Origin and Investment:

Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, shares his lifelong passion for space exploration, which began at the age of five while watching Neil Armstrong’s moon landing. He refers to his financial gains from Amazon as “lottery winnings” and indicates that he is reinvesting these funds into Blue Origin, his aerospace manufacturer and suborbital services company.

Gradual Approach:

Bezos describes the company’s philosophy as “gradatum ferociter,” meaning “step-by-step ferociously.” He emphasizes the importance of a slow and meticulous approach, guided by the military phrase “slow is smooth and smooth is fast.” Bezos argues that carefully planned, incremental progress is the key to achieving long-term goals.

Team and Progress:

Bezos notes that Blue Origin has a dedicated team of over a thousand people who are highly skilled and focused. He expresses great satisfaction in seeing the company’s projects and initiatives beginning to come to fruition.

Long-Term Vision:

Bezos reveals his ambitious long-term vision for Blue Origin: to establish a space-faring civilization with millions of people living and working in space. He considers this essential for a multitude of reasons, although those specific reasons are not detailed in this segment of the presentation.

Operational Reusability:

Jeff Bezos emphasizes the concept of “operational reusability” as a disruptive innovation in the launching community. Unlike previous attempts with the Space Shuttle, true operational reusability requires significantly less maintenance and inspection between flights. The goal is to achieve a level of reusability comparable to commercial airliners, dramatically lowering the costs of space missions.

Cost Factors:

Bezos points out that the cost of space launches is mainly driven by hardware and engineering, not the cost of propellant, which is relatively small. Operational reusability could bring down these hardware and engineering costs by orders of magnitude, making space travel more affordable.

Importance of Practice:

Bezos mentions the New Shepard suborbital vehicle as a stepping stone to gain practice for larger, more complicated missions. This suborbital vehicle can fly many times a year, providing valuable practice that directly contributes to the development of larger launch vehicles.

Vertical Landing:

Bezos argues for the scalability of vertical landing, describing it as the “inverted pendulum problem.” As the vehicle gets larger, this problem becomes easier to solve, making vertical landing an excellent method for reusable vehicles.

Relevance to Orbital Missions:

Bezos affirms that the lessons and practice from New Shepard directly inform the development of orbital vehicles. The reusable booster stage of the orbital vehicle, for instance, has been designed using insights gained from New Shepard.

Entertainment as a Technology Driver:

Bezos sees the tourism aspect of New Shepard as a potential technology driver, much like barnstorming in the early days of aviation or GPUs developed for gaming. These technologies, initially created for entertainment, often find utilitarian applications later.

This summary captures the primary points Bezos makes about the significance of reusability and continual practice in the development and future of space missions.

Naming Inspiration:

Jeff Bezos explains the naming scheme behind his rockets: New Shepard and New Glenn. They are named after American astronauts Alan Shepard and John Glenn, the first American in space and the first American to orbit Earth, respectively. Bezos mentions a poignant moment when he received a letter from John Glenn on the day he passed away, appreciating the homage.

Design Variants:

Bezos highlights that New Glenn has two design variants: a two-stage and a three-stage. These stages are relevant to the rocket’s performance, with each catering to specific launch requirements.

Performance Metrics:

New Glenn is highly capable. It can carry 13 metric tons to Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) and 45 metric tons to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The rocket is designed with operational reusability in mind, boasting a BE-4 engine with a 100-flight lifetime.

Aerodynamic Features:

New Glenn features aerodynamic strakes at its aft end. These allow the rocket to operate in high wind conditions, facilitating a broad range of launch availabilities. The strakes are integral to the booster stage, which is designed to land on a moving ship, thus requiring the ability to manage various wind environments.

Importance of Reusability:

Bezos underscores that the booster stage is reusable, aiming to ensure high availability for launches. He contrasts the use of aerodynamic control over propulsion for the booster’s return flight, as the former allows for better adaptability to variable wind conditions.

Conclusion:

The New Glenn rocket embodies both an emotional legacy and technological innovation. It aims for robust performance metrics while also focusing on reusability and adaptability to a range of environmental conditions.

Technical Features of New Glenn:

Jeff Bezos elaborates on the technical capabilities of the New Glenn rocket. It has a two-stage variant and a three-stage variant with the capability to carry 13 metric tons to Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) and 45 metric tons to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). New Glenn features large aerodynamic strakes that enhance the rocket’s ability to operate in high-wind conditions. These design elements aim for operable reuse, with the BE-4 engine designed for a 100-flight lifetime.

Innovative Design for Reusability:

The rocket is designed for high availability and features aerodynamic surface control instead of propulsion. This allows it to land on a moving ship, making it highly versatile in different wind environments. The focus on aerodynamics over propulsion is also aimed at performance and efficiency, as it eliminates the need for an in-space deceleration burn, saving on propellant.

Customer Engagement:

Blue Origin introduces its first customer for New Glenn, Rodolphe Felmer from Eutelsat, a major satellite operator. Eutelsat has signed a contract to use New Glenn for its future launches. Bezos emphasizes the importance of the customer in Blue Origin’s approach, even symbolically keeping an empty chair at meetings to signify the customer’s centrality.

Industry Perspective from Eutelsat:

Rodolphe Felmer explains that Eutelsat chose New Glenn based on several key elements: flexibility, reliability, partnership spirit, and innovation. As an industry leader, Eutelsat sees their role in stimulating competition and innovation in the space industry. The engagement with Blue Origin is portrayed as a mutually beneficial relationship, where both companies can learn and grow from each other’s experiences.

Closing Remarks:

Both parties express gratitude and excitement about the partnership. Eutelsat, which has been a first customer for several other launch vehicles, is eager to share its experience with Blue Origin, enhancing the latter’s capabilities and contributing to the broader industry.

Introduction of the Partnership:

Jeff Bezos reveals that Eutelsat is the first customer for Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket. Eutelsat showed immediate interest when approached by Blue Origin, considering them a significant player with a proven track record in innovation.

Importance of Partnership Spirit:

Eutelsat values the partnership spirit and the intimacy required between a launch agency and a satellite operator. They found this spirit present in their interactions with Blue Origin. The relationship is crucial for delivering what each party needs effectively.

Lowering Launch Costs:

Jeff Bezos elaborates on Blue Origin’s long-term goal to dramatically reduce launch costs. While acknowledging it’s not an easy or quick task, he argues that lower costs will eventually benefit the entire industry. Lower launch costs would enable cheaper satellites, allow for greater technology risks, and reduce satellite lifetimes, leading to a larger, more dynamic industry.

Future Industry Equilibrium:

Bezos articulates a vision for a new equilibrium in the space industry. He suggests that as the costs for launching satellites decrease, the overall industry will grow. Satellites will become less expensive and “less precious,” thus allowing more frequent replacements and greater technological innovation.

Public Availability of Information:

Both Blue Origin and Eutelsat will make information about this partnership and related videos available on their respective websites. Both parties will be available for meetings at the show, enabling further community interaction.

This summary captures the essence of a promising partnership between Blue Origin and Eutelsat aimed at innovating and expanding the space industry.