Main Engine Cut Off

Northrop Grumman is acquiring Orbital ATK in a $9.2 billion deal. Lockheed Martin unveiled a new family of satellite busses , positioning themselves for the next era of satellite bus production. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 20 executive producers—Kris, Mike, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Guinevere, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, and five anonymous—an...

Blue Origin announced a size increase to New Glenn’s fairing, and OneWeb has decided to keep their Toulouse factory open for other customers after their initial 10-satellite production run is over. Both decisions bring about some interesting implications for the market at large. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 19 executive producers—Kris, Mike, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan...

Jake Robins of the WeMartians Podcast joins me to discuss the state and future of the Mars exploration program, lean sample return, and more. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 18 executive producers—Kris, Mike, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Guinevere, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, and four anonymous—and 69 other supporters on Patreon . WeMartians Podcast - WeMa...

I spent 2 minutes and 40 seconds in the shadow of the Moon in Gallatin, TN . Totality was an incredibly powerful experience, and I wanted to share what it was like to be there as best I could. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 17 executive producers—Kris, Mike, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Guinevere, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, and four anonymous—and 66 other suppor...

Caleb Henry of SpaceNews joins me to discuss the slowdown in GEO satellite orders , the latest on the big LEO constellations, and what’s up with the sky falling . This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 17 executive producers—Kris, Mike, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Guinevere, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, and four anonymous—and 65 other supporters on Patreon . Caleb Henry...

Rocket Lab completed their investigation into what went wrong on their first launch, Virgin Orbit’s carrier 747 arrived in Long Beach , and I discuss a few NASA-backed advanced propulsion projects . This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 17 executive producers—Kris, Mike, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Guinevere, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, and four anonymous—and 66 other...

I spend some time thinking through what the future of the ISS holds, and what may come after it. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 17 executive producers—Kris, Mike, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Guinevere, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, and four anonymous—and 65 other supporters on Patreon . The Space Review: Pondering the future of the International Space Station T+20...

Eric Berger returns to the show to talk about Elon Musk and SpaceX’s crusade against cost-plus contracting , the end of Red Dragon , where NASA policy is heading, and what SpaceX may have in store for the Air Force’s next round of development contracts . This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 16 executive producers—Kris, Mike, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Laszlo, Jamison, Guinev...

Loren Grush of The Verge joins me to talk about Falcon Heavy, SpaceX cancelling Dragon 2 propulsive landings , Red Dragon riding off into the sunset , Moon Express , US space policy , and a whole lot more. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 16 executive producers—Kris, Mike, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Laszlo, Jamison, Guinevere, Nadim, Peter, and four anonymous—and 62 othe...

XCOR laid off the rest of its staff and is closing up shop after losing a contract with ULA, which leaves ULA in an interesting spot for Vulcan-ACES . On the ULA side, they won their first Phase 1A contract from the Air Force , and the contract price sheds some light on just how much they’re cutting their costs. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 16 executive producers—Kris,...

SpaceX launched two missions last weekend , flew new titanium grid fins on Falcon 9, and are really picking up the pace. And Blue Origin got cozy with the Alabama Launch Alliance by announcing that they’ll build the BE-4 production facility in Huntsville—if the engine is chosen for Vulcan. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 15 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad,...

Boeing’s proposal won Phases 2 and 3 of DARPA’s XS-1 program, and I’m pretty bummed about it . And the Air Force announced that SpaceX will launch the fifth X-37B mission in August. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 14 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Laszlo, Jamison, Guinevere, Nadim, and four anonymous—and 52 other supporters on Patreon . Thoughts on...

Dr. Thomas Lang, Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at the UCSF School of Medicine , joins the show to discuss human health and physiology in space. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 13 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Laszlo, Jamison, Guinevere, and four anonymous—and 51 other supporters on Patreon . Thomas Lang | UCSF Profiles NASA Honors...

Rand Simberg joins me to talk about his recent trip to the Space Tech Expo , the dawning of the age of in-space manufacturing, the future of SLS and Orion, the National Space Council, and a lot more. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 12 executive producers—Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Laszlo, Jamison, Guinevere, and four anonymous—and 50 other supporters on Patreon . Rand S...

Last week was rough for the Space Launch System. An issue with weld tooling was discovered , with some serious consequences, and then a LOX tank dome was dropped and damaged beyond repair . To top it off, NASA announced that EM-1 will fly without crew , and is delayed until 2019. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 12 executive producers—Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Laszlo, J...

Eric Berger , Senior Space Editor at Ars Technica , joins me to talk SLS/Orion , New Space vs. Old Space, space policy in the Trump administration, and why the fight might not be settled until 2020. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 10 executive producers—Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Laszlo, and four anonymous—and 46 other supporters on Patreon . Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace)...

As the award date approaches for the 2018 Air Force launch vehicle development contracts, we keep hearing from Congress about how they would like to see it go. And I discuss the future of Antares and the Next-Generation Launch Vehicle in light of the continuing flights of Cygnus on Atlas V. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 9 executive producers—Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan,...

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 . This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 8 executive producers—Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, and three anonymous—and 41 other supporters on Patreon...

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 . This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 6 executive producers—Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, and two anonymous—and 39 other supporters on Patreon . SpaceX Wins GPS III Laun...

This week, Blue Origin shed some more light on New Glenn —by way of an animation , launch agreements , and a talk by Jeff Bezos at Satellite 2017—and the first fully-assembled BE-4 shipped to their test site in Texas for a hot firing. I discuss the new details we learned and how New Glenn will fit into the industry in the 2020s. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 6 executive...

This week is all about #hotdrama , with two surprise media briefings: one from NASA on a potential crewed EM-1 , and one from SpaceX on a privately-crewed journey around the Moon—riding on a Dragon 2 and Falcon Heavy—at the end of 2018. I discuss the implications of both, and go on a rant about SpaceX and “focus.” This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 5 executive producers—Pat,...

Robert Lightfoot, the Acting NASA Administrator, sent a memo to the agency on the possibility of putting a crew on EM-1. I discuss the potential fallout from this idea and where the SLS/Orion program may be heading in the future. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 5 executive producers— Pat O , Matt , Jorge, Brad, and one anonymous—and 31 other supporters on Patreon . Acting...

This week, NASA officially announced that NanoRacks will be adding an airlock onto the International Space Station to add capabilities and capacity to their already-up-and-running business. That announcement, along with some early insight into NASA policy in 2017, got me thinking about commercial opportunities within government programs, beyond Commercial Cargo and Crew. This episode of Main Engin...

Marcia Smith of SpacePolicyOnline.com saw a draft of the 2017 NASA Transition Authorization Act , and it contains some very interesting changes from the 2016 version that bounced around Congress last year . I discuss what some of these changes may mean in the light of Commercial Crew delays, NASA RFIs regarding SLS and Orion , and continued Russian reliability issues . This episode of Main Engine...

Four members of the House of Representatives sent letters to DARPA and the Pentagon this week to file a complaint about a program in conflict with the 2010 National Space Policy. It’s a situation reminiscent of the debate over commercial use of retired ICBMs as low-cost launch vehicles, except this time, Orbital ATK is on the other side . I discuss the current issues and how their resolution may a...