Main Engine Cut Off

Chris Gebhardt of NASASpaceflight joins me to discuss Elon Musk’s presentation last week, in which he provided an update to the BFR.

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—and 82 other supporters on Patreon.

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—and 77 other supporters on Patreon.

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, Jamison, Guinevere, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, and five anonymous—and 69 other supporters on Patreon.

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.

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 supporters on Patreon.

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.

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 supporters on Patreon.

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.

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, Guinevere, Nadim, Peter, and four anonymous—and 63 other supporters on Patreon.

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 other supporters on Patreon.