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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 some of the big stories in science at NASA—Mars Sample Return, cost growth in missions across the board, and more. Note: Dr. Z cited the Europa Clipper solar arrays at 100 yards across, as in one football field, but clarified via em...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Jack Beyer, Content Manager for NSF, to talk about SpaceX doing the dang thing! They caught the booster! Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 171 - Stiletto Starship (with Jack Beyer) - YouTube SpaceX on X : “Watch Starship's fifth flight test” SpaceX on X : “Starship on its fifth flight test. Views powered by @Starlink” Starship’s Fifth Flight Test - SpaceX - Launch...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Casey Handmer, Founder of Terraform Industries, to talk about Mars Sample Return, and the general state of government projects, NASA, and so much more. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 170 - Luckily, We Did All the Math (with Casey Handmer) - YouTube SLS is still a national disgrace – Casey Handmer's blog What is going on with Mars Sample Return? – Casey Handmer'...

Jake arrives sad about space, and Anthony tries to cheer him up. We talk ISS, Artemis, budgets, and government strategy and goals. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 169 - Sexy Atlantis - YouTube NASA is working on a plan to replace its space station, but time is running out - Ars Technica NASA confirms space station cracking a “highest” risk and consequence problem - Ars Technica The politicall...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Joe Barnard to air their grievances with the FAA. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 168 - Elon Munch (with Joe Barnard) - YouTube The war of words between SpaceX and the FAA keeps escalating | Ars Technica Andrew Jones on X : “Drone footage from Deep Blue Aerospace's VTVL attempt today. Great view of the landing and explosion.” Deep Blue Aerospace hop test suffers...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Eric Berger, Senior Space Editor at Ars Technica and author of Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX , to talk about his newest book, Reentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets that Launched a Second Space Age . Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 167 - Bechtold (with Eric Berger) - YouTube Reentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the...

Jake is joined by Emma Louden and Tanya Harrison to talk about their new children's book Mia and the Martians and how distilling space down to a child's level is a fascinating and challenging topic. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 166 - General Five Year Old (with Tanya Harrison and Emma Louden) - YouTube Mia the Martians | Indiegogo Follow Emma Emma Louden | Website Follow Tanya Tanya Harris...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Dr. Gerard van Belle, Astronomer at Lowell Observatory, to talk about the recurrent nova T Coronae Borealis, which is about to do some crazy stuff that it does every 78 years and honestly, we really need help understanding it. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 165 - Vacuum Light Pipe (with Dr. Gerard van Belle) - YouTube The Home of Pluto | Lowell Observatory in F...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Casey Dreier, Chief of Space Policy at The Planetary Society, to share the Good News about Human Spaceflight. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 164 - Middle Finger to Entropy (with Casey Dreier) - YouTube The Crusade to Reclaim Hubble - jakerobins.com Space Policy Edition: Is Human Spaceflight a… | The Planetary Society Escaping Earth: Human Spaceflight as Religio...

Jake and Anthony are joined by John Conafay, founder of Integrate, to talk about what they’ve been up to lately, his time at SmallSat, all the space news of late, our bizarre JSC theories, and probably a review of Salt Lake City favorites in advance of the conferences’s move next year. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 163 - COTS of JSC (with John Conafay) - YouTube Episode 139 - Sourdough Soft...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Logan and Alan from MSI DFAT to talk about blasting satellites and spacecraft with sound. Seriously, that is their job. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 162 - falcon_9.mp3 (with Logan and Alan from MSI DFAT) - YouTube MSI DFAT Photos | MSI-DFAT JWST suffers new problem during spacecraft testing - SpaceNews Surround Sound - Orion Service Module for Artemis 1 Under...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Christian Davenport of The Washington Post to catch Jake up on what he missed while on vacation. Just a Falcon 9 failure, the ongoing Starliner saga, and a brand new Presidential race. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 161 - Ambassador Administrator Senator (with Christian Davenport) - YouTube Chris Bergin - NSF on X : “Here are two minutes of the SpaceX launch st...

Anthony is joined by his two favorite LGs—Lori Garver, former NASA Deputy Administrator, and Loren Grush of Bloomberg—to talk about an absolutely chaotic run of space news. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 160 - Cut That Shit Out (with Lori Garver and Loren Grush) - YouTube Boeing Flubbed Its Space Debut. NASA Isn’t Helping. - The Atlantic Boeing Crew’s Return From Space Station Still in Limbo...

Anthony is joined by Joey Roulette of Reuters and Jacqueline Feldscher of Payload to talk about the Falcon 9 failure and its fallout, and the ongoing communications debacle that is Starliner. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube SpaceX's Falcon 9 grounded after failure dooms batch of Starlink satellites | Reuters Chris Bergin - NSF on X : “Here are two minutes of the SpaceX launch stream where the ice bui...

Jake and Anthony are back! We catch up mostly about spacesuits, space stations, spaceships, and probably Dragon XL. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 158 - Meant to F - YouTube NASA will pay SpaceX nearly $1 billion to deorbit the International Space Station | Ars Technica DutchSatellites on X : “The USDV that SpaceX offered is indeed based off Dragon XL. By leveraging the technology already un...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Laura Delgado López, Visiting Fellow at the Americas Program of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, to talk about Latin American space policy. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 157 - Assuming States are Rational (with Laura Delgado López) - YouTube Space security in the Americas can no longer go overlooked - SpaceNews What Are the Implications of P...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Mark Peller, VP of Vulcan Development at United Launch Alliance, to talk about…well…Vulcan development! Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 156 - It’s All Muscle (with Mark Peller, VP of Vulcan Development at ULA) - YouTube United Launch Alliance Successfully Launches First Next Generation Vulcan Rocket Tory Bruno on X : “Hmm. What’s that? Could it be a second Vulca...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Peter Beck, Founder, President, and CEO of Rocket Lab, to talk about making rocket bikes, why he would do such a thing as make rocket bikes, what it was like to ride rocket bikes, and why he stopped making rocket bikes. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 155 - Unhinged Planetary Desire (with Peter Beck) - YouTube Rocket Lab Sets Launch Date for 50th Electron Missio...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium, to talk about what they’ve been up to lately, the state of the satellite communications industry, and to tell some stories from his career. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 154 - They Ran Into Us (with Matt Desch) - YouTube Iridium Satellite Communications | Your World. Our Network. Iridium adds five years to constellation lifetime est...

Jake and Anthony catch up on the news, and Anthony returns from vacation with a few reviews of some recent Smithsonian Air and Space Museum changes. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 153 - YouTube NASA and Boeing moving ahead with Starliner test flight after propulsion issues - SpaceNews MDA Space joins Starlab Space commercial space station venture - SpaceNews SpaceX sets date for next Starshi...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Caleb Henry (Director of Research) and Justin Cadman (Co-CEO) of Quilty Space, to talk about their financial analysis of Starlink. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 152 - Low ARPU Sub (with Caleb Henry and Justin Cadman) - YouTube Starlink Webinar Access Quilty Space on X : “Happy National Space(X) day! Get a peek into our Starlink financial analysis. - ~2.7M glob...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Eric Berger, Senior Space Editor at Ars Technica, to figure out what’s up with the Orion heat shield, SLS layoffs, commercial Mars studies, and the ISS deorbit vehicle. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 151 - CanadLeg (with Eric Berger) - YouTube NASA's Readiness for the Artemis II Crewed Mission to Lunar Orbit - NASA OIG NASA seems unhappy to be questioned about...

Erin Edwards joins Jake and Anthony to talk about flying helicopters, making the leap from the military to space, and being a Canadian CAPCOM at NASA. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 150 - Bullets and Cheetos (with Erin Edwards) - YouTube The Space Suit – Puffin Drinkwear Bell CH-146 Griffon - Wikipedia Follow Erin Erin M Edwards, CD, M.Sc. | LinkedIn Follow Off-Nominal Subscribe to the show!...

Jake and Anthony are joined by Aria Alamalhodaei, reporter at TechCrunch, to talk about valves, getting footage of Astra’s explosions, Mars Sample Return, and everything else that has been going on lately, including cursed eclipses. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 149 - Bob from Valves, Inc. (with Aria Alamalhodaei) - YouTube Aria Alamalhodaei on X : “my most unpopular opinion is that I hated...

Jake and Anthony catch up after some travels, unfortunate events, clouds, news, and hijinks. Topics Off-Nominal - YouTube Episode 148 - Keep the Meter Running - YouTube Jake Robins on X: "if you're about to have a bad eclipse experience like me, you can at least have a funny shirt" Nerd Alert: Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains the Lunar Eclipse - YouTube Solar and Lunar Eclipses Worldwide – Next 10 Yea...