Barry Matsumori on a panel with Johann-Dietrich Woerner in May 2014. Photo: ESA/P. Sebirot
Posted on 08/23/2015 2:30:40 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Barry Matsumori, formerly the senior vice president of sales and business development at SpaceX, has joined Virgin Galactic's satellite launch team. With Virgin Galactic, Matsumori holds the title of senior vice president of business development and advanced concepts for LauncherOne, the company's small satellite launch vehicle.
Prior to SpaceX, Matsumori held a leadership role at Qualcomm as vice president of wireless connectivity where he was responsible for the development of mobile telecom module products as well as satellite communication infrastructure and terminals. He has held positions at Space Systems Loral (SSL) and General Dynamics, and has experience with early-stage technology companies on space technology product development, and maturing operational processes leading to an Initial Public Offering (IPO). Matsumori joins Virgin Galactic with more than 25 years of experience in technology fields.
(Excerpt) Read more at satellitetoday.com ...
Barry Matsumori on a panel with Johann-Dietrich Woerner in May 2014. Photo: ESA/P. Sebirot
Virgin Galactic is a fustercluck.
SpaceX is a leader, but probably a very demanding job. My guess is he wants more nap time.
Could be, but I figured, five jobs in 25 years, probably just always heading for more money.
Virgin Galactic boldly goes into small satellites, telling future astronauts ‘you have to wait’
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/11816213/Virgin-Galactic-boldly-goes-into-small-satellites-telling-future-astronauts-you-have-to-wait.html
Virgin Galactic passenger numbers ‘almost recovered’ after space craft’s fatal accident
Just 3pc of the ticket-holders have asked for their deposit back
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11817353/Virgin-Galactic-passenger-numbers-almost-recovered-after-space-crafts-fatal-accident.html
Why space tourism is going to be utterly disappointing
Updated by Joseph Stromberg on August 20, 2015
> The sad reality is that Virgin flights, currently priced at $250,000 for an estimated six minutes of weightlessness, might not provide an experience tremendously different from what’s currently available to anyone willing to spend $5,000: a brief zero gravity flight on a plane often called the “vomit comet.”
http://www.vox.com/2015/8/20/9181909/space-tourism-cost
I like virgin’s heavy lift plane. Good concept for fast turn around of first stage....a plane lifting a booster high enough to launch then achieve orbit. Musk’s spacex idea of landing the 1st stage booster is cool. Neither have worked yet, but Musk has put viable ships into orbit while Virgin hasnt yet. Plus Musk has a working capsule design and will launch humans in a couple of years if they figure out what went wrong with the launch where the rocket blew up. I watched that live.
Two solutions to the same problem.... Time will tell
International Space Station crew eats first ever salad grown in space
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/212000-international-space-station-crew-eats-first-ever-salad-grown-in-space
Astronauts declare first space salad ‘awesome’
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/space/11795131/Astronauts-declare-first-space-salad-awesome.html
ISS Astronauts Say First Bite of Space-Grown Lettuce Is ‘Awesome’
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/science/news/iss-astronauts-say-first-bite-of-space-grown-lettuce-is-awesome-726345
Boeing’s CST-100: Progress to Commercial Crew and funding uncertainties
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/08/boeings-cst-100-progress-commercial-crew-funding-uncertainties/
Despite rocket explosion, aerospace firm Orbital ATK’s profits are soaring
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-orbital-crash-aftermath-20150820-story.html
US Congress: NASA’s Handling Of SpaceX Investigation ‘Perplexing;’ USAF Closely Monitors Probe
http://www.franchiseherald.com/articles/36007/20150820/spacex-investigation.htm
Musk hasn’t lost anyone yet — every flight has been automated. And he has a longterm plan, with each detail fitting some need of that goal. Once the boosters start to land successfully for recycling, his per-launch and pound-to-orbit drops again (it’s already far lower than anyone including the Chinese) and puts everyone else out of business.
More accurately, everyone else will be even more beholden to the gubmint to keep operating. But only Musk will be condemned around here as “crony capitalist” or for “welfare for the rich”.
Branson made himself look like an a-hole with his after-disaster remarks about his deceased employee and the equipment failure. Not really surprising that they’d try jumping into the unmanned launched biz though, the space tourism biz is going to be short-lived — not to mention fickle after that work accident.
Jeff Bezos’ Spaceship Takes Flight
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3284840/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/blueorigin/index
http://www.wired.com/2015/04/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-just-launched-flagship-rocket/
Yeah.....plus virgin lost a couple of men working on a tethered engine that blew up.....but as it didn’t happen to a flight crew it didn’t get the same kind of press.
The China Connection Is the Real Scandal
--- Snip ---
In June 1994, the CEO of Loral Space and Communications, Bernard Schwartz, made a $100,000 contribution to the Democratic National Committee. He then joined a Ron Brown trip to China that led to a $250 million telecommunications deal for Loral's satellites to be launched by Chinese rockets.
In October 1994, Clinton lifted the sanctions he had imposed on China for selling missile technology to Pakistan. In early 1995, Schwartz sent a letter to Clinton urging that responsibility for satellite-export licenses be shifted from the State Department to the Commerce Department. Meanwhile, both Schwartz and Johnny Chung made more huge donations, in excess of $100,000, to the Democratic Party.
--- snip ---
I wonder if he was connected in any way to BJ Clinton's transfer to technology to the Chinese?
Couple questions - because you follow this much more closely than I do...so help me out. A: Isn't it true that Musk's entire business career has been based on cronyism, which I don't think is true of Branson. Maybe it is. B: Why do you suppose that none of the others will be branded as cronies as well?
Happier days:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1234776/posts
and Paul Allen bankrolled Rutan’s X-Prize.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2820016/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2820379/posts
Musk’s fortune comes from PayPal, which he started and sold after a relatively few years.
As a businessman, in his subsequent ventures he’s taken advantage of some gubmint programs. He works for a living, and takes big risks, mitigating it where he can using existing programs. SpaceX has a commercial launch business, but also has a contract with NASA, IOW, like Boeing et al. He’s joked (can’t find the vid right now) about Orbital Sciences (which is also under contract with NASA) and how it gets paid too much (SpaceX has the best price and is always working on reducing cost, which is how business is supposed to work, I’ve heard).
His companies aren’t just money laundring operations or flat-out scams like much of the “green” industry seems to be.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3191941/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2528667/posts
What it took for Elon Musk’s SpaceX to disrupt Boeing, leapfrog NASA, and become a serious space company
http://qz.com/281619/what-it-took-for-elon-musks-spacex-to-disrupt-boeing-leapfrog-nasa-and-become-a-serious-space-company/
The reason(s) none of the others will be branded as cronies lies in the hearts of those doing the branding. The possibilities seem to include bias, ignorance, stupidity, meanness of spirit, and astroturfing and other troll behavior.
Thanks for that reply. I know more about it than I did a few minutes ago.
In cutting edge science that can benefit and explode an economy (in a good way perhaps) - there is always a bit more blurry line between cronyism and necessary/ productive research.
WW2 and the space race were both an unnerving mix of government and private enterprise - and yet so many advancements were made as a result. This as opposed to Solyndra, which is pure cronyism and a scam and a cancer.
On 26 July 2007, an explosion occurred during an oxidizer flow test at the Mojave Air and Space Port, where early-stage tests were being conducted on SpaceShipTwo's systems. The oxidizer test included filling the oxidizer tank with 4,500 kilograms (10,000 lb) of nitrous oxide, followed by a 15-second cold-flow injector test. Although the tests did not ignite the gas, three employees were killed and three injured, two critically and one seriously, by flying shrapnel.
One might even say, without considering the enormous number of lives lost, that the world before WWII ceased to exist by the late summer 1945. Certainly the continuing development of jet engines and rocketry also contributed to it. The industrial buildout during the War was repurposed after the war. Autos had been around for 50 years, but ownership of them went through the roof (mid- to late 1950s saw the first 10 million new vehicle year; military surplus vehicles found a role in rural areas). Communications, radar, etc. Even seagoing trade benefitted.
International cooperation in the sciences during the (multi-year) IGY led to more discoveries from pure research. Failure to take advantage of Von Braun and his old pros led to launch failures and a resort to miniaturized electronics (which we’re both using right now) in order to reduce payload size on nuclear missiles.
The first H-bomb (Teller’s) was so large that new delivery systems were called for; one was the B-52, which had conventional bombing uses and was built. The million-plus pound thrust rocket engine needed was Von Braun’s project, and gave us the F-1 engine; a smaller H-bomb design went off at Bikini, and the big engine program was cancelled, but not before the engine was finished. Von Braun knew when he started that it was going to take us to the Moon. JFK’s moon speech was only possible because the F-1 already existed.
Thanks, that does sound familiar. I’m sure I’d read about that here, but couldn’t find it.
I agree with 100% of that - and in fact, we home schooled our three children, and told them constantly that WW2 was THE definitive event - that the world we live in today is the world created, or re-created, by WW2. Sure, there have been some shifts since 1945 - but WW2 was an unprecedented re-set of the globe, and there’s been nothing but small adjustments since then.
We are in year 70...in a way.
Thanks for your insightful comments. However, it’s important to remember that there were many other people who made important contributions to American rocketry. Charley Bosaart, who I knew, designed America’s first ICBM (the Atlas). You can find more details at my website. www.gpsdeclassified.com
Thanks Richard.
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