NASA Wins MECO’s 2020 Good Decision of the Year Award by Bringing Back the Worm
This makes me so happy. I absolutely adore the NASA worm and it looks so damn good on SpaceX hardware. I wish it were the main logo for the agency.
Episode T+152: SpaceX’s Dragon XL Wins Gateway Logistics Services Contract
NASA selected SpaceX and their new Dragon XL vehicle as the first Gateway Logistics Services provider. I take some time to think through why SpaceX is interested in this program, what they might want to get out of it, and what we could see Dragon XL doing in the future.
Virgin Orbit Designs Automatic Ambulatory Bag Pump
Really nice work by Virgin Orbit. However, it’s an odd time for Virgin Orbit to take this on. They are in for a tough stretch in terms of funding.
OneWeb Can’t Raise Money, Blames the Pandemic, Files for Bankruptcy
Where OneWeb goes from here is going to be a hell of a story. By some estimates, they need at least $4 billion to finish off their constellation.
Bigelow Lays Off All Employees
Bummer for everyone there, but for years it has been known that Bigelow was a hot mess internally. So much potential in what they could have done if they had the right mix of leadership and vision and drive.
Astra Loses First Rocket 3.0
Bummer to hear that they’ve lost the vehicle as well as some equipment on the ground. Good thing they have 2 more following closely in the pipeline.
Episode T+151: Northrop Grumman, Satellite Servicing, and DARPA’s RSGS
After a tumultuous past few years, DARPA has selected a new partner for RSGS. It is none other than Northrop Grumman, who has found early success with their satellite servicing ventures.
Rocket Lab to Acquire Sinclair Interplanetary
Great news for all involved. Sinclair becomes part of what has to be one of the most exciting space companies operating today, and Rocket Lab gets a jump up the timeline of their work on Photon.
From Dragon to Cygnus to an Android Phone
Cool read on a very cool development.
I’m Not Just Picking on Virgin Orbit
If it wasn’t clear in my post yesterday, I’m annoyed at California’s overly-broad definition of aerospace manufacturers that allows Virgin Orbit to keep its facilities open in any capacity.
Virgin Orbit, Who Has Been Saying Their First Launch is This Year for Nearly Three Years, Deemed an Essential Service
With all due respect to anyone reading this who works at Virgin Orbit, this is quite frankly bullshit. I’m fine with designating high-visibility, time-sensitive launch campaigns like Mars 2020 (Perseverance), Commercial Crew, or even AEHF-6 as essential services. But a company still in the development and testing phase of a launch vehicle that has been delayed for several years now with the only government flight being a Space Test Program launch?
First Long March 7A Fails, with Some Evidence Pointing to Second Stage Failure
Andrew Jones, far and away my favorite source (and podcast guest!) for Chinese space news, has a great rundown on SpaceNews on Long March 7A and the impacts its failure could have.
Episode 28 - Don’t Sneeze in Their Mouths!
Jake and Anthony are joined by fellow space podcaster Brendan Bryne for a self-quarantine edition of the show. Jake developed a new bit for this grab bag episode with talk of Schrödinger’s Gateway, SpaceX’s DM-2, and a whole bunch more, including (obviously) COVID-19 and its impact on space. Also how Brendan’s cat almost ruined OSIRIS-REx.
Episode T+150: SpaceX Signs Crew Flight Agreements with Axiom, Space Adventures
SpaceX recently signed two agreements: one with Axiom Space to fly a private mission up to the ISS, and one with Space Adventures for a free-flying tourist flight up to 1,000 kilometers. I discuss these two missions and why agreements like this are key to SpaceX’s long-term strategy.
DARPA Selects Northrop Grumman for RSGS
Hot on the heels of MEV-1 successfully docking with its first target, the good news continues for Northrop Grumman’s Space Logistics business.
ESA Data Puts 2019 Amazon Fires In Context, and It’s Good News
Pleasantly surprising data from ESA. Turns out 2018 was a good year, and 2019 was pretty close to the norm over the last two decades. Context helps.
NASA Awards Psyche Launch to SpaceX, Who Now Has Its First Mars Launch on the Books
At $117 million, Falcon Heavy is a hell of a deal for NASA. It’s no surprise, then, that SpaceX has been winning a lot of NASA science missions lately. Just within the last year, they’ve been selected to launch DART, PACE, IXPE, and now Psyche.
Huge Thanks to February Supporters!
Very special thanks to the 385 of you out there supporting Main Engine Cut Off on Patreon for the month of February. 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.
Episode T+149: Let’s Talk About Starship with Tim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut
Tim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut, joins me to talk all about SpaceX’s Starship, its history thus far, it’s nearly-impossible-to-keep-up-with development in the open, and what we may see in the coming months. We make some timeline predictions, talk about the predicament of Boca Chica, and both randomly stumble into completely unsupported theories.
First Look at Falcon 9 and Heavy Updates for NSSL
An FAA environmental assessment shed some light on changes that would come to SpaceX’s Falcon family if and when they’re selected as a Phase 2 launch provider: the new service tower that would be built at Pad 39A to support vertical integration of payloads, and the longer fairing that would be required for certain payloads.