Tim Ellis (engineer)

Tim Ellis is an American aerospace engineer and the co-founder and CEO of Relativity Space.

Early life and education

Ellis grew up in Plano, Texas.^[1] He is the oldest of three children.^[2]

Ellis started college at the University of Southern California, where he planned to graduate and be a screenwriter, and study as part of USC’s Thematic Option program.^[3] However, during his freshman orientation he switched his major to aerospace engineering.^[2] Ellis and Relativity's other co-founder and CTO, Jordan Noone, both held leadership positions at USC's Rocket Propulsion Lab (RPL).^[4] Within RPL, Ellis and Noone helped launch the first student-designed and built rocket into space.^[5]

While at the University of Southern California, Ellis had three consecutive internships with Blue Origin.^[3]

Ellis holds a BS and a MS in Aerospace Engineering from USC Viterbi School of Engineering.^[5]

Career

Blue Origin

After graduation, Ellis joined Blue Origin full time where he worked on 3D printed rocket components^[6] and served as a propulsion development engineer on crew capsule RCS thrusters, BE-4, and New Glenn.^[5]

At Blue Origin, Ellis was credited for bringing metal 3D-printing in-house.^[5]

Relativity Space

In 2015, Ellis co-founded Relativity Space with his former classmate, Jordan Noone,^[7] with the mission of being the first company to launch a fully 3D printed rocket into orbit.^[8] Ellis and Noone received their initial $500,000 in funding from cold emailing Mark Cuban.^[9] In April 2018, Cuban told the Los Angeles Times over email that he invested in Relativity because, "They are smart, innovative, focused and always learning."^[2] Ellis and Noone were also part of Y Combinator in their 2016 cohort.^[10]

Relativity Space announced its US$650 million Series E funding at US$4.2 billion valuation in June 2021.^[11]

Other activities

Ellis is the youngest member of the National Space Council User Advisory Group by nearly two decades.^[5]

Recognitions

Ellis was included on the 2019 TIME 100 Next List, under the Phenoms section.^[12] Former NASA astronaut, Terry W. Virts, wrote the TIME excerpt on why Ellis was chosen.^[13]

In 2019, Ellis was included on MIT Technology Review's Innovators Under 35 issue. He was placed in the Entrepreneurs category.^[14]

Ellis was recognized by Forbes in two of their 30 Under 30 lists in 2019 - the Manufacturing and Industry list^[15] and the Big Money list.^[16]

Ellis was nominated by Via Satellite for their Satellite Executive of the Year 2019 award.^[17]

In 2018, Ellis was included on Inc.'s Rising Stars list of Most Inspiring Young Entrepreneurs.^[18][6]

References

1. "Reopening the American Frontier: Promoting Partnerships Between Commercial Space and the U.S Government to Advance Exploration and Settlement" (PDF). NASA. July 13, 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 24, 2020. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
2. Masunaga, Samantha (April 27, 2018). "Entrepreneur seeks to boldly go where no one has gone before: 3-D printing nearly an entire rocket". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 12, 2018. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
3. Ignacio, Guttierez (August 23, 2019). "We're Going to 3-D Print the First Rocket Made on Mars". USC Viterbi School of Engineering. Archived from the original on August 24, 2020. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
4. Autry, Greg (March 26, 2020). "Relativity: Spaceflight Imprinted With Flexibility". Forbes. Archived from the original on March 27, 2020. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
5. Tzinis, Irene (June 12, 2020). "Mr. Tim Ellis". NASA. Archived from the original on August 24, 2020. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
6. Ryan, Kevin (April 30, 2018). "Life on Mars Looks a Little More Possible Thanks to This Startup's 3-D Printed Rocket". Inc. Archived from the original on July 29, 2020. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
7. Billings, Lee (April 16, 2018). "Q&A: 3-D Printing Rockets with Relativity Space CEO Tim Ellis". Scientific American. Archived from the original on April 5, 2019. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
8. Perez, Denrie Caila (April 29, 2020). "Relativity Space to Launch First 3D-Printed Rocket". Engineering.com. Archived from the original on June 17, 2020. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
9. Clifford, Catherine (January 25, 2018). "These guys cold-emailed Mark Cuban and got a half-million-dollar investment in their start-up". CNBC. Archived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
10. Berger, Eric (October 1, 2019). "Amid heavy competition, Relativity Space secures $140 million in funding". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on December 29, 2019. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
11. Sheetz, Michael (June 8, 2021). "Relativity Space raises $650 million from Fidelity and others to build 3D-printed SpaceX competitor". CNBC. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
12. "Meet the 2019 TIME 100 Next". Time. Archived from the original on November 27, 2019. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
13. Virts, Terry. "TIME Next 100: Tim Ellis". TIME. Archived from the original on April 13, 2020. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
14. "Innovators Under 35 2019". MIT Technology Review. Archived from the original on August 24, 2020. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
15. "30 Under 30 2019: Manufacturing & Industry". Forbes. Archived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
16. "30 Under 30 2019: Big Money". Forbes. Archived from the original on November 27, 2019. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
17. Holmes, Mark; Hill, Jeffery (March 2020). "The Nominees for 2019 Satellite Executive of the Year". Via Satellite. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
18. "Meet the 30 Most Inspiring Young Entrepreneurs of 2018". Inc.com. Archived from the original on April 19, 2019. Retrieved August 19, 2020.