Episode 36 - December Hurricanes
Jake and Anthony are joined by Eric Berger of Ars Technica to talk about the space policy fallout of the 2020 US election, Eric’s upcoming book, and Jake’s bad decisions.
Rocket Lab Recovers First Splashed-Down Electron
After a fantastic launch and deployment of 30 payloads, Electron’s first stage made it back through the atmosphere and successfully splashed down about 400 kilometers downrange. Peter Beck tweeted an image of the stage as they arrived with the recovery ship. Hell fucking yeah, Rocket Lab.
Orbit Fab’s First Fuel Depot to Launch in 2021, Which Just Sounds Like Marketing Until You Realize That Marketing is Really Important
It’s easy to shrug off the marketing of this as their “first operational fuel depot” because they’re flying with a good bit of funding as a pathfinder mission for their hardware. But for something like a refueling interface that requires adoption by at least a good number of customers for Orbit Fab to find success, marketing is really important.
ExoMars Still Having Parachute Issues
ESA posted an update after another round of testing the parachutes for the Rosalind Franklin ExoMars rover, due to launch in 2022, and the results aren’t good: four tears in the first main chute and one in the second main chute.
Vega Failure Traced to Inverted Cables
Pretty embarrassing issue. Inverted hardware is a Russian-class error.
NSF to Decommission Arecibo Observatory’s Radio Telescope
A major bummer, but not much of a surprise, honestly. NSF had dropped funding levels for Arecibo significantly in past years, and it had effectively been saved by a consortium led by the University of Central Florida.
Voyager Space Holdings’ Third Acquisition: The Launch Company
I had not heard of The Launch Company previously, but I probably should have. Their site lists Relativity, Firefly, and Virgin Orbit among their customers.
Long March 5 Rolled Out for Chang’e-5, China’s Lunar Sample Return Mission
Chang’e-5 culminates with the samples returned to Earth sometime around December 16–17. I’ll be happily surprised if we get official coverage of the mission, but I wouldn’t count on it.
Episode T+173: Headlines
With a massive amount of news happening in the week following the election here in the US, it’s a good opportunity to give everyone a listen in on MECO Headlines. I run through all the stories of the week each and every weekend just like this for the supporters of MECO, so if you like what you hear, join the Headlines tier or higher!
Thank You to October Supporters!
Very special thanks to the 463 of you out there supporting Main Engine Cut Off for the month of October. 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.
Ariane 6 Slips to 2022, Needs Another €230 Million
Big slip for Ariane 6, and 5% growth of development cost—bringing the total development cost to €3.8 billion. Disappointing yet unsurprising news. This news has dredged up another round of Ariane 6 takes that misunderstand the program entirely, though.
Episode 35 - The 2 Mile of the Space Industry
Jake and Anthony are joined by Caleb Henry, formerly of SpaceNews and now of Quilty Analytics. We talk about SpaceX’s new satellite contract, OneWeb’s new lease on life, Caleb’s new gig at Quilty, and what it’s like transitioning away from capital-J journalism.
Episode T+172: Lunar Politics
Last week, IAC 2020 brought a flurry of announcements and statements to digest. It’s a good time to check in on current and future lunar politics, with some statements by the ever-antagonistic Rogozin, seven countries signing onto the Artemis Accords, a handful of lunar development contracts announced, and the US election within sight.
Episode T+171: SpaceX, L3Harris Selected by SDA for Missile Warning Satellites
The Space Development Agency has selected L3Harris and SpaceX to produce satellites for a missile warning constellation. I break down the details of the SDA project, the technical aspects, and what it means to see SpaceX enter the world of satellite manufacturing and sales.
Episode T+170: Catching Up on the News
I’m back after a few wonderful weeks offline with my newly-arrived son, Will! I figured I’d jump back in with a rundown of the important and notable bits of news that happened while I was gone.
Episode 34 - Repeatedly Googling Area 51
With Anthony off on parental leave, Jake is joined by guest host Emilee Speck and guests Anna and Henna from But It Is Rocket Science to talk about making space podcasts and Life on Venus?!
My son has arrived! Signing off for a few weeks.
Exciting news! My son was born a few days ago, and we’re all home and healthy. I’ll be going offline for a few weeks to spend some time with him and settle into life as a parent. Feels like a good breakpoint in 2020, anyway!
Episode 33 - Regular-Ass Fishing Boat
Jake and Anthony are joined by Loren Grush to catch up on a wild few weeks—from VR tours of spaceships, the Doug Loverro situation, Mars mayhem, Starship hops, and of course, the DM-2 boating fiasco.
Episode T+169: Commercial Small Launcher Updates
There have been a ton of recent updates from commercial small launch companies, like increased payload mass and volume from Rocket Lab, contracts and funding from ABL, solved vibration issues from Virgin Orbit, and a few others. With a handful of vehicles on the verge of their first launch, it’s a good time to take a higher-level look at these competitors.
Episode T+168: SpaceX and ULA Win NSSL Phase 2
The long-awaited news is finally here! ULA and SpaceX have won the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 2 launch contracts from the US Department of Defense, which leaves Blue Origin’s New Glenn and Northrop Grumman’s OmegA out in the cold. I talk through what this means for each company and launch vehicle, and where things will go from here on all sides of the issue.