Amazon CEO's Rocket Company Blue Origin Emerges as Force in Aerospace -- Update
March 08 2017 - 9:50AM
Dow Jones News
By Andy Pasztor
Expanding satellite-service provider OneWeb Ltd. has signed
multiple contracts for launches early in the next decade with Blue
Origin LLC, the high-profile space company run by Amazon.com Inc.
Chief Executive Jeff Bezos.
Wednesday's announcement covers five separate launches
comprising roughly 400 relatively small but powerful satellites and
starts in 2021, according to Greg Wyler, OneWeb's executive
chairman. In an interview, he said the satellites are projected to
provide internet connections some 10 times faster than those
offered by initial spacecraft designs.
Financial details weren't immediately available.
Mr. Bezos posted a message on Twitter confirming that the
agreement is for "for five launches initially," and added a
personal nod to the OneWeb's founder: "Happy to work with you."
On his Twitter feed, Mr. Wyler said "we will be busy" making
satellites "and creating jobs."
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 in
some ways is now 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.
Mr. Wyler stopped short of saying the company and its backers
have committed to launching the estimated 2,000 satellites. But
when it comes to those plans, he said "more than our toe is in the
water." Suggesting that more launch contracts with other providers
are in the offing, he said "we talk broadly across the launch
industry" regarding OneWeb's future requirements.
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 09:35 ET (14:35 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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