Amazon CEO's Rocket Company to Compete Aggressively for Commercial Launches
March 08 2017 - 7:44AM
Dow Jones News
By Andy Pasztor
Fledgling satellite-service provider OneWeb Ltd. is expected to
announce it has signed multiple contracts for satellite launches
with Blue Origin LLC, the expanding commercial-space company run by
Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, according to people
familiar with the matter.
The announcement is slated for later Wednesday and will cover
five separate launches comprising roughly 400 relatively small but
powerful satellites, starting in 2021, one of the people said.
Financial details weren't immediately available.
For Mr. Bezos and his closely held Blue Origin, which for years
has been developing its family of reusable rockets and manned
capsules without fanfare and almost entirely in secret, the
contracts represent a financial and public relations coup.
Combined with the company's separate launch contract for a much
larger satellite, announced Tuesday with Eutelsat SA, a legacy
operator with a fleet of 39 satellites, the disclosures amount to a
carefully choreographed, partial lifting of Blue Origin's corporate
veil.
Coinciding with a major satellite conference in Washington, the
announcements signal that the company Mr. Bezos founded in 2000 is
gradually moving into the mainstream of the global aerospace
arena.
Both OneWeb and Eutelsat previously contracted with established
launch providers, making their high-profile demonstrations of
confidence in Blue Origin significant.
The massive rocket that is slated to launch the satellites
probably won't fly until the end of the decade. Photographs of its
first fully assembled primary engine weren't released until this
week. And despite his persistence, deep pockets and passion for
space, Mr. Bezos hasn't yet blasted any booster or spacecraft into
orbit.
Still, developments in the past two days underscore that Blue
Origin--now boasting some 1,000 employees and facilities from
Florida to the Northwest--intends to use its New Glenn rocket to
compete aggressively for commercial launches. Mr. Bezos also has
indicated his aim is to develop a bigger, more powerful booster
eventually capable of transporting astronauts deep into the solar
system.
The two-stage version of Blue Origin's workhorse New Glenn
rocket, named after the late U.S. astronaut and senator John Glenn,
has been described by the company as 270 feet tall, and able to
generate nearly 3.9 million pounds of thrust from seven main
engines. A larger, three-stage version would be more than 310 feet
tall.
With a few exceptions, Mr. Bezos has opted to run Blue Origin
behind strict confidentiality restrictions--and without seeking
substantial federal contracts or development funding. But now, a
new commercial sales push appears to be changing that corporate
culture to some extent.
It was only last fall that Mr. Bezos rocked the global aerospace
community by disclosing some particulars of the New Glenn rocket.
If all goes well, by 2021 or 2022 the booster could become a
full-fledged competitor for Space Exploration Technologies Corp.,
founded and run by fellow billionaire Elon Musk. It also could vie
for launch contracts against Arianespace, Europe's premier launch
provider, and United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between
Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp.
OneWeb, which is 20%-owned by Japanese telecom company SoftBank
Group Corp. and backed by Airbus Group SE, has announced firm plans
to launch some 600 satellites to provide faster and cheaper
internet connections world-wide. OneWeb has suggested it ultimately
may launch as many as 2,000 additional satellites, after initial
commercial operations begin in 2019.
OneWeb anticipates assembling satellites in Florida at a rate of
one in less than 24 hours--at a cost below $1 million apiece. With
that kind of production profile, the company is looking for
multiple launch providers for later phases of the venture.
Blue Origin is building its own facility nearby, and plans to
use an adjacent government pad to conduct launch operations.
Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 08, 2017 07:29 ET (12:29 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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