Main Engine Cut Off

Some thoughts on where we are now that Dmitry Rogozin has been dismissed as head of Roscosmos, and that NASA and Roscosmos have signed a seat exchange agreement for future flights to the ISS.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 41 executive producers—Simon, Lauren, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Frank, Julian and Lars from Agile Space, Matt, The Astrogators at SEE, Chris, Aegis Trade Law, Fred, Hemant, Dawn Aerospace, Andrew, Harrison, Benjamin, and seven anonymous—and 805 other supporters.

Topics

• Rogozin Out, Seat Swaps In – SpacePolicyOnline.com
• The trampoline is now international: NASA and Roscosmos agree to seat swap | Ars Technica
• Parabolicarc.com on Twitter: “A little late to this, but my guess is Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov is being shunted off to Roscomos due to poor performance in Ukraine of the military industrial complex he oversaw. Putin periodically says nice things about space program but really doesn't seem to care.”

The Show

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• Music by Max Justus
• Artwork photo by ESA/JAXA

Our good friend Jake Robins, host of WeMartians and my cohost on Off-Nominal, joins me to talk about Psyche missing its launch window, the state of the SIMPLEx program, its troubles with launch slots, and how NASA might approach this in the future.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 41 executive producers—Simon, Lauren, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Frank, Julian and Lars from Agile Space, Matt, The Astrogators at SEE, Chris, Aegis Trade Law, Fred, Hemant, Dawn Aerospace, Andrew, Harrison, Benjamin, and seven anonymous—and 813 other supporters.

Topics

• WeMartians Podcast
• 124 - The Future of the Mars Program (feat. Scott Hubbard)
• Jake Robins | Patreon
• WeMartians Podcast (@We_Martians) / Twitter
• Jake Robins (@JakeOnOrbit) / Twitter
• Off-Nominal
• NASA Announces Launch Delay for Psyche Asteroid Mission | NASA
• Software testing problem delays Psyche launch - SpaceNews
• Psyche launch delay forcing revamp of rideshare mission - SpaceNews
• NASA SOMA: SIMPLEx- Homepage
• NASA Mars smallsat mission passes review - SpaceNews
• NASA moves up Lunar Trailblazer launch - SpaceNews

The Show

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• Music by Max Justus
• Artwork photo by ESA/JAXA

Eric Berger of Ars Technica joins me to talk about the Artemis Program’s space suits, expensive launch sites, maybe-cheaper-but-at-least-not-as-delayed launch sites, vehicles, and its manifest over the next decade. Plus, a few bonus topics like Astra, Firefly, and Lori Garver’s new book.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 42 executive producers—Simon, Lauren, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Frank, Julian and Lars from Agile Space, Tommy, Matt, The Astrogators at SEE, Chris, Aegis Trade Law, Fred, Hemant, Dawn Aerospace, Andrew, Harrison, Benjamin, and seven anonymous—and 804 other supporters.

Topics

• Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) / Twitter
• Eric Berger | Ars Technica
• NASA Partners with Industry for New Spacewalking, Moonwalking Services | NASA
• NASA chooses two companies to build spacesuits for its 21st-century Moonwalkers | Ars Technica
• After years of futility, NASA turns to private sector for spacesuit help | Ars Technica
• NASA’s second mobile launcher is too heavy, years late, and pushing $1 billion | Ars Technica
• Artemis II Engine Section Moves to Final Assembly | NASA
• FAA Requires SpaceX to Take Over 75 Actions to Mitigate Environmental Impact of Planned Starship/Super Heavy Launches | Federal Aviation Administration
• Eric Berger on Twitter: “Another Astra second stage failure today with Rocket 3. Overall the company is now 2 of 7 in orbital launch attempts, with 2 of the last 4 being successful.”
• After 9 difficult months, Firefly is set to take its next shot at orbit | Ars Technica
• Eric Berger on Twitter: “Effective tomorrow, Tom Markusic will no longer be CEO of Firefly. Move comes three months after major investment in the company by AEI.”
• Episode 66 - My Next One is “Fiction” - Off-Nominal
• Escaping Gravity: My Quest to Transform NASA and Launch a New Space Age: Garver, Lori, Isaacson, Walter: 9781635767704: Amazon.com: Books

The Show

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• Music by Max Justus
• Artwork photo by NASA

SpaceX’s plans for launching Starship to orbit from Boca Chica cleared an environmental review with the FAA, but more than 75 mitigations are required in order to receive a launch license to carry out flights in the future.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 41 executive producers—Simon, Lauren, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Frank, Julian and Lars from Agile Space, Tommy, Matt, The Astrogators at SEE, Chris, Aegis Trade Law, Fred, Hemant, Dawn Aerospace, Andrew, Harrison, and seven anonymous—and 799 other supporters.

Topics

• FAA Requires SpaceX to Take Over 75 Actions to Mitigate Environmental Impact of Planned Starship/Super Heavy Launches | Federal Aviation Administration
• SpaceX on Twitter: “One step closer to the first orbital flight test of Starship”
• FAA environmental review to allow Starship orbital launches after changes - SpaceNews
• FAA moves SpaceX a step closer to receiving Starship launch license – Spaceflight Now

The Show

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• Music by Max Justus
• Artwork photo by NASA

Boeing completed Starliner’s long-awaited Orbital Flight Test-2 mission to the ISS, but about a week after landing, NASA announced its intent to buy more Dragon flights from SpaceX.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 41 executive producers—Simon, Lauren, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Frank, Julian and Lars from Agile Space, Tommy, Matt, The Astrogators at SEE, Chris, Aegis Trade Law, Fred, Hemant, Dawn Aerospace, Andrew, Harrison, and seven anonymous—and 792 other supporters.

Topics

• NASA, Boeing Complete Starliner Uncrewed Flight Test to Space Station | NASA
• Boeing’s Starliner capsule completes first “nail-biting” docking at space station – Spaceflight Now
• Starliner concludes OFT-2 test flight with landing in New Mexico - SpaceNews
• NASA to buy five additional Crew Dragon flights - SpaceNews
• NASA Selects Companies to Develop Commercial Destinations in Space | NASA
• T+216: Orbital Reef, with Brent Sherwood (SVP of Advanced Development Programs at Blue Origin) - Main Engine Cut Off
• T+208: The Polaris Program - Main Engine Cut Off
• T+203: Starlab with Marshall Smith, SVP of Space Systems at Nanoracks - Main Engine Cut Off

The Show

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• Buy shirts and Rocket Socks from the Main Engine Cut Off Shop
• Music by Max Justus
• Artwork photo by NASA

Mike Gold, Executive Vice President of Civil Space Business Development and External Affairs at Redwire, joins me to talk about his previous role at NASA, where he served as Associate Administrator for Space Policy and Partnerships, and was the driving influence behind the Artemis Accords.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 41 executive producers—Simon, Lauren, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Frank, Julian and Lars from Agile Space, Tommy, Matt, The Astrogators at SEE, Chris, Aegis Trade Law, Fred, Hemant, Dawn Aerospace, Andrew, Harrison, and seven anonymous—and 795 other supporters.

Topics

• NASA Artemis Accords
• Mike Gold, Former Assoc. Admin. for Space Policy and Partnerships | NASA
• Space Industry Leader Mike Gold Joins Redwire as Executive Vice President of Civil Space Business Development and External Affairs | Redwire Space
• Redwire Space | Heritage + Innovation
• Bahrain joins Artemis Accords - SpaceNews
• Colombia signs Artemis Accords - SpaceNews
• Star Trek: 3 ways it inspired NASA's Artemis Accords

The Show

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• Buy shirts and Rocket Socks from the Main Engine Cut Off Shop
• Music by Max Justus
• Artwork photo by NASA/Joel Kowsky

Brent Sherwood, Senior Vice President of Advanced Development Programs for Blue Origin, joins me to talk about Orbital Reef. We talk about the long history leading up to this architecture, the nature of their partnership with Sierra Space and other team members, the parts of the program that are specific to their contract with NASA on the Commercial LEO Destinations project, and dive into how their business strategy might play out in the near future.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 40 executive producers—Simon, Lauren, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Frank, Julian and Lars from Agile Space, Tommy, Matt, The Astrogators at SEE, Chris, Aegis Trade Law, Fred, Hemant, Dawn Aerospace, Andrew, and seven anonymous—and 788 other supporters.

Topics

• Blue Origin
• Orbital Reef
• Announcing Orbital Reef - Your Address in Orbit - YouTube
• Mixed-Use Business Park Developments in Space: A Real-Estate Paradigm
• T+200: Orbital Reef, Starlab, and the ISS Conundrum - Main Engine Cut Off
• T+203: Starlab with Marshall Smith, SVP of Space Systems at Nanoracks - Main Engine Cut Off
• Blue Origin and Sierra Space Leading Team to Build “Orbital Reef” Business Park in Space – SpacePolicyOnline.com
• Sierra Space to work with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries on commercial space station technologies - SpaceNews
• NASA Selects Companies to Develop Commercial Destinations in Space | NASA
• Orbital Reef passes design review - SpaceNews

The Show

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• Buy shirts and Rocket Socks from the Main Engine Cut Off Shop
• Music by Max Justus
• Artwork photo by NASA/Ben Smegelsky

Brad Cheetham, co-founder, CEO, and President of Advanced Space joins me to talk about their upcoming CAPSTONE mission. We talk about how the mission came to be, what it’s been like working with NASA and the other partners on the mission, and then dive into the nerdy details of the trajectory it’s flying to the moon, the orbits it will operate in, how its autonomous positioning system works, and how it might be used in the future.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 40 executive producers—Simon, Lauren, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Frank, Julian and Lars from Agile Space, Tommy, Matt, The Astrogators at SEE, Chris, Aegis Trade Law, Fred, Hemant, Dawn Aerospace, Andrew, and seven anonymous—and 783 other supporters.

Topics

• Advanced Space | Delivering Innovation to Orbit.
• CAPSTONE | Advanced Space
• CAPSTONE lunar cubesat mission to launch this spring - SpaceNews
• CAPSTONE cubesat ready for cislunar mission - SpaceNews

The Show

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• Buy shirts and Rocket Socks from the Main Engine Cut Off Shop
• Music by Max Justus
• Artwork photo by NASA/Ben Smegelsky

Andrew Maximov, founder of Precious Payload, joins me to talk about what he and his team have been working on, what they see as the missing pieces in the industry, and why they think they are building the right set of tools for where things are headed.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 40 executive producers—Simon, Lauren, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Frank, Julian and Lars from Agile Space, Tommy, Matt, The Astrogators at SEE, Chris, Aegis Trade Law, Fred, Hemant, Dawn Aerospace, Andrew, and seven anonymous—and 773 other supporters.

Topics

• Precious Payload – Do rocket science. We'll do the rest.
• Precious Payload (@preciouspayload) / Twitter
• ‘Bringing space down to Earth for everyday people... using software?’ Precious Payload meets MECO - YouTube

The Show

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• Email your thoughts, comments, and questions to [email protected]
• Follow @WeHaveMECO
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• Subscribe to the Main Engine Cut Off Newsletter
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• Music by Max Justus
• Artwork photo by NASA/Ben Smegelsky

Amazon is purchasing up to 83 launches from Arianespace, Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance—in addition to the 9 Atlas V launches they bought last year—to deploy their Project Kuiper constellation. This is a huge deal that changes the game for heavy lift launch providers, and has major implications for the small launch providers in the industry.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 40 executive producers—Simon, Lauren, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Frank, Julian and Lars from Agile Space, Tommy, Matt, The Astrogators at SEE, Chris, Aegis Trade Law, Fred, Hemant, Dawn Aerospace, Andrew, and seven anonymous—and 766 other supporters.

Topics

• Amazon signs multibillion-dollar Project Kuiper launch contracts - SpaceNews
• Arianespace, ULA, Blue Origin discuss executing ambitious Kuiper constellation missions for Amazon - NASASpaceFlight.com
• Amazon launch contracts drive changes to launch vehicle production - SpaceNews
• Andrew Parsonson on Twitter: “Interesting details from @Arianespace regarding the @amazon deal. 16 of the 18 missions will be launched aboard the Ariane 64 with the upgraded P120C+ boosters. The new boosters are set to be introduced in 2025 and only if they are approved by @esa Member States in November.”
• Episode 55 - I’ve Slept on a Torpedo - Off-Nominal

The Show

• Like the show? Support the show!
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• Buy shirts and Rocket Socks from the Main Engine Cut Off Shop
• Music by Max Justus
• Artwork photo by NASA/Ben Smegelsky