I’m Anthony Colangelo.

And here’s the megafeed of everything I’ve been doing.

EELV LSA Selection “Sometime in August”

Main Engine Cut Off

This Vulcan double-submission theory is something I’ve speculated about on the podcast and elsewhere in the past few months. The fact that we aren’t hearing the engine selection until the award announcement has me nearly completely convinced that’s the case.

Thanks to July Patrons

Main Engine Cut Off

Very special thanks to the 217 of you out there supporting Main Engine Cut Off on Patreon for the month of July. Your support keeps this blog and podcast going, and most importantly, it keeps it independent.

Astra Launched, Learned Something

Main Engine Cut Off

Speaking of early shutdowns, Astra launched just about two weeks ago, but the results are unclear—the FAA stated there was a mishap, and Alaska Aerospace told SpaceNews that “the customer is very pleased with the outcome of the launch.”

Boeing’s Sticky Situation

Main Engine Cut Off

There’s still some murkiness here. Was the 1.5-second firing the full duration that they were aiming for with this test, or did it shut down early? I’ve heard the latter.

The FCC Might Let 5G (Use Some C-Band)

Main Engine Cut Off

“The unanimous vote by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai and the agency’s three commissioners lays the groundwork for the transition of some, or possibly all of the 500 megahertz of spectrum commonly known as C-band.”

New Glenn Dual Manifesting

Main Engine Cut Off

Blue seems to be trying really hard to limit the downsides of dual manifesting, and a single price for a ride to orbit no matter how you fly or when is a huge departure from the norm. It really only makes sense two ways: the entry price for a ride on New Glenn is shockingly low, or Blue will have no shortage of their own payloads to fly. Or both.

Cygnus Successfully Tests Station Reboost

Main Engine Cut Off

“The Cygnus spacecraft’s BT-4 main engine, supplied by IHI Aerospace of Japan, fired for 50 seconds Tuesday. The engine produces around 100 pounds of thrust, and the maneuver raised the orbit of the roughly 450-ton space station by 295 feet (90 meters).”

AR-22 Fires 10 Times in 240 Hours

Main Engine Cut Off

The total firing duration was about two Shuttle flights to orbit, so total duration isn’t the surprising thing here—it’s the fact that they could turn the engine around quick enough to pull this off. We’ll see where this goes from here, but I don’t have high hopes.