Hacker News Reader

Comment by kiba | Hacker News Reader

I have to say, I am completely skeptical of Blue Origin's ability to do anything in a reasonable amount of time and that they will amount of anything but Bezo's hobby. At least until they change their approaches.

That said, it's a very secretive firm with an unknown amount of progress.

I'll believe in Blue Origin when I see it.

View on HN

They don't seem to have the kind of drive that SpaceX has. And their secretiveness is not causing space fans to be enamored of them. SpaceX by contrast is quite open (with Elon often speculating on Twitter with fans about the cause of a test failure within minutes of it happening). That open approach is definitely delivering public mindshare that seems to be helping them.

I've heard Bezos' approach with Blue Origin compared to the 'tortoise and the hare' allegory. Slow and steady may work when your talented opponent is taking naps along the racetrack, it doesn't work when they are as driven as the SpaceX team.

But it’s not necessarily a race with a winner and a loser.

The second or third or tenth company to develop reliable reusable rockets will get plenty of business in the coming decades.

I have a lot of faith in SpaceX and not a whole lot in Blue Origin but that’s also because I don’t know anything about them. Their success doesn’t depend upon my faith in any case.

Will they get plenty of business? I think that's questionable, with the exception of US policy supporting multiple launcher availability for national security reasons. Otherwise, I think that if BO doesn't start demonstrating reusable orbital rockets in the next 2 years, SpaceX will gut them on cost.

BO doesn't have the same publicly stated goals as SpaceX so it seems kind of silly to compare them. AFAIK their primary goal is to enable space tourism with reusable rockets with rapid turnaround. This is much different than SpaceX, who want to jumpstart a Mars colony. Their technological needs are worlds (planets?) apart.

So SpaceX, which is planning on flying a rich artist around the Moon isn't interested in space tourism? And we do know some of BO's goals; they want to have a Starlink like system. That's in direct competition with SpaceX, and SpaceX is far and away the leader in this field.

If you look at it in terms of capabilities, SpaceX checks all the boxes; reusable rockets, rapid turnaround, lowest cost. Once Starship is usable for payloads, no other launch provider will be able to compete.

I mean Blue Origin doesn't even have a fully reusable rockets on the (publicly known) drawing books. Unless they suddenly pull a surprise and announce that New Glenn second stage will actually land back on the ground, there's no competition really.

Yeah, I'd just say that tortoise and the hare comparison is flat out inapplicable here. In the allegory the hare gives up after an initial burst of energy and is eventually overtaken by the slow and steady tortoise. That is not remotely what is happening with SpaceX -- far from giving up, they're doing the opposite, and becoming even faster and more ambitious over time.

I think a different comparison is more apt here -- slow racers lose to fast ones.

It's more like a tortoise versus a rocket, and frankly, I don't think the tortoise stands a chance at this point.

> seems to be helping them

I love that SpaceX is so open, but I'm not sure what material 'help' that actually gives them. I mean, I doubt NASA gives Spacex special consideration because they're popular.

It's definitely a strong recruiting tool. SpaceX is known to work you harder for less money than other firms, but they can get people who are invested in the vision of the company. Also at this point there's been enough time for a high schooler to be inspired by SpaceX's first rocket booster landing, decided to go to college in a relevant field with the sole purpose of working at SpaceX, graduated, and gotten a job.

I'm sure the popularity is also helping with demand for starling.

Not surprising to hear SpaceX being anti-labor given Tesla. Being worked harder for less money is not what you want to hear as a laborer. Of course, to me, I am neutral on rich whites spending their unusual and overinflated net worths as fodder for a billionaire sociopath, but the implications for everyone at SpaceX makes it clear that their labor stance is racist. Thanks for sharing.

It's not anti-labor per se. It's that working for a company which has that goal, vision, and track record SpaceX does is part of the compensation package.

> racist

wat.

SpaceX was investigated for only hiring US citizens and permanent residents for jobs that are legally required to only be filled with US citizens and permanent residents.

The biggest help might be in attracting really talented employees willing to work for affordable wages, and keeping those employees excited enough to keep pushing hard.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com