WEBVTT - RocketLab CEO Peter Beck on Commercial Space Race

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news. This is Bloomberg business

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<v Speaker 1>Week Inside from the reporters and editors who bring you

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<v Speaker 1>tech news. The Bloomberg Business Week Podcast with Carol Messer

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<v Speaker 1>and Tim Stenebeck from Bloomberg Radio.

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<v Speaker 2>All right, we'll speaking of rockets. You may remember, just

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<v Speaker 2>a couple of weeks ago, we spoke with our colleague

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<v Speaker 2>Ashley Vance about the new HBO documentary Wild Wild Space.

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<v Speaker 2>The film based on Ashley's book When the Heavens Went

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<v Speaker 2>on Sale, The Misfits and Geniuses racing to put space

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<v Speaker 2>within reach. That film, Carol follows three space entrepreneurs, including

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<v Speaker 2>Peter Beck, the founder, president, and CEO of Rocket Lab.

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<v Speaker 2>It's a publicly traded company that manufactures and launches rockets,

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<v Speaker 2>including one schedule to launch tomorrow carrying a satellite for

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<v Speaker 2>a Japanese Earth observation company.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, it's a great film that really kind of gets

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<v Speaker 3>into it. Rocket Labs customers, by the way, they include NASA,

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<v Speaker 3>the US Base to Force, DARPA, Planet Canon, the National

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<v Speaker 3>Reconnaissance Office, and so much more. Peter back joining us

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<v Speaker 3>now from Mississippi. Peter, First of all, great to have

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<v Speaker 3>you here. We were so excited to have you on

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<v Speaker 3>with us. How are you and tell us what you've

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<v Speaker 3>been up to as of late.

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<v Speaker 4>Yeah, no, thanks, thanks very much, it's great.

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<v Speaker 5>I'm just just doing a multitude of things, is all

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<v Speaker 5>all good CEOs should should be doing.

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<v Speaker 4>And we're building.

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<v Speaker 5>A big rocket right now. So I'm down in Mississippi

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<v Speaker 5>doing engine tests with the team here.

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<v Speaker 4>So there's a lot on.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, well, let's just cut right to the chase. Then

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<v Speaker 2>give us an update on the development of some of

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<v Speaker 2>these rockets that you're working on, specifically of Neutron. Tell

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<v Speaker 2>us what's going on. What's the latest.

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<v Speaker 5>Yeah, So Neutron is a kind of a solution to

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<v Speaker 5>kind of the mid launch monopoly.

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<v Speaker 4>As as you could say. And so it's scheduled to

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<v Speaker 4>launch mid next.

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<v Speaker 5>Year, and we're we're working hard right now on lots

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<v Speaker 5>of fulsion building in building complete launch sites and factories

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<v Speaker 5>and all of all the components that go into into

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<v Speaker 5>a big rocket.

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<v Speaker 3>So can you give us an update in terms of,

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<v Speaker 3>you know, when you anticipate that this is going to

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<v Speaker 3>be you know, ready for deployment a little bit in

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<v Speaker 3>terms of the time frame.

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<v Speaker 5>Yeah, yeah, sure, So we're looking to get this aple

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<v Speaker 5>on the pad the next year and and get get

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<v Speaker 5>it away, so hopefully people won't won't have to wait

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<v Speaker 5>wait long. But what I would say is it's a

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<v Speaker 5>a very.

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<v Speaker 4>Different looking rocket like if you if you.

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<v Speaker 5>If you see it, it's it's very much, you know,

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<v Speaker 5>an advanced launch vehicle for the modern times, and you know,

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<v Speaker 5>lots lots of innovation in it that should should really

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<v Speaker 5>drive down cost even further.

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<v Speaker 3>It is pretty phenomenal. Folks who listen watch us, I

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<v Speaker 3>mean know that my dad was involved in doing kind

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<v Speaker 3>of He was an engineer aeronautical and worked on a

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<v Speaker 3>lot of guidance systems for the original space program, so

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<v Speaker 3>we kind of grew up with it. And he's not around,

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<v Speaker 3>but I always think he would find it kind of amazing,

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<v Speaker 3>you know, these rockets that can come back and be

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<v Speaker 3>reusable because it's just not the way it was. You know,

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<v Speaker 3>talk to us again, how you kind of rethink about

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<v Speaker 3>how you were doing it so differently than it was

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<v Speaker 3>done you know, by government programs for so long.

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<v Speaker 4>Yeah, I mean, we'll start with a small rocket, the

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<v Speaker 4>little Electron rocket, you know that you ever pulled it out.

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<v Speaker 4>It's got its fifty first mission tomorrow.

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<v Speaker 5>And you know we rereinted that through the US atmosphere

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<v Speaker 5>completely passively and then push it out of the ocean.

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<v Speaker 5>Neutron is a propulsive landing, so we landed on the

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<v Speaker 5>barge or the launch back at the launch site. But

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<v Speaker 5>if you if you look at the vehicle, you know

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<v Speaker 5>when it lands, there's there's no bit missing, there's no bearing,

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<v Speaker 5>mission missing, second stage missing. It's literally as it looks

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<v Speaker 5>as it took off and ready to load the next customers,

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<v Speaker 5>payloaded and go again.

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<v Speaker 2>Peter I said that you're taking on SpaceX, you're taking

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<v Speaker 2>on Elon. If we look at the numbers, as of

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<v Speaker 2>mid July, SpaceX had launched seventy rockets this year, rocket

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<v Speaker 2>Lab had launched just eight. Again, this was mid July.

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<v Speaker 2>How do you compete with SpaceX? Is there enough room

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<v Speaker 2>for both of you given that they were quite a

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<v Speaker 2>bit earlier to the game, and they're bigger at this point,

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<v Speaker 2>so much bigger.

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<v Speaker 5>Yeah, yeah, it looks sometimes it's a huge advantage to

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<v Speaker 5>be a first over and sometimes a budget to be

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<v Speaker 5>a second And you know, I would I would point

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<v Speaker 5>out that if you look at the Electron rocket and

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<v Speaker 5>how quickly that rand was actually the fastest rocket to

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<v Speaker 5>reach fifty launches in commercial history, faster than SpaceX and.

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<v Speaker 4>Faster than anybody else.

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<v Speaker 5>And you know it will continue to do that firs

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<v Speaker 5>to be we expected to be first to get to

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<v Speaker 5>one hundred as well. So yeah, sometimes you know you

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<v Speaker 5>can start at the back, but it doesn't mean you

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<v Speaker 5>finish lists for sure.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, just ask Apple. They're doing just fine when it

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<v Speaker 3>comes to smartphones, and they weren't first out of the gate.

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<v Speaker 3>Having said that Elon Musk, there isn't a day Peter

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<v Speaker 3>that goes by that. Tim and I don't talk about

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<v Speaker 3>probably Elon or Tesla or his universe in some way.

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<v Speaker 3>His antics though, can certainly get him into trouble. And

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<v Speaker 3>I think about government contracts and so on and so forth.

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<v Speaker 3>Does his antics help you in any way?

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<v Speaker 4>Oh? Look, I'm proudly boring.

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<v Speaker 5>I'm the boringest person you could imagine, and my focus

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<v Speaker 5>is on building a large, successful Walkert company and nothing else.

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<v Speaker 5>So yep, we have a very very clear and laser focus.

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<v Speaker 3>Well, my point being that people are like, you know what,

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<v Speaker 3>I don't know that I want to identify. Even though

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<v Speaker 3>Elon is doing so much in this world, I want

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<v Speaker 3>to go with someone who is did you say boring

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<v Speaker 3>that you were is a little bit more boring?

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<v Speaker 5>So that's what I mean.

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<v Speaker 3>Does Boring does his antics kind of make people say,

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<v Speaker 3>whether it's the US government or some other government, say,

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<v Speaker 3>you know, Peter, we'd like to work with you.

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<v Speaker 5>Well, look, I mean, nobody can contest right now that

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<v Speaker 5>there is a launch monopoly. You know, the vast majority

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<v Speaker 5>of all launches conducted by space X, and they've been

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<v Speaker 5>very successful.

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<v Speaker 4>And good one. But you know, no monopoly survives the.

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<v Speaker 5>Test of time, and it provides opportunities for others to

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<v Speaker 5>come in and compete. So, you know, we have a

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<v Speaker 5>number of tests and customers, both government and commercials, who

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<v Speaker 5>are really really desperately looking for alternatives for a variety

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<v Speaker 5>of reasons.

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<v Speaker 2>Hey, Peter, earlier this week your company announced it a

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<v Speaker 2>completed testing of two spacecraft that are headed to Mars.

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<v Speaker 3>It's going to.

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<v Speaker 2>Enable the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamic Explorers mission,

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<v Speaker 2>also known as Escapade. Yeah, I'm wondering if you think

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<v Speaker 2>new Glen from Blue Origin will be ready for Escapade.

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<v Speaker 4>Yeah, well, you hit on an important point.

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<v Speaker 5>Actually, two thirds of the revenue and scale of Rocket

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<v Speaker 5>Landers actually from our spacecraft division, So two two thirds

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<v Speaker 5>of the company is building spacecraft. Launch is really important

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<v Speaker 5>and it always steals the show.

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<v Speaker 4>But what we're trying to build here is an.

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<v Speaker 5>Inter space company where customers come to us and we

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<v Speaker 5>can you know, we can design and build the spacecraft,

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<v Speaker 5>launch it, and then even operate it for them. But

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<v Speaker 5>to your question, look, our spacecraft already. That's that's all

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<v Speaker 5>I know, and so we're good to go whenever Blue is.

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<v Speaker 2>It's sort of so it sort of doesn't matter to

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<v Speaker 2>you because your end of the bargain is being held up.

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<v Speaker 2>You guys are ready.

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<v Speaker 5>Yeah, we're ready, and we look naturally we want to

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<v Speaker 5>see the mission launching and be successful.

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<v Speaker 4>So you know, we weally rooting for them to you know,

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<v Speaker 4>to do that. Hey.

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<v Speaker 3>You know, one thing that's certainly front and center for us,

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<v Speaker 3>especially I feel like in the last week, but I

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<v Speaker 3>feel like it's every week is climate change and what's

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<v Speaker 3>going on. And you've been working, uh certainly with NASA

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<v Speaker 3>about some climate change missions. What can you share with

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<v Speaker 3>us about some of the missions that you have been

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<v Speaker 3>involved in.

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<v Speaker 5>Yeah, We've been involved in a number of missions, as

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<v Speaker 5>you point out, you know, one of them Tropics, which

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<v Speaker 5>was a really important only launched last year. So back

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<v Speaker 5>to that mission, uh, you know, following hurricanes and providing

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<v Speaker 5>greater resolution and hurricanes. Uh, you know, super topical right

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<v Speaker 5>now and and you know, really valuable and have has

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<v Speaker 5>already had a massive impact. I think that's one of

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<v Speaker 5>the one of the great things about the space industry

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<v Speaker 5>is you can put a couple of little boxes of

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<v Speaker 5>electronics on all but and literally impact millions of people's lives.

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<v Speaker 2>Very cool stuff.

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<v Speaker 3>It is pretty cool stuff.

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<v Speaker 2>Hey, Peter, before we let you go, you how are

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<v Speaker 2>are you thinking? Just thirty seconds, how are you thinking

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<v Speaker 2>about Mars?

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<v Speaker 4>Look? I love Myles, but I love Venus way way more. Really,

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<v Speaker 4>I don't. Yeah, I don't think about Mars too much.

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<v Speaker 5>I think much more about Venus because I think there's

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<v Speaker 5>a closer analog to Earth and that we actually have

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<v Speaker 5>a private mission for Venus to look for life in

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<v Speaker 5>the clouds.

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<v Speaker 4>So love Mars. That sorry, Venus is better.

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<v Speaker 3>Second planet from the Sun's sixth largest planet that's out there.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you're going to send You're going to send people

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<v Speaker 2>up on rocket Lab rockets anytime soon.

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<v Speaker 4>Not anytime soon. I mean, we're certainly making sure the

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<v Speaker 4>neutron rocket is human rate and ball. That comes down

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<v Speaker 4>to making making sure that it means towards criteria. But

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<v Speaker 4>we need the market to evolve.

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<v Speaker 5>There needs to be more destinations before I think that's

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<v Speaker 5>commercially viable.

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<v Speaker 2>All right, Peter back, really appreciate you joining us. Peter

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<v Speaker 2>Beck is the founder, president and CEO of rocket Lab.

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