HIBT Lab! Ursa Major: Joe Laurienti

Hello and welcome to how I built this lab. I'm Guy Raz. So if you want to launch something into space, say a communication satellite or supplies from the International Space Station, you have to put it, obviously, on top of a giant rocket, and rockets are powered by rocket engines. Now for the past three decades or so The United States government has basically been relying on rocket engines that are made in Russia.

Which creates a problem when there are geo political conflicts like the war in Ukraine. Now, you've probably heard about private space companies like SpaceX or Blue Origin, owned by billionaires like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos. Those companies are offering an alternative. Rockets and engines that are designed and built in the United States. But building one of these rockets can take years, and they're often plagued with delays.

So my guest today, Joe Lorienti, is looking to help both government and private space companies address their rocket engine supply problems. In part. by using 3D print to build rocket engines in the United States, and to build them much faster than they would be with traditional manufacturing. But unlike Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, Joe Lorienty is not a billionaire. In fact, he founded his company, Ursa Major, just four years after graduating from college with a degree in aerospace engineering. Joe grew up in Colorado in an aerospace family.

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