/sci/ - Science & Math

>>15847011
answer it

How long will Jeff Bezos continue to subsidize his New Shepard rocket?
---
https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/11/as-virgin-galactic-soars-blue-origins-new-shepard-remains-grounded/
> It is too strong to characterize the New Shepard rocket and spacecraft as a vanity program for Blue Origin and its founder, Jeff Bezos. After all, the company has learned some valuable lessons about vertical landing and rocket reuse that it will apply to the much larger New Glenn rocket. However, after New Shepard gave Bezos his much-desired ride to space in 2021, it's worth contemplating the purpose of the program going forward.
> Of Blue Origin's approximately 11,000 employees, about 400 people spend part or all of their time working on New Shepard. That is a small fraction of the company's overall workforce, but factoring in salaries, benefits, and programmatic expenses, a reasonable estimate is that New Shepard costs Blue Origin about $100 million a year to maintain and operate.
> Prior to the accident, the program averaged a flight roughly every eight to 10 weeks. Even doubling that cadence, it is very unlikely that New Shepard would come close to being revenue-neutral. As one person familiar with the company's finances told Ars, "It's definitely a money loser. Always has been." Another person told Ars that New Shepard is "hemorrhaging" money.
> It's impossible to know what is in Bezos' mind, of course. Ultimately, it will be his decision about whether New Shepard continues to fly. The program, which is managed in Washington state and flown out of West Texas, will last as long as he cares to subsidize it. But it is perhaps notable that Bezos just announced he is moving from Washington to Miami. Florida has no capital gains taxes (which is important when you're selling Amazon stock to fund Blue Origin on the regular), his parents are there, and his partner Lauren Sanchez loves the beach.