want to announce if they choose to work 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:43.320 with Blue. Here, you know, we're obviously very hopeful and 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:46.880 we want to help. I can tell you that none, 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:50.040 I love our architecture. I think it closes very well. 0:15:50.080 --> 0:15:55.280 I think it's extremely affordable in lunar terms, so I 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:58.360 think I think it will benefit us tax bearers. But 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:02.120 I also I can all to tell you that none, 0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:06.680 none of our architecture requires of us pushing a Ryan 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:08.040 to the moon. 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:11.920 So understood and Dave. When you and I first started talking, 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:16.960 you were the Devices and Services chief at Amazon, a job, 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:19.280 I suppose, in the first instance, very much focused on 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:22.640 what's happening here on Earth. But what's the experience been 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:27.080 like going into commercial space? Was there some very clear 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:30.400 similarities between those lines of works, you know, I guess 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:33.840 are on the electronic side super interesting? Or if you 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:36.160 sort of gone about this with a clean slate, I 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:39.480 think it'd be really useful to reflect on the time 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:42.680 so far and what you've learned along the way. 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:47.200 Yeah, I'm about two years into this, and the first 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:50.400 thing I would tell you is that I probably didn't 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:53.200 realize it before I took it, But it's it's it 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:54.160 is a dream job. 0:16:54.960 --> 0:16:57.200 You know. I get to wake up. It's a hard job, 0:16:57.240 --> 0:16:58.040 but I get to wake. 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:01.080 Up every morning, and I have this unbelievable team of people, 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:02.920 and we get to make rockets for a living and 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:07.359 lunar landers and satellites, you know. So it's I often 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:10.240 used to say, you know, I had the world's biggest 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:10.880 Lego set. 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:13.480 Now I really do have the world's biggest Lego. 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:16.000 Set, and and it's so much fun, fun to play 0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:18.960 with it, and and kind of invent new things. So 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:22.959 that's that's been just such a pleasant surprise. Also, the 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:25.960 missionary nature of the team here at Blue has been 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:27.240 such a pleasant surprise. 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:29.600 People are here because. 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:32.080 They love space, they want to make the Earth a 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:34.240 better place to live, and they want to move pluting 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:37.399 industry into space. And that's just to a tea to 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:39.680 all our employees, all ten thousand plus of them. 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:41.280 It's just amazing to see. 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:44.600 I would say the biggest similarity to what I you know, 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:47.280 I spent thirty years in consumer electronics, starting at Apple 0:17:47.320 --> 0:17:52.119 and as you said, ending at Amazon, is that, even 0:17:52.119 --> 0:17:55.320 though these things are a thousand times larger than what 0:17:55.359 --> 0:18:01.119 I'm used to, manufacturing the basics of building a manufacturing 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:05.080 plant and building it to work very efficiently, and how 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:08.159 you build a product to make it manufacturable, those have 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:11.720 transferred better than I would have guessed. Actually, So I 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:13.600 think that's the you know, I'm still coming up to 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:18.680 speed on becoming at least a toddler in terms of aerospace. 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:22.360 Jeff has forgotten more than I will ever know, probably, 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:26.080 but I do think I can bring a good amount 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:29.840 of transferable expertise on how to make these lines run, 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:32.119 how to make the supply chain work better and we're 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:35.720 already starting to see huge benefits of that. And I 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:39.240 think it's just the velocity of our learning curve is 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:39.880 just getting better. 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:41.880 Dave, I want to ask you very quickly, I guess 0:18:41.920 --> 0:18:46.440 as a case study, space based internet, you know, call 0:18:46.520 --> 0:18:51.520 it connectivity. But you know, AST is clearly an important customer. 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:56.280 SpaceX has its Starlin coffering, Amazon has its own offering. 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:58.760 You know that seems to be pushing a lot of 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:05.240 momentum towards or I guess motivation to increase launch cadence. 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:07.440 How is that playing out on your desk? 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:11.760 Well, you know, I think that people would have. 0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:17.960 Ten years ago, people would have really said, our reusable 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:20.119 rocket's going to happen at these frequencies. 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:22.399 They were to poop poo that, and people would have 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:24.040 pooh pooed that. You know, in the. 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:28.000 Seattle area, between Amazon, Leo and Starlink, both their manufacturing 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:31.000 plants are there, and we're based there as well. I'm 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:33.560 in Florida right now, but we have a manufacturing plant 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:36.359 there as well. That more satellites are being made per 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:39.520 day in the satellite era in the Seattle area than 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:40.800 we're built per year. 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:43.760 A decade ago. So's the you know, that's the. 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:47.439 Amazing thing that's happening in the space industry as we 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:50.920 start thinking about building things at much higher rates. And 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:53.840 what when you get the cost down and the cost 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:56.920 of a Starling satellite or a LEO satellite, they're incredibly 0:19:56.960 --> 0:20:01.560 low cost. Then the economics of the these mega constellations 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:05.560 because they don't look much different than terrestrial cell towers. 0:20:06.119 --> 0:20:09.879 And so if it's directed device, or it's broadband services 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:11.800 or with terror away of what we're working on is 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:17.280 enterprise back haul and very high speed data, it can 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:21.080 it can compete against terrestrial things. And I think that's 0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:23.560 why you know you're hearing a lot more and Jeff 0:20:23.600 --> 0:20:26.359 started talking about it a year ago around data centers 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:29.119 in space, that that crossover point is going to happen 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:32.480 as well. And all that does is it just takes 0:20:32.600 --> 0:20:35.879