NASA Flight Opportunities
Although Jeff Bezos made his fortune on Amazon, his favorite child seems to be the space company Blue Origin. The billionaire admitted that he spends a billion dollars a year to finance this private aerospace project.
"I believe, and every year I become increasingly convinced, that Blue Origin, a space company, is the most important work I do," Bezos said.
Speaking at a private event at the Yale Club, Bezos shared his views on the industry's prospects, the future of his company and the work of competitors.
According to the businessman, commercial space flights are expensive today, because reliability is paramount, forcing the industry to stick to conservative launch systems. He believes that more practice is needed in order to prove the value and safety of reusable rocket systems.
"I really think that we are in the stage of a breakthrough. This is a very interesting analogue of early aviation, because many industries - new technologies - are used for the first time for entertainment. This happened again and again in different industries, and of course brainstorming was one of the first commercial things that small aircraft could do a long time ago. You see it today," said Bezos.
According to Bezos, reusable launch systems are not good enough. They must be easily reused, otherwise the costs become too high, which negates the meaning of their existence.
Bezos said that he admires the fact that Mark Zuckerberg was able to create Facebook in the dorm room, using the existing Internet infrastructure. Bezos thinks that "Mark Zuckerberg for space" does not exist yet, but it is Blue Origin that is trying to make this possible.
New Shepard is rocket intended for space tourism, lands after launching to the ground. However, Bezos believes that it is illogical.
“By the way, going into orbit: it turns out there are a lot of creative ways to do it. Once you get into space, you can really show a lot of creativity. But the launch itself? I went through all the options, and believe me, chemical rockets are the best. And they are actually not just the best, they are really good: they simply cannot be thrown away after each flight, "- said the businessman.
At the same time, Bezos said that as early as 2019, Blue Origin would send the first space tourists on a trip to New Shepard.
source: businessinsider.com
"I believe, and every year I become increasingly convinced, that Blue Origin, a space company, is the most important work I do," Bezos said.
Speaking at a private event at the Yale Club, Bezos shared his views on the industry's prospects, the future of his company and the work of competitors.
According to the businessman, commercial space flights are expensive today, because reliability is paramount, forcing the industry to stick to conservative launch systems. He believes that more practice is needed in order to prove the value and safety of reusable rocket systems.
"I really think that we are in the stage of a breakthrough. This is a very interesting analogue of early aviation, because many industries - new technologies - are used for the first time for entertainment. This happened again and again in different industries, and of course brainstorming was one of the first commercial things that small aircraft could do a long time ago. You see it today," said Bezos.
According to Bezos, reusable launch systems are not good enough. They must be easily reused, otherwise the costs become too high, which negates the meaning of their existence.
Bezos said that he admires the fact that Mark Zuckerberg was able to create Facebook in the dorm room, using the existing Internet infrastructure. Bezos thinks that "Mark Zuckerberg for space" does not exist yet, but it is Blue Origin that is trying to make this possible.
New Shepard is rocket intended for space tourism, lands after launching to the ground. However, Bezos believes that it is illogical.
“By the way, going into orbit: it turns out there are a lot of creative ways to do it. Once you get into space, you can really show a lot of creativity. But the launch itself? I went through all the options, and believe me, chemical rockets are the best. And they are actually not just the best, they are really good: they simply cannot be thrown away after each flight, "- said the businessman.
At the same time, Bezos said that as early as 2019, Blue Origin would send the first space tourists on a trip to New Shepard.
source: businessinsider.com