Off-Nominal

Jake and Anthony are joined by Scott Edwards, Director and Executive Producer of To the Black, a documentary chronicling Firefly’s journey from bankruptcy to almost bankruptcy again to international drama to orbit and all the moments in between. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 260 - Launching on Thursday (with Scott Edwards) - YouTube To the Black – Movie Firefly co-founder Markusic to step d...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Astra founder and CEO Chris Kemp to talk about the company’s road back from the brink, Rocket 4, and why he still sees a path for it today. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 259 - Overhead (with Chris Kemp) - YouTube Astra Rocket 4.0 | Private Space Launch Company Astra is Poised to Rewrite the 'Commercial' Rocket Equation with its 2027 Rocket 4 Launch - The Debri...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Daniel Drew of the University of Hawaiʻi to talk about SPARK, his concept for exploring Titan’s caves with aerobots powered by solid-state atmospheric ion thrusters. Seriously. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 258 - Not a Space Guy (with Daniel Drew) - YouTube SPARK This Crazy Robot Could Explore the CAVES of Titan [NIAC 2026] - YouTube Huygens's descent to Titan...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Nick Cialdella, CTO of Varda Space Industries, to talk about manufacturing pharmaceuticals in space, the reentry technology that brings them back to Earth, Varda’s hypersonic testbed, and the business case for making things in orbit. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 257 - Can You Fix Our RV? (with Nick Cialdella) - YouTube Space born, Earth bound • Varda Space In...

Jake and Anthony talk about Blue Origin building the Mars Telecommunications Network, Stoke splashing the cash and talking up Nova Block 2, and Anthony has a weird theory about Jared Isaacman. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 256 - The Ellis Number - YouTube NASA selects Blue Origin for Mars communications orbiter - SpaceNews Stoke Space Raises $1 Billion to Accelerate Fully Reusable Launch |...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Matt Gjertsen, Founder of BUILT, to talk about his book, Minimum Viable Manager: Three Essential Skills for Leading Technical Teams That Solve Big Problems , the recovery of Starship at Christmas Island, and Starbase Louisiana. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 255 - Sorry, Reno (with Matt Gjertsen) - YouTube Amazon.com: Minimum Viable Manager: Three Essential Ski...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, Former Associate Administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and leader of ETH Zurich Space, to talk about the state of science missions at NASA. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 254 - An Advocate of Crazy (with Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen) - YouTube QuantumScape Co-Founder and CTO Sells His Trust's Entire Stake in the Company for $76,465 |...

It’s time for actual stock tips. Jake and Anthony draft competing $100,000 space portfolios and lock them in for a year. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube 253 - Dome is Your Strategy - YouTube Follow Off-Nominal Subscribe to the show! - Off-Nominal Support the show, join the Discord Off-Nominal (@offnom) / Twitter Off-Nominal (@offnom@spacey.space) - Spacey Space Follow Jake WeMartians Podcast - Follow...

Anthony is joined by Eric Berger, Senior Space Editor at Ars Technica, and Joe Barnard to talk about crewed spaceflight in the 2030s, what options exist if and when Dragon stops flying, and what we should do about it. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 252 - Paying Now and Later (with Eric Berger and Joe Barnard) - YouTube A "disaster waiting to happen"? Industry officials worry about Crew Drago...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Dan Rasky, Charles Miller, and Charlie Camarda—the sources of the heat shield discourse!—to talk about Starship Flight 13 and thermal protection systems overall. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 251 - Yada Yada Yada (with Dan Rasky, Charles Miller, and Charlie Camarda) - YouTube Some Thoughts on Starship V13 Flight — Starship’s Current TPS is a “Dead-end” to Full...

Jake and Anthony talk about Starship Flight 13, the heat shield discourse, Dragon beyond 2030, and shockingly, Jake was the one to say “Let’s talk about the National Security Space Launch program.” Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 250 - Tile Enthusiast - YouTube SpaceX on X : “The Starship Recovery team has continued gathering imagery of the vehicle, which is still afloat in the Indian Ocean”...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Ethan Barajas and Jamie Palmer, co-founders of Icarus Robotics, to talk about—what else?—robots in space! Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 249 - Peeing Out Your Bones (with Ethan Barajas and Jamie Palmer) - YouTube Icarus Robotics Icarus raises $6.1M to take on space’s 'warehouse work' with embodied-AI robots | TechCrunch Voyager and Icarus Team Up on ISS Robotic...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Outpost Co-Founder and CEO Jason Dunn to talk about their Earth return vehicles across national security, in-space manufacturing, and other industries. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 248 - Earth Quality (with Jason Dunn) - YouTube Outpost Follow Jason Jason Dunn | LinkedIn Follow Off-Nominal Subscribe to the show! - Off-Nominal Support the show, join the Discor...

Jake and Anthony talk about the PROMISE rover, the state of decisions in NASA’s Isaacman era, Rocket Lab buying Iridium, and they give Jeremy Hansen a clap out. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 247 - RTGs Don’t Grow on Trees - YouTube NASA may send a backup, nuclear-powered Mars rover to the Moon - Ars Technica NASA Awards More Moon Base Science, Previews New Opportunities - NASA We managed to...

Jake catches Anthony up on the news he missed while on vacation, and also how expensive stage adapters have become. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 246 - Stock Tips - YouTube Did Rocket Lab's Suborbital Rocket Reach Orbit? SpaceX is now a public company valued for its AI potential, so what comes next? - Ars Technica 13 years and $500 million for a stage adapter? Report justifies NASA cancella...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Jonathan Goff, Director of Advanced Concepts at Gravitics, and Mike Loucks, CEO at SEE, to talk about where to put orbital depots, trajectories from there to the Moon and Mars, and to otherwise set the record straight on their papers after Anthony’s poorly-remembered-and-even-more-poorly-explained mention. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 245 - Polar Bears and Pe...

Lindy Elkins-Tanton, Principal Investigator of Psyche, joins Jake and Anthony to talk about Leadership on big NASA missions in her new book Mission Ready. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 244 - Helen from Everywhere (with Lindy Elkins-Tanton) - YouTube Mission Ready by Lindy Elkins-Tanton | Hachette Book Group NASA’s Psyche Mission Aces Mars Flyby, Targets Metal-Rich Asteroid | NASA Jet Propul...

Miles O’Brien joins Jake and Anthony to talk about Starship Flight 12, the NASA Moon Base updates on LTVs and landers, and Miles’ trip to Antarctica. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 243 - Ducktricity (with Miles O’Brien) - YouTube NASA takes steps toward building Moon Base, including discussing a "perimeter" - Ars Technica SpaceX's Starship V3—still a work in progress—mostly successful on fir...

Jake and Anthony kick around the SpaceX IPO filing, upcoming first flight of Starship V3, and reorganization at NASA. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 242 - Jared Propulsion Laboratory - YouTube A Message From Administrator Jared Isaacman - NASA NASA Announces Realignment to Accelerate Mission Delivery - NASA NASA to Compete Contract for Jet Propulsion Laboratory Management - NASA Famously sec...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Andrew Rush, Co-founder and CEO of Star Catcher, to talk about building a power grid in space, their upcoming in-space demonstration, their big fundraising round announced this week, and where they go from here. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 241 - Maybe the Denver Airport (with Andrew Rush) - YouTube Star Catcher Star Catcher | Star Catcher raises $65 million...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Trevor Kjorlien of Plateau Astro to talk about making and running a mobile planetarium, his time at the Canadian Space Agency, and a whole lot more. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 240 - Canada’s NASA (with Trevor Kjorlien) - YouTube Plateau Astro | Astronomy workshops, presentations, and mobile planetarium shows in Montréal Stellarium Astronomy Software Gaia Sk...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Jennifer Vaughn, the new CEO of The Planetary Society to talk about her vision for the organization. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 239 - Let’s Go Swimming (with Jennifer Vaughn) - YouTube The Planetary Society Meet Jennifer Vaughn | The Planetary Society Days after Artemis II, scientists warn of… | The Planetary Society The FY 2027 NASA budget request | The Pl...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Chuck Deiterich, a Retrofire Officer on many Apollo missions, including Apollo 8, 11, and 13. He went on to work on Skylab, the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, the Space Shuttle Approach and Landing Tests, among others. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 238 - KGB Guardian Angel (with Chuck Deiterich) - YouTube Apollo 11 Landing (Timestamped to 6 plus 25) Follow Off-Nom...

Kelsey Young, Artemis Science Flight Operations Lead, joins Jake and Anthony to talk about the science of Artemis II, incorporating science into human spaceflight, and obviously, to spread Moon Joy. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 237 - Farside Standard Time (with Kelsey Young) - YouTube Artemis Internal Science Team - NASA Science Artemis II Lunar Flyby - NASA The Planets Shine Bright | NASA...

Casey Dreier, Chief of Space Policy at The Planetary Society, joins Jake and Anthony to talk about the dichotomy of NASA right now: the Artemis II lunar flyby, and the FY2027 budget request. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 236 - Juicy Red Fruits (with Casey Dreier) - YouTube What is the skinny budget and what does it… | The Planetary Society The Planetary Society urges Congress to… | The Plan...