Defense Production Act Giveth, Defense Production Act Taketh Away
The rideshare contracts that SMC planned for 6 companies have been withdrawn, but LeoLabs is being awarded a $15 million contract.
A Few Thoughts on OneWeb’s Acquisition by the UK Government and Bharti Global
I’ve been kicking the news on this one around my head for a bit. I can’t quite come up with a grand unifying theory, but there are a couple of good reasons, though.
Thank You to June Supporters!
Very special thanks to the 422 of you out there supporting Main Engine Cut Off for the month of June. 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+163: Suborbital Crew, Virgin Galactic to ISS
NASA recently established the Suborbital Crew office within the Commercial Crew Program, which will focus on developing a plan to fly personnel on suborbital spaceflights. At the same time, Virgin Galactic signed an agreement with NASA to provide private orbital spaceflights to the ISS.
Episode 31 - OG LIGO
Jake and Anthony are joined by John Johnson. John is an expert on exoplanet research at Harvard University, having done work for NASA on Kepler but also as Principal Investigator for the MINERVA project. He also founded the Banneker Institute at Harvard, an organization dedicated to helping people of color enter astronomy and the subject of our current fundraiser.
Episode 31 - OG LIGO
Jake and Anthony are joined by John Johnson. John is an expert on exoplanet research at Harvard University, having done work for NASA on Kepler but also as Principal Investigator for the MINERVA project. He also founded the Banneker Institute at Harvard, an organization dedicated to helping people of color enter astronomy and the subject of our current fundraiser.
Episode T+162: Grant Bonin, SVP of Business Development at Spaceflight
Grant Bonin, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Spaceflight joins me to talk about everything they’ve been up to lately, including being acquired, signing deals with SpaceX for rideshares on Starlink missions and on dedicated flights to SSO, signing deals with new launch companies and international providers, and a lot more including manifesting satellites, last-mile services, and about what makes Spaceflight unique.
DARPA Signs Several Contracts for Blackjack, OPIR Included
Most interesting is the contract Raytheon won for $37 million, under which they will supply Overhead Persistent Infrared payloads—the same type of payloads they’re supplying for the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared missile warning satellites.
Relativity Expanding to Vandenberg, Signs Iridium to Multi-Launch Contract
Relativity now has a hell of a backlog, plenty of facilities, and the holy grail that is both an east and west coast launch site, if they can successfully build one at Vandenberg. I honestly wouldn’t bet on the latter.
Episode T+161: Mark Wiese, Manager of NASA’s Gateway Deep Space Logistics
Mark Wiese, Manager of NASA’s Gateway Deep Space Logistics, joins me to talk about the logistics architecture for Gateway and, specifically, the selection of SpaceX and Dragon XL for missions in the future. He even lets me get really nerdy and responds to some of my complaints and questions from past episodes!
Satellite Bonanza: Ten GEO Satellites Ordered in Prep for C-Band Clearing, More Coming
Intelsat ordered four from Maxar and two from Northrop Grumman, while SES ordered two each from Boeing and Northrop Grumman with two more yet to be announced. This is huge for satellite manufacturers who have been hurting in recent years after a dip in orders. This is all in preparation for clearing C-band spectrum that has been reallocated towards 5G deployment in the US and will be auctioned off late this year.
Spaceflight Signs Multi-Launch Agreement with SpaceX, Two BlackSky Satellites Up Next
It was never a question that Spaceflight would be interested in the SpaceX rideshare program. It’s a perfect match—inexpensive slots offered by SpaceX which can be taken advantage of to sell the end-to-end services offered by Spaceflight at a solid margin. They’re also manifesting two BlackSky satellites on the next Starlink flight, just like we saw a few days ago with Planet flying SkySats on the previous flight.
Space and Missile Systems Center Planning to Buy Two Rideshare Flights Each from Six Small Launchers
Still a long way to go on this, but this has been part of the work the Space Acquisition Council has been doing to try and stabilize small launch providers through the economic instability of recent months. They’re purchasing two rideshare launches from each of the following: Aevum, Astra, X-BOW, Rocket Lab, Space Vector, VOX Space (Virgin Orbit).
My Appearance on Brendan Byrne’s Are We There Yet? Podcast
Big podcasting week. I just posted an episode here, had NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine on Off-Nominal, and I also appeared on my friend Brendan Byrne’s Are We There Yet? podcast, as well.
Episode T+160: Lueders Leads HEO, Northrop Grumman Awarded HALO Contract
Northrop Grumman was awarded $187 million for the Gateway Habitat design, which caps off NASA’s 2020 budget work for Artemis components. Additionally, Kathy Lueders was named head of human spaceflight at NASA, which is huge and fantastic news. We take a look at the Artemis program’s acquisitions so far and the road ahead under Lueders’ leadership.
Kathy Lueders Named Head of Human Spaceflight at NASA
After the bizarre departure of Doug Loverro and the epic triumph of SpaceX DM-2, this news makes perfect sense and I, like damn near everyone who follows space, am thrilled to see it.
Northrop Grumman Awarded $187 Million for Gateway Habitat Through Preliminary Design Review
Importantly, this contract is only for work through 2020, culminating with Preliminary Design Review. That means there is going to be an additional contract or two for the development, launch, and checkout of the vehicle.
How NASA’s Reliance On Commercial Companies Is Shaping Space Exploration
NASA is relying more and more on the private sector to help its exploration efforts — from building the next moon lander to transporting astronauts to the International Space Station.
So what does the future look like for this new dawn of commercial exploration? We’ll talk with Main Engine Cut Off podcast host Anthony Colangelo about the latest space business news and how leveraging commercial companies will help NASA reach places like the moon and Mars.
How NASA’s Reliance On Commercial Companies Is Shaping Space Exploration
NASA is relying more and more on the private sector to help its exploration efforts — from building the next moon lander to transporting astronauts to the International Space Station.
So what does the future look like for this new dawn of commercial exploration? We’ll talk with Main Engine Cut Off podcast host Anthony Colangelo about the latest space business news and how leveraging commercial companies will help NASA reach places like the moon and Mars.
Astroscale Acquires Space Drones, Will Integrate and Launch from US
This feels like a natural extension for Astroscale, who until now has been focused on satellite end-of-life and debris removal services.