I got an email from Jon Goff about this yesterday, but didn’t want to post until there was a public announcement.
This is a huge loss to the industry. He had a great deal of vision, that was squandered by the child abuse of ULA’s parent companies. Not sure he’s replaceable. My deepest condolences to all his friends and family.
[Update a few minutes later]
Well, that was fast. This post is already number two on a DuckDuckGo search for “Bernard Kutter.” Funny thing is that Google has nothing on the death.
[Update a while later]
A tribute from the National Space Society.
Bruce Pittman of the NSS said it best “Bernard was not only a great engineer but also a remarkable human being—warm, caring, helpful and hopeful.”
I have the highest respect for Bernard Kutter. He was working from the inside putting out very credible transportation architectures. I had several private conversations with him and know that he was a good man with a good heart. Unfortunately I agree with the comment about ULA’s parents conducting child abuse on it as evidence that the XEUS/ACES lander wasn’t even allowed to be proposed to NASA. That would have been the fastest way back to the Moon.