Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith told a group of students and faculty that we’re in the second golden age of space flight.
Smith spoke to the group in a fireside chat last week on the WSU Pullman campus. Blue Origin is a private space company developing reusable launch vehicles and in-space systems.
The company’s name, he told the group, is actually a reference to Earth.
“We’re sitting on the Blue Origin,” he said. “Our vision is millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of the Earth.”
With Earth having finite resources, the company aims to address the challenge of Earth’s increasing scarcity of resources through space exploration.
“How do you utilize space resources, so you can take the pressure off of Earth?” he said. “That’s a long-term bet…. We’re committed to doing that long-term bet because it’s incredibly important.”
The company has been working to improve space exploration by lowering the cost of access through the development of reusable rockets and engines.
Since he joined the company six years ago, Blue Origin has seen tremendous growth, from 800 to more than 10,000 employees. The company, which started in Kent, Washington, now has more than five million square feet of office and manufacturing space in seven states and approximately $10 billion in orders.
They have flown a diverse group of 31 people in space.
“We’re very proud that we’re making sure we’re taking everybody to space,” he said. “We have been thoughtful about curating who is on the flights, so we can make sure that the future looks very different than it has in the past.”
The company was the first to successfully build a booster that lands straight up and down and has landing gear. They also developed the largest engine built since the space programs of the 1960s. Their engine uses methane instead of kerosene, which makes it easier to re-use the engine. In May, they were selected by NASA for a mission to send people back to the moon in what will be a reusable lander.
In the past 10 years, the space industry has changed dramatically, Smith said, with a new generation of space entrepreneurs and new approaches to design and manufacturing. An increasing number of entrepreneurs have come to realize that building something for space is more manageable than previous generations thought.
“You can actually make a very functioning small satellite out of Apple phone parts and do it pretty successfully,” he said.
Company leaders are working to inspire the next generation of students to get involved. Smith advised the students to “learn everything, always,” get results, take risks, and do meaningful work.
“Given what we’re trying to achieve and the technological ambition that we have, I’m really gratified with what we’ve been able to do,” he said. “It’s really hard. We’re trying to stay consistent to the mission that we set and do the hard things so that we’re on the right mountain, and sometimes climbing the highest mountain is going to take time and effort, but I am very gratified with what we’ve been able to do.”
