I’m Anthony Colangelo.

We knew this would be sole-sourced to Lockheed Martin, just like we knew that for the polar vehicles awarded to Northrop Grumman. What we didn’t know was the award value, and it’s huge.

Destin from SmarterEveryDay was invited down to the Parker Solar Probe launch, and got to hang out with Tory Bruno (and zero entourage) as the Mobile Service Tower rolled away from the rocket. He posted an absolutely lovely photo series with some commentary.

Destin from SmarterEveryDay was invited down to the Parker Solar Probe launch, and got to hang out with Tory Bruno (and zero entourage) as the Mobile Service Tower rolled away from the rocket. He posted an absolutely lovely photo series with some commentary.

The switch to expander cycle is a big deal. Because of the BE-3U’s thrust level, it’ll be an open/bleed cycle. That does decrease efficiency a bit, but its specific impulse will be very much in the ballpark of the RL10 and Vinci.

I’m excited to see this constellation deployed. It’s not just another imaging constellation. It’s something new and different, and something that I think will find a market.

We’ve heard about these fueling demos before, but it was a mystery when and where they would take place. Eric Berger has the intel.

String a few stories from the past few years together, and you start to get a clear picture of Lockheed Martin’s small sat master plan.

We’ve heard similar things from the US Air Force with regards to EELV launches for years and years.

I’ve also heard from a few different places that ahead of this launch, they’re taking some time to knock off a few other items from their to-do list. Let’s hope all goes well and they can get into smooth operations for 2019.

Eric Berger joined Jake and I to talk about his recent trip to Kourou, the European launch sector, Commercial Crew announcements, and the social eating segment of JAXA launch streams.

“On 17 July 2018, an ancient lump from space thwacked into the Moon with enough energy to produce a brilliant flash of light. With another space rock seemingly in pursuit, a second flash lit up a different region of the Moon almost exactly 24 hours later.”

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.

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.

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.”

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.