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]
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]
