Hey everybody, welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast.
This is a show where we discuss the critical crossroads that
shape SpaceX, Tesla X, The Boring Company and Neurolink.
I'm your host Will Walden. Blue Origins New Glen rocket
successfully reached orbit on its maiden flight Thursday,
marking a critical achievement for Jeff Bezos's space company
and intensifying its rivalry with Elon Musk's SpaceX.
The 98 meter tall rocket launched AT2O2 local time,
That's seven O 2 GMT from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in
Florida, carrying a prototype satellite thousands of miles
above Earth. And while the Rockets made
objective to achieve orbit was accomplished, the mission also
faced setbacks, including the failure to recover its reusable
booster, which was lost during an attempted landing in the
Atlantic Ocean. Now, the launch firmly positions
Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin as a growing competitor to Musk's
SpaceX, with the two billionaires vying to dominate
the commercial space industry. A Blue Origin CEO, Dave Limp
praised the milestone, stating we'll learn a lot from today and
try again at our next launch this spring.
Musk also acknowledged the achievement, writing on X.
Congratulations on reaching orbit on the first attempt, Jeff
Bezos. Now, despite the camaraderie,
the competitive stakes could not be any higher as both companies
aim to lead the industry in satellite networks, human
spaceflight and also lunar exploration.
New Glenn, which was named after John Glenn, the first American
astronaut to orbit the Earth, is Blue Origin's most powerful
rocket to date. It was designed to carry heavy
payloads into orbit, making it more capable than Spacex's
workhorse rocket. The Falcon 9 and Base Services
intends to use New Glen to support his Project Kuiper
initiative, which aims to deploy thousands of low worth orbit
satellites to provide global broadband services.
Now, this effort puts Blue Origin in direct competition
with Spacex's Starlink, which already has a large
constellation of satellites providing Internet access to
millions worldwide. And while the orbital success of
the New Glen is a milestone, the mission highlighted some
technical challenges for Blue Origin.
The rocket's first stage booster engineered for reuse, failed to
land on an ocean platform as planned.
Roughly 20 minutes into the flight, the company confirmed
the booster had been lost. The ability to reuse boosters is
a cornerstone of Spacex's business model, and a failure
underscores Blue Origins ongoing struggle to match Spacex's
efficiency in this area now. The mission also endured delays
before liftoff. Initially scheduled for a pre
dawn launch on Monday, the flight was postponed due to ice
accumulation in key plumbing systems.
Engineers resolved the issue in time for Thursday's successful
launch, which took place from a historic launchpad that
previously sent NASA's Mariner and Pioneer missions into space.
The payload for this flight included an experimental
satellite platform that remained attached to the rocket's second
stage while in orbit. After six hours of operation,
though, the second stage will be maneuvered into a higher orbit
to comply with NASA's space debris guidelines.
Now, Blue Origin was founded about 25 years ago.
They've long envisioned a future where millions of people live
and work in space. Until now, its achievements have
largely centered on its smaller, reusable New Shepherd rocket,
which conducts suborbital flights carrying passengers and
scientific payloads to the edge of space.
Notably, Jeff Bezos himself participated in one of these
flights in 2021. However, Blue Origin has
struggled to keep pace with SpaceX, which launched 134
missions in 2023 and continues to develop its next generation
Starship rocket for deep space exploration.
Now, the Starship, designed to carry massive payloads and
cruise to the moon in Mars, remains a looming presence in
the industry. The company plans to conduct its
7th test flight of Starship later today on the 16th of
January. Now Starship's capability
surpasses that of New Glen, but the success of Blue Origins New
rocket is a signal that competition between the two
companies is intensifying. Industry observers predict that
this rivalry could drive innovation while reducing the
cost of accessing space. Now what you're going to see are
these two companies challenge each other to make even greater
strides. The growing rivalry between Blue
Origin and SpaceX is already reshaping the commercial space
industry, where private companies are taking over roles
historically dominated by government agencies like NASA.
Now they also NASA also once relied exclusively on government
built rockets. It's increasingly shifted
towards partnerships with private firms like SpaceX and
Blue Origin, and SpaceX has secured billions of dollars in
contracts to deliver supplies, satellites, and even astronauts
into orbit. And while Blue Origin is still
working to establish itself as a reliable provider of space
services with New Glen's successful debut, Bezos's
company has positioned itself as a stronger competitor for future
NASA contracts and other government projects.
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in your feed now. Despite the orbital success
though of Blue Origin, it's an uphill battle in catching up
with Spacex's well established lead.
Spacex's Falcon 9 rockets are routinely reused for multiple
missions, significantly lowering costs and increasing the
frequency of launches. Additionally, Spacex's startling
satellite network is already operational, whereas Blue
Origins Project Kuiper is still in its early stages with only a
fraction of its planned satellite constellation launch.
A competition is further fueled by the personal dynamics between
Bezos and Musk. Both billionaires have publicly
sparred over their visions for space exploration, with Musk
often taking jabs at Bezos for Blue Origin slower progress.
However, Bezos has remained steadfast in his long term
vision, emphasizing that building a sustainable presence
in space will require time, investment, and patience.
Now, the failure to recover New Glen's reusable booster is a
reminder of the challenges that lie ahead of Blue Origin.
They'll eventually do it, but developing a reliable and cost
effective system for reusability will be essential if the company
hopes to compete with SpaceX on both performance and on price.
Nevertheless, the successful orbital launch of New Glen marks
a major step forward for Blue Origin, and it proves that they
have the capability to develop and deploy heavy lift rockets.
Now this is going to heat up. Blue Origin and SpaceX are going
to go after one another. The benefits for the broader
space industry and for us are becoming increasingly apparent.
Greater competition is likely to result in technological
advancements, reduced costs, and expanded access to space for
governments, businesses, researchers, and eventually
people like you and me. But for now, Bezos and Musk
remain locked in a race that could redefine humanity's
relationship with space for generations to come.
We might actually get to Mars because of two billionaires that
are battling between 2 mega rockets.
That's pretty wild to think about.
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