And here’s the megafeed of everything I’ve been doing.
Very special thanks to the 135 of you out there supporting Main Engine Cut Off on Patreon for the month of December, and for all of 2017. Your support keeps this blog and podcast going, and most importantly, it keeps it independent.
Robin Seemangal joins me for a free-flowing discussion on the stories we found most important in 2017 and what we’re looking forward to in 2018, including SpaceX’s huge year, Blue Origin’s under-the-radar work to lay foundations for their future, SLS’ rough year, and—what else?—Falcon Heavy.
Mike Lewis, CTO of NanoRacks joins me to talk about what they’re working on today, as well as their big plans for the future, including their upcoming airlock and the Ixion project—their ongoing work to turn spent upper stages into useful spacecraft.
A special preview of the MECO Headlines shows: Elon Musk kinda-sorta-maybe announces the Falcon Heavy demo payload, Russia and China carry out successful military launches, NASA announces some very interesting NextSTEP-2 contracts, OA-8E Cygnus departs ISS, and SpaceX’s SLC-40 is back, baby!
If Virgin Orbit delivers on their stated cost and performance goals for LauncherOne, they’ll put Minotaur I out of work in a hurry. But the market is still without any vehicles that put the heavier Minotaurs—Minotaur-IV and Minotaur-C specifically—in any danger. Terran 1 could be the first truly commercial launch vehicle to take on those heavier Minotaurs.
Note: Please listen to Episode 3 before listening to this podcast! A companion podcast to follow Episode 3. Jake tells the story of Polynesian Celestial Navigation. Originally produced for a class in sound design but published here for your enjoyment.
Jake tells us the story of Chinese spaceflight, and Anthony gets us ready for their future in space.
Note: Please listen to Episode 3 before listening to this podcast! A companion podcast to follow Episode 3. Jake tells the story of Polynesian Celestial Navigation. Originally produced for a class in sound design but published here for your enjoyment.
Note: Please listen to Episode 3 before listening to this podcast! A companion podcast to follow Episode 3. Jake tells the story of Polynesian Celestial Navigation. Originally produced for a class in sound design but published here for your enjoyment.
Jake tells us the story of Chinese spaceflight, and Anthony gets us ready for their future in space.
The next episode of Off-Nominal is up! Jake tells us the history of China in space, and I talk through what to watch for in the next decade and beyond.
Jake tells us the story of Chinese spaceflight, and Anthony gets us ready for their future in space.
Very special thanks to the 126 of you out there supporting Main Engine Cut Off on Patreon for the month of November. Your support keeps this blog and podcast going, and most importantly, it keeps it independent.
Anatoly Zak has been following the recent Soyuz failure closely, and recently posted some information that—if true—is finally starting to demystify what happened.
I was in Houston last week and I visited NanoRacks for a bit. And Virgin Orbit piqued the interest of the Department of Defense, which has some interesting implications.
Chris Gebhardt of NASASpaceflight published a nice article last week on Blue Origin’s ongoing New Glenn work. He also had this great little nugget of info to share regarding the ship that New Glenn will land upon.
SES gives us a preview of their new GEO strategy (which may be a harbinger of the future), Orbital ATK tests a new composite case to be used for their Next-Generation Launcher and future SLS boosters, NASA approves the use of previously-flown Falcon 9 first stages, and SpaceX sets off some LOX fireworks down in McGregor, Texas.
I’d love to see the numbers involved here, but the fact that Bruno is putting this out there at all says a lot.
The second episode of Off-Nominal—the more laid back and causal space podcast I started with Jake Robins—has been posted. We chat about gravitational waves, our interstellar visitor, and more.
The conceit of this press release is that the case is specifically for the Next Generation Launch system, but it’s also for SLS.