{"id":18600,"date":"2018-03-15T20:12:52","date_gmt":"2018-03-15T12:12:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/jeff-bezos-and-national-reconnaissance-office-talk-about-space-and-innovation\/"},"modified":"2018-03-15T20:12:52","modified_gmt":"2018-03-15T12:12:52","slug":"jeff-bezos-and-national-reconnaissance-office-talk-about-space-and-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/jeff-bezos-and-national-reconnaissance-office-talk-about-space-and-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Bezos and National Reconnaissance Office talk about space and innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_404901\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-404901\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-404901\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/180315-nro-630x420.jpg\" alt=\"NRO's Sapp and Blue Origin's Bezos\" width=\"630\" height=\"420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/180315-nro-630x420.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/180315-nro-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/180315-nro.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-404901\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Betty Sapp, director of the National Reconnaissance Office, sits in on a chat with Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon and Blue Origin. (NRO via Twitter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos paid a visit to the National Reconnaissance Office this week&nbsp;\u2014 which fits right in with his plan to participate in national security space missions through his Blue Origin space venture.<\/p>\n<p>Based on the readout from the NRO, the nation\u2019s spy-satellite agency is also interested in what Bezos had to say about technological innovation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe cheer every new entrant who\u2019s brave enough to go into the space business,\u201d NRO Director Betty Sapp said during Monday\u2019s meet-up, according to the agency\u2019s Facebook posting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re obviously an innovator \u2014 like few others in the United States \u2014 and a real leader in space,\u201d Sapp told Bezos. \u201cSomeone who could not only change the way we do business, but you, among others, have helped make space cool again, and that really resonates with us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=BTEhohh6eYk<\/p>\n<p>Bezos often notes that he\u2019s been passionate about space travel ever since he watched the Apollo moon landings at the age of 5, and that resonated with Sapp as well. \u201cThat\u2019s a love that all of us at the NRO share,\u201d Sapp was quoted as saying in an NRO tweet.<\/p>\n<p>Follow-up tweets said that Bezos shared his views on leadership and innovation, and talked about what\u2019s next for Blue Origin and the orbital-class New Glenn rocket that the company is getting ready to build.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou cannot innovate without experimenting,\u201d the NRO quoted Bezos as saying. \u201cAnd if you know in advance that it\u2019s going to work, then it\u2019s not an experiment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bezos returned the NRO\u2019s compliments today in his own Twitter feed:<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=b0yle&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=974344409377460224&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2018%2Fjeff-bezos-national-reconnaissance-office-talk-space-security-innovation%2F&amp;sessionId=4cfd8f10ebed741559aca659f42509c159d34312&amp;siteScreenName=geekwire&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"974344409377460224\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782801363053654267=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Thank you to the @NatReconOfc for having me over to speak. You don\u2019t want to even imagine the world without these professionals doing the job they do. https:\/\/t.co\/f3cHWbKwjq<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) March 15, 2018<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Blue Origin is developing its New Glenn rocket at a brand-new factory in Florida, with the first launch expected by 2020. Four commercial satellite operators have already signed up for&nbsp;launches.<\/p>\n<p>NRO and the U.S. Air Force currently rely on United Launch Alliance and SpaceX for national security launches. This week the Pentagon announced a&nbsp;new set of launch contracts for GPS and Air Force Space Command satellites, valued at $642 million and split between SpaceX and United Launch Alliance.<\/p>\n<p>Will Blue Origin get in on that business? The answer is almost certainly yes. It\u2019s complicated, though: Blue Origin is developing its BE-4 rocket engine not only for New Glenn, but for United Launch Alliance\u2019s rockets as well. Here\u2019s how Bezos put it when I asked him about the subject two years ago:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cOur contribution to national security is going to be making a great BE-4 engine, and then United Launch Alliance is going to use that engine in their vehicle for national security payloads. I\u2019m very excited about that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have to tell you, in my Amazon job the CIA is a big user of Amazon Web Services. It has been very gratifying to be part of that national security mission. Not that I really need any additional passion or motivation for space, but I have to tell you that all of us at Blue Origin find the fact that we are going to get to help with the national security missions incredibly motivating.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>My guess is that Blue Origin will seek to play an influential role on the national security side of the space business while making sure it doesn\u2019t tick off a key partner. That kind of \u201ccoopetition\u201d can be tricky to manage \u2014 but there are few people more skilled at the game than Amazon\u2019s CEO.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Betty Sapp, director of the National Reconnaissance Office, sits in on a chat with Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon and Blue Origin. (NRO via Twitter) Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos paid a visit to the National Reconnaissance Office this week&nbsp;\u2014 which fits right in with his plan to participate in national security space missions [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[509,1046,510,290,20],"class_list":["post-18600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-blue-origin","tag-jeff-bezos","tag-new-glenn","tag-nro","tag-satellite"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18600"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18600\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}