{"id":17250,"date":"2023-10-29T23:01:47","date_gmt":"2023-10-29T15:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/blue-origins-chief-architect-lifts-the-veil-on-stealth-moon-startup-at-pathfinder-awards\/"},"modified":"2023-10-29T23:01:47","modified_gmt":"2023-10-29T15:01:47","slug":"blue-origins-chief-architect-lifts-the-veil-on-stealth-moon-startup-at-pathfinder-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/blue-origins-chief-architect-lifts-the-veil-on-stealth-moon-startup-at-pathfinder-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Origin\u2019s chief architect lifts the veil on stealth moon startup at Pathfinder Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Blue Origin chief architect Gary Lai talks about his past and his future in the space business at the Pathfinder Awards banquet at Seattle\u2019s Museum of Flight. (Photo by Ted Huetter \/ The Museum of Flight)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gary Lai\u2019s resume features his status as chief architect and pioneer spaceflier at Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture \u2014 but when he received a Pathfinder Award this weekend at Seattle\u2019s Museum of Flight, the veteran engineer highlighted a lesser-known job, as co-founder and chief technology officer of a moon-centric startup that\u2019s still in stealth mode.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe aim to be the first company that harvests natural resources from the moon to use here on Earth,\u201d Lai told an audience of about 400 banquet-goers on Saturday night. \u201cWe\u2019re building a completely novel approach to extract those resources, efficiently, cost-effectively and also responsibly. The goal is really to create a sustainable in-space economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Tacoma, Wash.-based startup, called Interlune, has actually been around for about three years \u2014 but it\u2019s been shrouded in secrecy long enough that Lai can still be considered a co-founder. Lai said the other founders include Rob Meyerson, who was Blue Origin\u2019s president from 2003 to 2018; and Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison \u201cJack\u201d Schmitt, a geologist who set foot on the moon in 1972 and served in the U.S. Senate from 1977 to 1983.<\/p>\n

Lai noted that Interlune recently received a grant from the National Science Foundation. That grant, amounting to $246,000, supports efforts to develop a system that could sort out moon dirt by particle size.<\/p>\n

Neither Lai nor Meyerson, who was in the audience cheering him on, was willing to say much more about Interlune, due to the fact that the venture is still in stealth. But a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission indicates that the venture raised $1.85 million in seed funding last year from five unnamed investors.<\/p>\n

The SEC form also names longtime aerospace industry executive Indra Hornsby as an officer of the company, and lists Estes Park, Colo., as Interlune\u2019s headquarters. However, Hornsby\u2019s LinkedIn page says she\u2019s currently an adviser and a former chief operating officer. Other documents indicate that Tacoma, Meyerson\u2019s home base, has become Interlune\u2019s HQ.<\/p>\n

Lai said that he would continue to advise Blue Origin on a part-time basis, focusing on advanced concepts that include the Blue Moon lunar landing system. But going forward, Lai plans to give more attention to what humans will be doing on the moon after they land.<\/p>\n

Space-industry boosters, including Jeff Bezos, have long argued that lunar resources \u2014 ranging from water ice and solar power to minerals and metals \u2014 could fuel the development of off-Earth infrastructure for our home planet\u2019s benefit. \u201cEarth\u2019s future is in our orbit,\u201d Interlune\u2019s website proclaims. Lai said the opportunities for ventures such as Interlune are being made possible \u201cbecause of the work that companies like Blue and others are doing, funded by the Artemis program, to create an infrastructure for space transportation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Museum of Flight\u2019s annual Pathfinder Awards recognize individuals with ties to the Pacific Northwest who have made significant contributions to the development of the aerospace industry, and Lai wasn\u2019t the only award-winner at Saturday night\u2019s banquet: Ray Conner, the retired CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, was this year\u2019s other Pathfinder Award recipient.<\/p>\n

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Ray Conner and Gary Lai are all smiles after being presented with their Pathfinder Award medallions. (Photo by Ted Huetter \/ The Museum of Flight)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ray Conner: Bringing out the best in Boeing<\/h3>\n

During his Saturday night fireside chat, Conner discussed what he learned about leadership while heading up Boeing Commercial Airplanes from 2012 to 2016.<\/p>\n

At the time, Boeing was dealing with production problems relating to its wide-body 787 Dreamliner jets. Some of the jets required significant structural modifications and came to be known as the \u201cterrible teens.\u201d As if that wasn\u2019t enough, problems with overheating batteries on the 787 \u2014 including a failure that started a fire on Japan Airlines jet \u2014 led to an emergency order to ground all 787s in 2013.<\/p>\n

It took months to track down the problem, fix the batteries and get the planes flying again. During that time, Conner counseled his team \u201cto have a sense of urgency, but calm\u201d \u2014 and to project that message to Boeing\u2019s customers as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunicate, communicate, communicate,\u201d Conner said.<\/p>\n

In the end, Conner was proud of how his team performed during the crisis. \u201cIt was the best of Boeing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Conner also highlighted Boeing\u2019s contribution to education, including a $30 milllon gift from the company and the Boeing family to fund the Museum of Flight\u2019s Boeing Academy for STEM Learning.<\/p>\n

He noted that Boeing had long supported higher education and advanced training. \u201cWhat I wanted to do was take it down a level, and start bringing in the younger people, exposing them to this great industry,\u201d Conner said.<\/p>\n

Boeing also helped set up a program called Core Plus Aerospace to prepare high-school students for aerospace careers.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot every kid wants to go to college,\u201d Conner said. \u201cWhen I looked at the demographics of our workforce, you could see we were aging out, particularly in the manufacturing area. Now, these are really good jobs \u2026 I felt like we needed to do something different, and it needed to start in the high schools and get them exposed to this, [to show] that there could be an opportunity for them as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the program worked so well that Washington Gov. Jay Inslee used it as a model for programs aimed at preparing high-school students for careers in health care, construction and the maritime industry. \u201cI was starting to think, he\u2019s stealing our people,\u201d Conner joked.<\/p>\n

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Retired Boeing executive Ray Conner takes part in a fireside chat while attendees at the Pathfinder Awards banquet dine beneath an M-21 Blackbird in the Museum of Flight\u2019s Great Gallery. (Photo by Ted Huetter \/ The Museum of Flight)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gary Lai: From Hong Kong to the high frontier<\/h3>\n

Lai said he experienced the \u201cclassic\u201d immigrant story.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was born in Hong Kong in 1973, and my family came here for a better opportunity,\u201d he said. \u201cMy parents worked very hard, and they made something, and they built a future for their children. I\u2019m extremely grateful for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lai was intrigued by space missions like the Voyager encounters with Jupiter and Saturn, and by TV shows like Carl Sagan\u2019s \u201cCosmos.\u201d He studied astronomy at Cornell University, where Sagan taught, but decided against taking the path that led to academic research. \u201cSo I changed paths,\u201d he said. \u201cI went into finance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then there was another twist: After working in corporate finance for a year, he realized that engineering was his true passion. That realization led him to the University of Washington\u2019s aerospace engineering program, and then to Kistler Aerospace in Kirkland, Wash. That was where he met Meyerson.<\/p>\n

Kistler eventually went bankrupt, but Meyerson moved on to Blue Origin \u2014 and it wasn\u2019t long before Meyerson started asking Lai to come join him at Bezos\u2019 rocket company.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 2003,\u201d Lai recalled. \u201cJeff was not a household name. Amazon was strictly a bookselling online site at the time. So I was very skeptical that one person could fund something so ambitious in reusable rockets.\u201d<\/p>\n

A year later, Lai agreed to join the company, as employee No. 18. He started out as a systems engineer for the New Shepard suborbital launch program, and over the course of several years worked his way up to become New Shepard\u2019s system architect and lead designer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a lot of very difficult requirements that we eventually backed off from,\u201d he recalled. \u201cWe actually started out at some point trying to make the entire wall transparent. We settled for the agreement that if you\u2019re sitting by the window, and you can\u2019t see anything else but the outside, that\u2019s good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

After more than a dozen uncrewed flight tests, the New Shepard rocket ship sent its first crew members \u2014 including Jeff Bezos \u2014 on a suborbital space ride in 2021. Less than a year later, Lai was asked if he\u2019d like a turn, and he said yes. <\/p>\n

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