Apollo, GAMBIT, and UPWARD
If you’re into quirky space history, Dwayne Day wrote an incredible article for The Space Review this week on a NASA/NRO collaboration that never saw the light of day, nor was known about until now.
The Search for the Small GEO Sweet Spot
Of note to me is that Firefly’s Alpha with its new Orbital Transfer Vehicle can carry a single small-end Saturn bus or just about two Astranis satellites all the way to geostationary orbit on its own.
Thanks to May Patrons
Very special thanks to the 285 of you out there supporting Main Engine Cut Off on Patreon for the month of May. MECO is entirely listener- and reader-supported, so your support keeps this blog and podcast going, growing, and improving, and most importantly, it keeps it independent.
Air Force Revising Promotion System, Opening Pathways for Space Officers
Gee, I wonder what it is that is making them get around to this in 2019, rather than decades ago.
Artemis
The Moon 2024 initiative finally has a name, and it kicks ass—Artemis. However, there seems to be some mass cognitive dissonance surrounding all this that I can’t get my head around.
Virgin Orbit Has “One Thing Left to Button Down” (and It’s Not Great)
I’ve heard some talk of what Virgin Orbit is working through, and from the sounds of it, it’s bad. Nearing potentially-losing-an-important-mission bad.
Thanks to April Patrons
Very special thanks to the 283 of you out there supporting Main Engine Cut Off on Patreon for the month of April. MECO is entirely listener- and reader-supported, so your support keeps this blog and podcast going, growing, and improving, and most importantly, it keeps it independent.
I Built a Mac App
While most everyone has been trying to figure out what the deal is with Marzipan, I decided to learn (a very tiny amount of) AppKit and built my first Mac app.
It’s called Downlink, and it brings real-time satellite imagery of Earth right to your desktop. You can get it today—for free!—on the Mac App Store.
Real-time satellite imagery on your desktop with Downlink
My worlds collide: I built a Mac app using near real-time imagery from GOES-East, GOES-West, and Himawari-8. It’s called Downlink and you can get it today (free!) on the Mac App Store.
Trial Ballooning the Lunar Budget
Letting the $8 billion number circulate for a few days makes asking for $4 billion seem more sane than it would have otherwise.