Apr 20, 2023 · 38m · how-i-built-this
HIBT Lab! Ursa Major: Joe Laurienti
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this episode of How I Built This Lab, host Guy Raz interviews Ursa Major founder and CEO Joe Laurienti about disrupting the aerospace industry through 3D-printed rocket engines. Laurienti discusses his journey from hands-on engineer at SpaceX and Blue Origin to building an independent propulsion company that addresses critical supply chain bottlenecks and national defense needs.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Guy holds 41.3% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Guy as informed peer 3.3 Guest teaching 1.8 Guest disagreement 0.2 Guy pushing back 0.2
speaking balance: gold is Guy, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 30:20 Nuancing the 'nascent' label on hypersonic technology
Laurienti politely pushes back against the premise that hypersonics is purely nascent, clarifying that U.S. research dates to the 1990s but stalled on hardware testing while adversaries advanced.
Hardest push from Guy ▶ 33:38 Challenging the immediate return on space explorationRaz directly challenges the commercial premise of high-cost space travel by asking what tangible value space exploration delivers right now beyond hype.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 10:09 Contrasting U.S. reusable engines with reliable Russian expendablesLaurienti breaks down the technical and historical reasons why the U.S. relied on Russian rocket engines, contrasting the complex, costly Space Shuttle design with affordable Russian alternatives.
Guy holds their own ▶ 29:29 Detailed contextualization of hypersonic missile mechanicsRaz lays out a precise technical synthesis of hypersonic missile speed, radar evasion, and global geopolitical competition before Laurienti responds.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Guy as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Guy pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Childhood Tinkering and Mechanical Curiosity | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Guy Raz demonstrates thorough background research into Laurienti's childhood tinkering and college history. Laurienti cordially explains his sudden pivot from pre-med to aerospace engineering. | |
| Early Career at SpaceX and Blue Origin | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Raz contextualizes the early, precarious days of SpaceX in 2011. Laurienti candidly shares his initial skepticism of Elon Musk and his technical motivations for moving to Blue Origin. | |
| The Geopolitics of Rocket Propulsion and Market Opportunity | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Raz sets up the historical monopoly of U.S. launch providers and reliance on Russian engines. Laurienti educates on post-Cold War defense consolidation and the contrasting technical architectures of U.S. versus Russian rocketry. | |
| The Vision for Ursa Major and Mid-Roll Transition | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Raz presses on the immense capital intensity and startup risk of founding a propulsion company at a young age. Laurienti details recruiting his former bosses and developing thick skin against skeptical investors. | |
| Revolutionizing Rocket Manufacturing with 3D Printing | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Raz asks about the core technological differentiator of 3D printing in metal. Laurienti gently differentiates Ursa Major's selective application of additive manufacturing from competitors who try to 3D print every rocket part. | |
| Building the Colorado Test Facility and First Hot-Fire | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Raz inquires about the practical steps of finding a testing site and building early prototypes. Laurienti recounts acquiring an abandoned Berthoud missile testing bunker and failing fast during their first hot-fire test. | |
| Product Portfolio and Surviving the Valley of Death | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Raz demonstrates industry fluency by framing Ursa Major's stage through the hardware startup 'valley of death' concept. Laurienti describes managing rigorous multi-agency certification cycles alongside scaling revenue. | |
| Hypersonic Defense Technology and National Security | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | Raz introduces the hypersonic weapons landscape and radar evasion capabilities. Laurienti nuances the timeline of U.S. hypersonics and uses the Apollo 13 reentry blackout to explain plasma interference during high-speed flight. | |
| Long-Term Horizons in Commercial Space and Exploration | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | Raz plays devil's advocate by asking what practical value exists in expensive space exploration. Laurienti explains low Earth orbit data economics and future lunar mining for Helium-3 fusion power. |
Statements from this episode (15)
USC's Rocket Propulsion Lab became the first student group in space
“We had the ultimate vision of being the first student group in space, which they ultimately achieved.”
Laurienti: Blue Origin's engine architecture was more complex than SpaceX's
“They were focused much more on the human side of space flight, and frankly, what won me over was the engine technology.
Blue Origin had a completely different architecture, so I could work on a more complicated machine.”
The U.S. propulsion base shrank from 15 companies to one by 2005
“If you look back to 1995, we probably had 15 companies providing Everything from small missile motors to small aircraft engines to rocket engines. Now circa 2005, we had one.”
The next wave of space startups shouldn't duplicate vertically integrated first movers
“You know, I had worked at SpaceX, I was at the time working at Blue Origin, and both of those companies to me felt like first movers, and it just struck me that the next wave shouldn't be duplicating the first movers. There's got to be something added on, or s…”
Laurienti: Rocket Engines Are the Highest Risk and Most Expensive Launch Component
“Really, it's the kind of dominating performance component of the rocket. It's also the highest risk, the most expensive.”
Laurienti sold all of his SpaceX stock to fund Ursa Major
“One of the first steps was actually selling all of my SpaceX stock.”
Ursa Major's early hires included Laurienti's former SpaceX and Blue Origin bosses
“Our first handful of employees were Former co-workers of mine from SpaceX and Blue Origin, including my boss from SpaceX and my boss from Blue Origin.”
Aerospace manufacturers should apply 3D printing selectively, not use it for everything
“There are actually, there are still companies existent today that take the approach of we should three-D print everything, and We very early on made the calculated decision that, three printing is an enabler and you have to use it in the right places in the ri…”
Ursa Major develops proprietary metals in-house for rocket applications
“So we develop our own metals in house for some of our applications.”
Laurienti: Rocket engines require thousands of test firings before commercial sale
“Anyone who's been through engine development knows you've got to fire the thing thousands of times before you really understand it and can go sell it.”
Ursa Major raised no VC funding until after its first hot-fire
“We didn't raise our first venture capital money until after we had fired that first engine”
Laurienti: Ursa Major Has 10 to 12 Engines Finished or in Assembly
“We've, on the other side of the wall of the room I'm sitting in, we've probably got 10 or 12 engines either finished, ready to ship out the door, or in some state of assembly.”
Laurienti: Merchant Engine Makers Face Stricter Requirements Than Vertically Integrated Rivals
“Because our business model is to be extremely market-facing, customer-facing, and apply to a lot of missions, our requirements might be a lot more onerous than a company that's vertically integrated or building their own engines.”