The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 15 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
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…”
China plans lunar missions specifically to harvest Helium-3 for fusion power
“China is planning lunar missions for exactly that reason.”
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 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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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 develops proprietary metals in-house for rocket applications
“So we develop our own metals in house for some of our applications.”
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.”