And here’s the megafeed of everything I’ve been doing.
Saying the end goal is to develop two launch vehicles doesn’t mean the Air Force is only giving out two contracts. They could—and probably should—award more than two contracts, so that they can still meet their goal even if one or more contenders fail for any reason.
Regardless of how you think our collective plans should be organized, we can all agree that we’d rather see something happen. Let’s be honest about where we’re headed, and get on with it.
I haven’t said much about NASA’s proposed Deep Space Gateway and Transport architecture yet, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot.
Downsizing, relocating to a lower-cost location, and doubling-down on just about the only politicians who have been working for them lately.
An extensive and informative article by Chris Gebhardt, for NASASpaceFlight, on the recent Commercial Crew update given to the NASA Advisory Council.
In addition to our sweet new push notifications for orders, we’ve also recently released a handful of awesome little features to Big Cartel for iOS that should make staring at your phone all day that much nicer. Here’s a quick rundown.
I’m excited to announce the launch of a brand new project: the Main Engine Cut Off Shop. This isn’t the typical “sell a t-shirt with your podcast logo on it” sort of project (though I do love me some podcast tees)—it’s an ever-growing collection of custom-designed products for space geeks like you and I.
Rob Meyerson, president of Blue Origin, talked a bit more about their Blue Moon concept at the Space Symposium this week.
Yesterday at the Space Symposium, Jeff Bezos had some interesting comments on Blue Origin’s plans.
Jeff Foust, for SpaceNews, on Blue Origin’s progress on BE-4 firings, and how ULA is managing the downselect for Vulcan engines.
Much cleaner structure—and a better name—for a solution I still don’t believe in much at all. Interestingly, the rebrand frees up the “Vulcan” name in the aerospace field, at a time when there have been rumors of a potential rebrand for ULA.
Seems like Orbital ATK’s PR editors removed the next sentence: “We’ll just need that money upfront, instead.”
Thanks to my patrons for the month of March. If you’re getting some value out of what I do here and want to send a little value back to help support Main Engine Cut Off, head over to Patreon and donate as little as $1 a month—every little bit helps.
SpaceX made history this week by launching SES-10 with a previously-flown first stage. I discuss implications of this achievement, the things we learned from Elon Musk in the post-flight press briefing, and the doubters, as always.
It was just a matter of time. I guarantee you those in Le Gall’s camp will think of at least one more step, and we’ll hear about it right after SpaceX’s next step.
Matthew Bodner, for The Moscow Times, reports that 71 engines, mostly for the second and third stages of Proton, require complete overhauls.
James Dean with a great article for Florida Today on SES, SpaceX, and reusability.
A great piece by Chris Bergin and Noel Munson of NASASpaceFlight on the storied histories of launch complexes 11 and 36, and what Blue Origin plans for their future.
The last two weeks have been filled with a bunch of smaller stories—SpaceX’s GPS III bid win and upcoming SES-10 launch, ULA’s decision on Vulcan’s engines and Congress’ potential meddling, and the ISS beyond 2024.
Read the whole post over on Masten’s blog. Great to see progress on safer storable propellants and Masten’s lander. There’s also a video from a few months ago of MXP-351 performance testing.