Romanian Engineer Behind SpaceX, Blue Origin Engines: Space Cities Unlikely in 20 Years

Bogdan Marcu, a Romanian engineer renowned for designing the Merlin 1D engines for SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets, expressed skepticism about the feasibility of establishing cities in space within the next two decades. Marcu, who currently designs engines for Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin and collaborates with NASA on joint projects, emphasized that space remains an unforgiving environment.

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We will not have cities in space in the next 20 years. Space is an unforgiving environment.

With over 30 years of experience in the aerospace industry, Marcu has a distinguished career, having also worked for SpaceX, where he negotiated directly with Elon Musk, and for NASA and Boeing's rocket division. He currently holds the position of Principal Propulsion Engineer at Blue Origin and also lectures at the University of Southern California.

Marcu highlighted the evolving landscape of the space industry, driven by private corporations like SpaceX and Blue Origin. He explained that SpaceX's substantial profits, nearly 99%, are derived from its Starlink satellite internet service. The company also generates revenue by launching satellites for other clients, a market where its competitive pricing initially gave it an advantage.

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SpaceX cut the furrow, as they say. Blue Origin is going somewhat in parallel with them. These projects are founded as industrial entities around the same time, but they have evolved at different paces.

Looking ahead, Marcu discussed Blue Origin's upcoming New Glenn rocket, which is designed to launch satellites for third parties as well as for its own projects, such as the Terrawave satellite initiative. He contrasted this with Musk's approach, which targets a broader consumer base for services like Starlink, while Blue Origin's projects are aimed at business clients requiring significant bandwidth for financial and transactional communications. Marcu believes that the focus on generating business in space is key, but the challenges of the environment mean large-scale colonization is still a distant prospect.

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If you look now at the document SpaceX filed for its market listing, IPO (Initial Public Offering), their profit comes in the vast majority, 99%, from Starlink, from satellites and from subscriptions – from subscriptions, so to speak – of those who access the internet via Starlink.