bezos in space

[audreyh1]

What’s with the cowboy hat ?

Blue Origin operations are in far west Texas (somewhere outside of Van Horn*). I guess they picked up some local color. I noticed a few gals wearing dresses with cowboy boots and hats at the returned capsule.

Endless creosote as viewed from the landing!

*https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/blue-origin-space-launch-van-horn/

 

[braumeister]

Maybe Bezos just wanted to get on the record as being the richest person off Earth as well as on it.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Looking at the video inside the capsule, it looked like they spent a whole-lot more time just enjoying 0g than looking out the window. They could of just rented a Cessna for a couple hours and floated inside of it. A whole-lot cheaper.

I thought about that, too. I would be glued to the window taking in the sight. You can already take a ride on a "vomit comet" and it'll only cost you about $5,000.

Yep, I'll think of that comment he made every single time I drive past the Amazon warehouse near me and see the picketers outside. If he were known for treating his people well, MAYBE he could pull that comment off. But wow, Bezos doesn't give a ****.

I know I go against the grain but I have no issues with what Bezos said. Anyone who lives near a AMZN distribution warehouse will see truck after truck after truck after truck going down the highway so it doesn't take rocket science to figure out how his space trip was paid for. And last time I checked, no one has forced anyone to work in the warehouses...I have done that job and it sucks...but it's pretty much like every other warehouse job out there. Well...except that the AMZN warehouses are air conditioned and that's not very common.

 

[Chuckanut]

Yep, I'll think of that comment he made every single time I drive past the Amazon warehouse near me and see the picketers outside. If he were known for treating his people well, MAYBE he could pull that comment off. But wow, Bezos doesn't give a ****.

He named a new sports venue "Climate Change Arena". Now isn't that nice?

The stadium will now be called Climate Pledge Arena after Amazon secured its naming rights, and will feature new green initiatives in an effort to be more climate friendly.
The name is meant to be "a regular reminder of the urgent need for climate action," CEO Jeff Bezos said on his Instagram in an announcement Thursday.
The billionaire said the arena, which he shared a mock up illustration of, will be the first net zero carbon certified arena in the world.

 

[audreyh1]

Bezos is so wealthy because the price of AMZN stock stays so high. It apparently has nothing to do with Amazon profitability.

 

[ERD50]

He named a new sports venue "Climate Change Arena". Now isn't that nice?

The billionaire said the arena, which he shared a mock up illustration of, will be the first net zero carbon certified arena in the world.

I wondered about the 'carbon footprint' of this ride. Oh, boy, here's some spin for you, from a "fact check" site:

https://www.politifact.com/factchec...ch-co2-did-bezos-rocket-ride-release-close-z/

They rule that:

Social media users tweeted that Bezos’ brief trip to space released 300 metric tons of carbon dioxide.

The trip released none. The rocket’s engine burns hydrogen and oxygen to carry it away from Earth. That doesn’t make these rides risk-free. They do pose a threat to the ozone layer.

We rate this claim False.

But then a minor little update to the "facts":

Update, 10:55 a.m. July 21: After publishing, we updated the article to acknowledge the energy needed to produce hydrogen.

In the article, the update appears to be this:

We should note that it takes a lot of energy to make most of the hydrogen used today. Those carbon emissions wouldn't come from the launch itself, ...

Oh boy, "a lot" of energy. That's helpful (not!). I wonder how that compares to the Social Media claim of "300 metric tons of carbon dioxide". That claim may be bogus as well, but I'd like to know the facts.

PS - I hate "fact check" sites. They are mostly just biased outlets that say "Trust me, I put "fact check" in my title, and I wouldn't lie!"

So how much hydrogen did the flight use, and how much carbon was released to produce that hydrogen?

I got as far as this...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapie...-the-carbon-footprint-of-hydrogen-production/

Too many conversions for me to handle at the moment

Praxair LIN +0.3%, one of the world’s largest producers of hydrogen, has broken down the carbon footprint associated with the individual process steps. I have converted their data to metric tons of carbon dioxide emitted by these process units per million SCF of hydrogen produced.

Combustion for reforming energy – 3.7 metric tons
Combustion for steam – 2.5 metric tons
Power for separation and compression – 0.1 metric tons

Adding this to the carbon dioxide produced from the natural gas reactions, the total becomes 19.3 metric tons of carbon dioxide produced per million SCF of hydrogen. However, the Praxair paper noted that this is the theoretical minimum. Due to heat losses and inefficiencies, the actual number in practice in a large hydrogen plant is 21.9 metric tons.

-ERD50

 

[Chuckanut]

Here's an interesting article on Blue Origin and what may or may not some of its biggest issues for the future. At first I hesitated to post this, thinking the article might just be another hit piece. Mr. Bezos generates a lot of bad feeling from certain people.

After digesting the article I believe that while it is critical of Blue Origin and Mr. Bezos' decisions, it also points out a lot of problems. The BE-4 engine is years behind schedule. So is the New Glenn rocket. Despite all the fuss over the latest sub-orbital flight, Blue Origin is not in the same league as SpaceX, not even close.

https://arstechnica.com/science/202...s-is-running-out-of-time-to-save-blue-origin/

There has been no race. Since the end of 2015, Blue Origin has launched its suborbital New Shepard system just 15 more times, an average of fewer than three missions per year. Only this week did humans finally get on board for a launch. As for the BE-4 engine, after promising it would be ready for spaceflight in 2017, Blue Origin has yet to deliver a flight-ready version to United Launch Alliance more than four years later.

All told, Blue Origin now has millions of square feet of facilities. Currently, it just has precious little rocket hardware. For all of its construction efforts, Blue Origin has yet to deliver a BE-4 engine to United Launch Alliance. And the massive New Glenn rocket, about which Bezos has been talking for a decade, remains at least a couple of years away from its first flight.

The question is, now that Bezos has tasted spaceflight, will he become reinvigorated and pursue his ambitions with abandon?

 

[CaptTom]

Bezos is so wealthy because the price of AMZN stock stays so high. It apparently has nothing to do with Amazon profitability.

Yes, net worth is only part of the picture. The best number I could find was that Bezos has invested around $10 Billion into Blue Origins so far.

That money came from somewhere. Just a quick Google search suggests that Amazon has been profitable every year but two since 2004. In fact, the past few years have been exceptionally profitable. One web site put it this way:

Amazon annual/quarterly net income history and growth rate from 2006 to 2021. Net income can be defined as company's net profit or loss after all revenues, income items, and expenses have been accounted for.
Amazon net income for the quarter ending March 31, 2021 was $8.107B, a 219.8% increase year-over-year.
Amazon net income for the twelve months ending March 31, 2021 was $26.903B, a 154.72% increase year-over-year.
Amazon annual net income for 2020 was $21.331B, a 84.08% increase from 2019.
Amazon annual net income for 2019 was $11.588B, a 15.04% increase from 2018.
Amazon annual net income for 2018 was $10.073B, a 232.11% increase from 2017.

There are plenty of reasons not to love Bezos. But I don't think claiming Amazon isn't profitable will support any of them.

 

[audreyh1]

That money came from somewhere. Just a quick Google search suggests that Amazon has been profitable every year but two since 2004.

Of course the money came from somewhere! I’m simply pointing out that the money came from selling AMZN stock and not out of AMZN Corp profits.

Bezos just has to sell some Amazon stock to fund his mega projects. Amazon doesn't pay a dividend, so the Blue Origin funding is not coming out of Amazon company profits.

Bezos salary is small, although a large additional amount is paid to cover his personal security.

Since Amazon’s 1997 IPO, Bezos has sold off or given away more than half of his Amazon shares. He’s now got enough cash to likely buy just about anything in the world he wants.

For Jeff Bezos, wealth does not come from a monthly paycheck. Amazon only pays its founder a salary of $81,000 per year (not including the $1.6 million Amazon pays Bezos’s for security), a drop in the bucket compared to his overall net worth of an estimated $200 billion. Instead, nearly 90% of Bezos’s fortune lies in his Amazon stock holdings.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachel...ed-from-selling-amazon-stock/?sh=6b22e0be389a

So the funding for Blue Origin came from Jeff Bezos selling AMZN stock over the years.

 

[Sanbenito1]

These spaceships are the billionaire version of a male ‘enhancement’ vehicle. Too bad the money wasn’t spent on helping to improve schools or a thousand other things that we need more than bozos in space.

 

[Chuckanut]

These spaceships are the billionaire version of a male ‘enhancement’ vehicle. Too bad the money wasn’t spent on helping to improve schools or a thousand other things that we need more than bozos in space.

You haven't heard about Climate Pledge Arena?

The naming rights for Climate Pledge Arena was secured through a partnership between Amazon, Oak View Group, and Seattle Kraken. It is expected to be the first net zero carbon certified arena in the world and will harness the power of sports and entertainment to inspire change on the climate crises. Visit Vision to learn more about how Climate Pledge Arena will be the first net zero certified arena in the world.

https://climatepledgearena.com/sustainability/

 

[CaptTom]

..Too bad the money wasn’t spent on helping to improve schools or a thousand other things that we need more than bozos in space.

I look at it a little differently. I think we can do more than one thing at a time.

Actually, Bezos does give a lot to earth-bound causes, and has joined that billionaire's pledge to ultimately donate most of his wealth. My quibble with all of these billionaires is that rather than collect so much, they could have just charge us all a bit less in the first place and let US decide which causes to support. But I digress.

My point is, money spent advancing science, engineering and technology IS helping to improve our life here on this little planet, as well as taking baby steps toward our long-term survival as a species. If Bezos decided to throw in some PR and a personal joy ride, no harm done.

 

[audreyh1]

I look at it a little differently. I think we can do more than one thing at a time.

Actually, Bezos does give a lot to earth-bound causes, and has joined that billionaire's pledge to ultimately donate most of his wealth. My quibble with all of these billionaires is that rather than collect so much, they could have just charge us all a bit less in the first place and let US decide which causes to support. But I digress.

My point is, money spent advancing science, engineering and technology IS helping to improve our life here on this little planet, as well as taking baby steps toward our long-term survival as a species. If Bezos decided to throw in some PR and a personal joy ride, no harm done.

Their wealth is based on company stock price, not company profit.

 

[rick55]

I can’t help but think of Gallagher….why do they call them hemmoroids? Shouldn’t they call them asteroids?

Bezos was having his Slim Pickens moment with the hat, hoping to ride the nuke down.

 

[imnontrad]

I did not bother to watch either. Imagine if he had taken that money and sent a bunch of kids to post-HS education instead. Then he'd have a positive impact.

 

[audreyh1]

Why do you think Bezos doesn’t have a scholarship program for young people?

 

[Chuckanut]

Let's face it, Bezos does not come across as somebody who feels a strong sense of being generous and noble to those who do not have his fame, power and wealth. (Bill Gates was was probably raised with the American version of the British Noblesse Oblige).

OTOH, Mr. Bezos is not 'The Enemy' that some in his hometown try to make him out to be. As usual, we need to look at what people do, not what they say. And especially not what others say about them.

I can think of several very wealthy people who throw big money at luxuries while others scrape by. Here's one example: Opera owns seven homes. And they are not little two bedroom one bath condos. How many homeless people would they house? Dozens, I imagine. How many homeless people has Opera offered to house in her many homes? My guess is the same number as Bezos - Zero.

https://www.velvetropes.com/backstage/oprah-house-orcas-island

And she’s spent over $100 million on the seven estates she currently owns.Yes, you read that right: Winfrey owns seven homes (that we know of — possibly more), but are you really that surprised? For someone worth billions of dollars, you’d better believe she has several multimillion-dollar homes scattered across the country.
The number would have been nine had she not have sold her 9,625-square-foot Windy City home, the one she owned from 1985 to 2015, for a whopping $4.625 million or her 4,806-square-foot penthouse in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2008 for $1.8 million.

According to public records, the larger parcel went for $7,150,00 and was purchased by West Hollywood-based Madrona Tree LLC, whose administrator manages Oprah’s personal finances. The second parcel was purchased by Seed Money LLC of Telluride, CO for $1,125,000. After a bit of digging, we noticed that the administrator of Madrona Tree LLC is the same as that on file for Seed Money.
The location of the property doesn’t get any better. Completely private and secluded, Oprah now has over 3,000 feet of West-facing private shoreline. On the other side is a thick forest full of private paths and hiking trails. Not far from Rosario Resort, Orcas Island’s premier hotel, spa, and marina, Oprah’s oasis is in the heart of the luxurious action.
The homes were owned and built by a prominent designer who lived on the island…and boy is it a beauty!

 

[imnontrad]

Why do you think Bezos doesn’t have a scholarship program for young people?

1) He is not known for his philanthropy
2) if he did have this, I would imagine that he would publicize it.

 

[imnontrad]

{audreyh1] Well he does have a scholarship program.

You mean the "Bezos Scholars Program"? That was created by the Bezos Family Foundation (Jackie and Mike Bezos), his mother and step-father, not Jeff.

It does not mention anything about funding a college or tech school education.

> selected receive mentorship, leadership development, free college advising and online tutoring, and $1,000 in funding

Also if that school had previously had a successful applicant, none of the current students are eligible.
>To encourage equity of opportunity, for 2021 cohort applicants, students attending schools who have had a Scholar selected since 2018 are not eligible to apply.

And not all schools have the programs required for eligibility.
>Be enrolled in, or have taken, one or more Honors, Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), or college-level classes.

 

[rmcelwee]

I watched the recent Joe Rogan / Neil deGrasse Tyson podcast. Neil said if the earth was a globe (like you had in school) with a diameter of 1 foot, these guys went about 1/16 inch from earth. The moon is 30 feet away and mars is 1 mile away. Gives it an interesting perspective.

 

[mpeirce]

1) He is not known for his philanthropy.

Many of the folks who are “known” for philanthropy often use it for the PR value in their quest for more celebrity or notoriety.

 

[tulak]

I take it that few of you watched Bezo’s post flight press conference? The one where he explained why he thinks going to space is important and where he gave away 200 million dollars?

The reality is that he does give away a lot of money and try to contribute in ways he thinks will make an impact. Probably not much different than what a lot of us do, except the sums are much, much greater.

Personally, I agree with his overall goal: move heavy (all) polluting industries into space and turn Earth into a big park. That’s the only way we’ll reclaim the planet and deal with the damage humans have done. There are tons of resources in space if only we had the tech to make it happen. And to make it happen, you have to make incremental steps towards that goal. That’s what we get with Musk, and hopefully Bezos, in sending rockets to space.

Jeff Bezos said that the entire "polluting industry" must be moved into space in order to preserve the Earth. "We need to take all heavy industry, all polluting industry, and move it into space," Bezos said Tuesday. The billionaire Amazon founder made the comments following his quick journey to space and back.

https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-move-all-polluting-industry-into-space-blue-origin-2021-7

 

[UnrealizedPotential]

I haven't heard that Bezos or any of those other billionaires are helping fund planetary defense systems for detecting and possibly destroying asteriods that might hit the earth. I think that'd be more impressive than providing joy rides for other rich people.

Even as wealthy as some individuals and corporations are, there just doesn't seem to be enough interest or money to do everything all at once. Interests do vary and it is the individuals with the "big" money that count and they are the ones who will ultimately decide where the big money is spent and for what purpose.

 

[timo2]

I haven't heard that Bezos or any of those other billionaires are helping fund planetary defense systems for detecting and possibly destroying asteriods that might hit the earth. I think that'd be more impressive than providing joy rides for other rich people.

monetize the asteroids and there might be a different result.

from the article "An asteroid called 16 Psyche that could prove extraordinarily valuable one day will today make its closest approach to our planet, reach its brightest in the night sky, and be visible all night long to those with telescopes.

Made of iron and nickel, 16 Psyche could well be a “protoplanet,” the core of an ex-planet that never got to maturity."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiec...igned-with-the-earth-and-sun/?sh=280b8f5c31c9

 

[timo2]

Blue Origin operations are in far west Texas (somewhere outside of Van Horn*). I guess they picked up some local color. I noticed a few gals wearing dresses with cowboy boots and hats at the returned capsule.

Endless creosote as viewed from the landing!

*https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/blue-origin-space-launch-van-horn/

We stayed in Van Horn on the way to visit relatives in 2019. Stayed at the El Capitan Hotel, one of those old historical hotels that now is sort of lower end boutique hotel. I bet it was a hopping place with the launch!! They have a decent bar there, popular with visitors.

http://www.thehotelelcapitan.com/history/