Blue Origin names former NASA science chief Zurbuchen SVP of Advanced Concepts
Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's science chief from 2016 to 2022, joins Blue Origin in January 2027 to lead its Advanced Concepts team.
what happened
Thomas Zurbuchen will become senior vice president leading Blue Origin's Advanced Concepts team starting in January 2027, per ETH Zurich, where he has led the university's Space initiative as a professor since August 2023. Zurbuchen was NASA's head of science from 2016 to 2022. Per ETH Zurich, the Advanced Concepts team "develops next-generation concepts and systems to advance a sustainable future of living and working in space," and Zurbuchen said the role appealed to him because "we'll have a major say in what this space technology company builds next."
why it matters
A former NASA associate administrator for science taking a senior strategy role at Blue Origin gives the company an executive with deep ties to NASA's science programs and the international partners that fund them, as Blue Origin competes with SpaceX and others for science and exploration business.
signal-to-noise
quick facts
- Companies
- Blue Origin
- Category
- partnership
- Impact
- notable
- SNR
- 4 / 5
- Event date
- 2026-10-02
- Published
- 2026-10-02 22:52 UTC