{"id":18881,"date":"2017-07-13T17:16:12","date_gmt":"2017-07-13T09:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/relativity-space-ceo-provides-congress-with-a-teaser-for-his-stealthy-rocket-venture\/"},"modified":"2017-07-13T17:16:12","modified_gmt":"2017-07-13T09:16:12","slug":"relativity-space-ceo-provides-congress-with-a-teaser-for-his-stealthy-rocket-venture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/relativity-space-ceo-provides-congress-with-a-teaser-for-his-stealthy-rocket-venture\/","title":{"rendered":"Relativity Space CEO provides Congress with a teaser for his stealthy rocket venture"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_348520\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-348520\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-348520\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/170713-ellis-space-630x391.jpg\" alt=\"Tim Ellis\" width=\"630\" height=\"391\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/170713-ellis-space-630x391.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/170713-ellis-space-768x476.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/170713-ellis-space.jpg 1188w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-348520\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Relativity Space CEO Tim Ellis testifies at a Senate subcommittee hearing about commercial space vehicles (U.S. Senate via SpaceKSCBlog \/ YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The hush-hush space startup Relativity Space is still in stealth mode, but CEO and co-founder Tim Ellis lifted the veil just a bit on the company\u2019s business plan and eight-figure funding today in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<p>Ellis shared the witness table with other space executives and experts at a Capitol Hill hearing organized by the Senate Subcommittee on Space, Science and Competitiveness to focus on public-private space partnerships.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the very nature of space exploration,\u201d Subcommittee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said in his opening remarks. \u201cAnd if they keep pressing forward, they just might.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-261278\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/160718-relativity-300x232.jpg\" alt=\"Relativity Space\" width=\"300\" height=\"232\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/160718-relativity-300x232.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/160718-relativity-630x488.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/160718-relativity.jpg 758w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"><\/p>\n<p>A year ago, when Relativity Space filed documents showing that it raised $8.4 million in investments, Seattle was listed as the company\u2019s headquarters. But today, Ellis said that the company is now based in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p>He also said in his prepared remarks that the investments have added up to an \u201ceight-figure funding round\u201d&nbsp;\u2013 that is, more than $10 million.<\/p>\n<p>The round was led by Silicon Valley venture firm Social Capital, with participation by Y Combinator Continuity, Phillip Spector (formerly of Intelsat), the University of Southern California, Stanford University and other private investors, Ellis said.<\/p>\n<p>The Seattle-L.A. connection reflects the background of Ellis and Relativity Space\u2019s other co-founder, chief technology officer Jordan Noone. Both men are propulsion development engineers who worked at the&nbsp;University of Southern California\u2019s Rocket Propulsion Laboratory in the 2010-2013 time frame.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re also both alumni of Blue Origin, the space venture that was founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos and is based in Kent, Wash. Noone went on to work at SpaceX after interning at Blue Origin.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Everything Evolves\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/184785258?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" data-ratio=\"0.4475\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"358\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 358px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Last year, Relativity Space said it was aiming to build rockets \u201cwith zero human labor.\u201d Today, Ellis was a little more down to earth about the company\u2019s focus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRelativity has begun testing of our liquid oxygen\/liquid methane engine with over six dozen hot fires across multiple test articles at NASA Stennis Space Center, with plans for continued routine testing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>NASA records show that Relativity was testing an Aeon 1 engine at Stennis last year.<\/p>\n<p>Ellis also said the company was also \u201chard at work developing a series of novel, never-seen-before technologies for creating our own orbital launch service and changing the way things get to space.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He didn\u2019t provide specifics on the technologies, other than to say the company has \u201cachieved dramatic results that we will begin sharing publicly once out of stealth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, Cruz confirmed in his remarks that the technologies include \u201c3-D printing to build orbital rockets with zero human labor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ellis\u2019 aim in his testimony was to advocate startup-friendly government policies in support of commercial space ventures. His recommendations included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Beefing up West Coast facilities for small-scale launch vehicles&nbsp;\u2013 for example, by adding a pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, or developing an offshore launch platform.<\/li>\n<li>Creating a new type of \u201ccommercial space lease agreement\u201d that would make it easier for startups to take advantage of government infrastructure&nbsp;\u2013 for example, the engine test facilities that Relativity Space has been using at Stennis in Mississippi.<\/li>\n<li>Expanding contracts for commercial launch services from a \u201cone-off\u201d model to put more focus on benchmarks for multiple launches, like the program under which NASA pays SpaceX and Orbital ATK for resupplying the International Space Station.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Relativity Space is pursuing a path that\u2019s similar to the one that Blue Origin followed for developing its rocket engines \u2013 down to the decision to test its engine at Stennis (the BE-3), as well as the decision to develop a methane-fueled engine (the BE-4).<\/p>\n<p>If the startup keeps going down that path, Ellis may well find himself competing with&nbsp;\u2013 or perhaps collaborating with&nbsp;\u2013 his former employers at Blue Origin.<\/p>\n<p>For what it\u2019s worth, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., gave Ellis an open invitation to do so.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr. Ellis \u2026 I want you to know we have a spot for you at what we generically call \u2018the Cape\u2019 for you to launch your rockets,\u201d Nelson said at the hearing. \u201cI\u2019d love for Relativity Space to become a part of the community, the folks, as this exciting business is being built there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Relativity Space CEO Tim Ellis testifies at a Senate subcommittee hearing about commercial space vehicles (U.S. Senate via SpaceKSCBlog \/ YouTube) The hush-hush space startup Relativity Space is still in stealth mode, but CEO and co-founder Tim Ellis lifted the veil just a bit on the company\u2019s business plan and eight-figure funding today in Washington, [&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":[291,4467,1685],"class_list":["post-18881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-commercial-space","tag-politics","tag-relativity-space"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18881"}],"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=18881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18881\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}