Manager of Blue Origin's Rocket Engine Program Has Left the Company (arstechnica.com) 29
As Blue Origin nears the critical point of delivering flight-ready BE-4 rocket engines to United Launch Alliance, the engineer in charge of the company's rocket engine program has decided to leave. ArsTechnica reports: Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith recently informed employees of the departure of John Vilja, the senior vice president of Blue Engines. In Smith's email to employees, obtained by Ars, Vilja is said to be leaving Blue to pursue his "many" interests and hobbies outside of work.
"During his time at Blue, John led the team to support eight New Shepard missions powered by BE-3PM engines, countless hot fire tests, and made progress on multiple engines development programs," Smith wrote. "He also built a world-class Engines team, recruiting some of the best talent in the business." Sources familiar with Vilja's work confirmed that he was a good manager and engineer who helped get the BE-4 rocket engine program back on track. As Ars reported last August, before Vilja's arrival, the numerous challenges faced by the engineers and technicians working to build and test BE-4 development engines included being "hardware poor."
"During his time at Blue, John led the team to support eight New Shepard missions powered by BE-3PM engines, countless hot fire tests, and made progress on multiple engines development programs," Smith wrote. "He also built a world-class Engines team, recruiting some of the best talent in the business." Sources familiar with Vilja's work confirmed that he was a good manager and engineer who helped get the BE-4 rocket engine program back on track. As Ars reported last August, before Vilja's arrival, the numerous challenges faced by the engineers and technicians working to build and test BE-4 development engines included being "hardware poor."
SpaceX stock price would explode (Score:2)
Here's the funny part, this is what Google resplied:
Can I buy SpaceX stocks?
Investors cannot buy SpaceX stock through public means right now, but they can seek out stocks that have exposure to Musk's burgeoning company. For example, Google made a significant investment in SpaceX back in 2015. That means investors can get exposure to SpaceX by way of investing in Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL).9 Feb 2022
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of course (Score:2)
Having extended his dick as far as it would go, he moved on.
Some assembly required (Score:2)
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Oh, you sweet Summer child, the sudden power vacuum and scrambling to replace him can most definitely make things worse. Especially if you have a parade of "interim" vice presidents each taking a turn at leading things.
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Yeah, the two biggest possible negatives is taking someone from the working team to replace him that moves a working body into a non-working position, or popping in some hot-shot with a big ego and no self-filter to "shake things up." Either could lead to disaster.
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That seems unlikely, Bezos stepped down as CEO of Amazon in part to fix Blue Origin. He'd been cashing in a billion dollars of Amazon stock a year for most of a decade to fund it, with essentially no progress. I suspect the parade of executives leaving Blue Origin since then have been the result of some severe ass kickings, Bezos doesn't put up with incompetents and lay-abouts for long. Now that he's actually in charge and not farming the work out to someone else we're likely to see more progress in the
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He'd been cashing in a billion dollars of Amazon stock a year for most of a decade to fund it, with essentially no progress.
I assume you're counting the development of their current carnival ride as progress. Blue Origin was founded in September of 2000. It's two years older than SpaceX, and they were founded to create an orbital-class rocket. As far as anyone can tell, there has been no progress whatsoever toward that end, in 22 years. I think you're being overly generous.
I suspect the parade of executives leaving Blue Origin since then have been the result of some severe ass kickings, Bezos doesn't put up with incompetents and lay-abouts for long.
Only for a generation... Two decades. George Bush was elected president two months after Blue Origin was founded.
Now that he's actually in charge and not farming the work out to someone else we're likely to see more progress in the next couple of years than in the previous decade.
That wouldn't take much.
When SpaceX dev
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Especially if you have a parade of "interim" vice presidents each taking a turn at leading things.
I assume by "leading things" you mean using their new position to assume their preferred position with the now subordinate employee they always leered at. Of course, by doing so they ensure their new position is temporary. Was I close?
Damn (Score:2)
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No kidding.
In response to questions for this article, a spokeswoman for Blue Origin, Linda Mills, offered only a single-sentence reply. "We’re on track to deliver the engines this year," she said.
That quote was from an online article dated 8/5/2021. Missed yet another target. They originally promised 2017 according to the article.
I suspect that if the shoe was on the other foot Bezos would be suing ULA. So why doesn't ULA do so?
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to pursue his "many" interests and hobbies outside of work.
Primarily gardening, I assume. That and parachute collecting.
I would like to see Blue Origin succeed. (Score:3)
I for one would like to see Blue Origin succeed in something other than tourist hops, but it seems like every bit of news we hear about them is something negative. As much as I like what SpaceX has accomplished, and do think it will continue to accomplish things whether the government will get off the dime on regulation or not, we need more competition in that space (pun intended) not less.
Maybe Bob's hobbies and other interests will be to start another rocket company that doesn't suck at accomplishing anything of merit? That'd be cool.
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I for one would like to see Blue Origin succeed in something other than tourist hops, but it seems like every bit of news we hear about them is something negative.
As long as SpaceX is controlled by someone with an ego the size of the Andromeda galaxy, the bad news will continue.
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Good (Score:2)
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Why the hurry to leave? (Score:2)
The whole SLS program has cost billions without moving a rocket a single inch vertically.
The have moved to rocket a few miles horizontally though.
But nobody ever lost his job about that.
So why is he suddenly jumping ship?
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The whole SLS program has cost billions without moving a rocket a single inch vertically.
The have moved to rocket a few miles horizontally though.
Hey now, that's not fair. They had to lift SLS onto the test stand to test fire it. That's more than an inch high.
But nobody ever lost his job about that.
So why is he suddenly jumping ship?
Possibly because Blue Origin doesn't build SLS? Blue Origin pretends to build New Glenn, and sometimes builds New Shepard second stages. They don't have anything to do with SLS, or the capsule it is supposed to carry.
Working on vanity spacecraft (Score:2)
Rats leaving the sinking spaceship? (Score:2)
Or a better offer?
Seems Familiar (Score:2)
We're looking at someone who made a lot of money from the dotcom boom in the 1990s, and has been throwing his money at "cool projects" ever since, but it's becoming read
"Pursue his many interests and hobbies" (Score:2)
"You can resign, or go to court..."
Wonder what he'd been doing - sex, embezzlement....
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"You can resign, or go to court..."
Wonder what he'd been doing - sex, embezzlement....
Good translation, but it might just be someone has noticed his flaming incompetence. Blue Origin has been promising to deliver BE-4 rocket engines to ULA since 2017, and still haven't.
The first static firing of a full-stage developmental F-1 was performed in March 1959. The first F-1 was delivered to NASA MSFC in October 1963. In December 1964, the F-1 completed flight rating tests. --Wikipedia
Slashdot is fond of claiming that SpaceX does nothing new, that all they've done is replicate past work. Rocketdyne solved their oscillation problems and delivered the F-1 in 4 years. Here we are 5 years later and Blue Origin still hasn't solved their BE-4 problems. Maybe Slashdot doesn't realize how good SpaceX actually h
See You At Another Company Soon? (Score:1)
The entire Blue origin concept has continued to impress me as nothing more than an overgrown water bottle rocket.
The Blue Origin "launch tank" looks like a giant fuel tank...which it is...with a human-habitable capsule superglued to the top.
And after all of the years of development, Blue Origin has failed to secure any commercial launch contracts or even place a human being into orbit.
Their sub-orbital & self-powered landing efforts, while impressive for an independently funded company, are not what the