Tom Marotta of The Spaceport Company joins me to talk about what they’re working on, their vision for the future of spaceflight, spaceport operations, the demonstration they did in May, the FAA and its interaction with private companies, reentry licensing, and a whole host of other topics.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 34 executive producers—Steve, Bob, Stealth Julian, David, Harrison, Lee, Jan, Joonas, Ryan, Theo and Violet, Frank, Chris, Pat, Lars and Will from Agile Space, Kris, Donald, SmallSpark Space Systems, Dawn Aerospace, Matt, Pat from KC, Tyler, Craig from SpaceHappyHour.com, Joel, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut), Fred, Benjamin, The Astrogators at SEE, Russell, Warren, and four anonymous—and 833 other supporters.

Topics

• Tom Marotta (@thomasmarotta) / X
• Tom Marotta | LinkedIn
• The Spaceport Company
• The Spaceport Company: Overview | LinkedIn
• The Spaceport Company (@TheSpaceportCo) / X
• The Spaceport Company- Full Length Launch ProRes HQ 4 - YouTube
• The Spaceport Company demonstrates offshore launch operations - SpaceNews
• Cape Congestion: World's busiest spaceport stretched to its limits - SpaceNews
• The Space Review: The spaceport bottleneck
• Chinese Ceres-1 rocket reaches orbit with first sea launch - SpaceNews
• The High Frontier: An Easier Way: Marotta, Tom, Globus, Al: 9781719231749: Amazon.com: Books

The Show

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• Artwork photo by ISRO
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Jake and Anthony are joined by Loren Grush of Bloomberg to talk about her new book, The Six: The Untold Story of America’s First Women Astronauts.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 34 executive producers—Frank, Chris, Joel, Fred, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut), Steve, David, Craig from SpaceHappyHour.com, Kris, Theo and Violet, Joonas, Lee, Bob, Stealth Julian, Pat, SmallSpark Space Systems, Harrison, Benjamin, Lars and Will from Agile Space, Ryan, Dawn Aerospace, Warren, The Astrogators at SEE, Tyler, Russell, Pat from KC, Matt, Jan, Donald, and four anonymous—and 842 other supporters.

Topics

• Off-Nominal Campaign for Relay FM/St. Jude
• Loren Grush - Bloomberg
• Loren Grush (@grushcrush) • Instagram photos and videos
• Loren Grush (@lorengrush) / Twitter
• Off-Nominal - YouTube
• Episode 123 - An Exciting Time (with Loren Grush) - YouTube
• The Six | Book by Loren Grush | Official Publisher Page | Simon & Schuster
• The Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy: a conversation with my parents who worked the accident - The Verge

The Show

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Scott Tilley joins me to talk about ISRO’s success with Chandrayaan-3, Roscosmos’ Luna-25 mission and the mystery behind it, and the state of the Deep Space Network.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 34 executive producers—Pat, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut), Joel, Fred, Craig from SpaceHappyHour.com, Steve, Pat from KC, Joonas, Jan, Kris, David, Frank, Russell, Tyler, Lee, The Astrogators at SEE, Warren, Benjamin, SmallSpark Space Systems, Chris, Ryan, Lars and Will from Agile Space, Dawn Aerospace, Theo and Violet, Harrison, Matt, Bob, Stealth Julian, Donald, and four anonymous—and 842 other supporters.

Topics

• Scott Tilley 🇺🇦 (@coastal8049) / X
• Riddles in the Sky – A blog dedicated to observing, mostly classified, satellites.
• Episode 51 - Hubbles In Reverse - Off-Nominal
• Chandrayaan-3: India becomes fourth country to land on the moon - SpaceNews
• ISRO on X: “Beyond Borders, Across Moonscapes: India's Majesty knows no bounds!. Once more, co-traveller Pragyan captures Vikram in a Snap! This iconic snap was taken today around 11 am IST from about 15 m. The data from the NavCams is processed by SAC/ISRO, Ahmedabad.”
• Luna-25 crashes into moon after orbit maneuver - SpaceNews
• Scott Tilley 🇺🇦 on X: “I have been asked repeatedly about #Luna25. Thus far I have no independent observations of the mission to share. That is not without extensive trying to observe it. So why am I not detecting anything? 🧵⬇️”
• NASA Deep Space Network reaches “critical point” as demand grows - SpaceNews
• Crescent Space | Home
• Intuitive Machines to Deploy and Operate First Lunar Communication Satellite in 2022

The Show

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• Artwork photo by Arianespace
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Amazon moved their Project Kuiper prototypes from Vulcan to Atlas V. Between that and some recent conversations I’ve had, I thought it would be a good time to check in on Kuiper and to see how they’re progressing towards deployment. I do some math, and it’s not good.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 34 executive producers—Chris, Donald, Dawn Aerospace, Will, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut), Benjamin, Steve, Theo and Violet, Pat, Russell, The Astrogators at SEE, Harrison, Tyler, Jan, Bob, Kris, Lars from Agile Space, Pat from KC, Ryan, Lee, Stealth Julian, Warren, Craig from SpaceHappyHour.com, Fred, Matt, Frank, SmallSpark Space Systems, Joel, David, Joonas, and four anonymous—and 830 other supporters.

Topics

• Amazon moves Project Kuiper prototypes from Vulcan to Atlas 5 - SpaceNews
• Amazon signs multibillion-dollar Project Kuiper launch contracts - SpaceNews
• Arianespace signs unprecedented contract with Amazon for 18 Ariane 6 launches to deploy Project Kuiper constellation - Arianespace
• Blue Origin opens rocket engine factory - SpaceNews
• Barry Jenakuns on X: “Fun fact, because Bezos own's Blue Origin, Amazon have to declare how much money they spend(/receive) on them. Assuming that this is for the 27 launch option, the $2.7 billion spent would give a per launch cost for New Glenn of $100 million.”
• Episode 120 - Big Dumb Satellites - Off-Nominal

The Show

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After the most recent show, I found a few nuggets of information in the NSSL Phase 3 documents, plus some more updates came out in a call that the Space Force had with some reporters.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 35 executive producers—Donald, Lee, The Astrogators at SEE, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut), Kris, Simon, Pat, Pat from KC, Russell, Matt, Fred, Stealth Julian, SmallSpark Space Systems, Tyler, Jan, Dawn Aerospace, Ryan, Theo and Violet, David, Harrison, Joel, Benjamin, Frank, Bob, Chris, Will, Craig from SpaceHappyHour.com, Joonas, Steve, Lars from Agile Space, Warren, and four anonymous—and 835 other supporters.

Topics

• T+254: Mars Sample Return, Vulcan, NSSL Phase 3 (with Eric Berger) - Main Engine Cut Off
• National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 DRAFT Request for Proposals (RFPs) #2
• Space Force to select three providers of national security launch services - SpaceNews
• Space Force changed launch procurement plan due to concerns about capacity - SpaceNews

The Show

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Eric Berger of Ars Technica joins me to talk about the budgetary threat facing Mars Sample Return, the latest issue with ULA’s Vulcan vehicle, and the ongoing tweaks to the National Security Space Launch Program’s Phase 3 architecture.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 35 executive producers—Will, Tyler, Ryan, Stealth Julian, Lars from Agile Space, Harrison, Craig from SpaceHappyHour.com, SmallSpark Space Systems, Pat, Theo and Violet, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut), Kris, Russell, Donald, Matt, Jan, Dawn Aerospace, Steve, Bob, Benjamin, Joel, Joonas, Lee, David, Warren, Frank, Simon, Fred, Chris, The Astrogators at SEE, Pat from KC, and four anonymous—and 833 other supporters.

Topics

• Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) / Twitter
• Eric Berger | Ars Technica
• NASA’s Mars Sample Return has a new price tag—and it’s colossal | Ars Technica
• The Senate just lobbed a tactical nuke at NASA’s Mars Sample Return program | Ars Technica
• Vulcan’s upper stage failed due to higher stress and weaker welds | Ars Technica
• Space Force to select three providers of national security launch services - SpaceNews
• National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 DRAFT Request for Proposals (RFPs) #2
• Stephen Clark | Ars Technica

The Show

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• Artwork photo by ULA
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Adrian Beil of NASASpaceFlight.com (and a long-time beloved member of the Off-Nominal Discord) joins me to talk about the state of German and European launch, with new entrants Rocket Factory Augsburgand Isar Aerospace getting close to the launch pad, many others working their way there, and institutional launch struggling amidst delays and geopolitics.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 34 executive producers—Frank, Harrison, Dawn Aerospace, Russell, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut), Bob, Pat, Benjamin, Kris, Lars from Agile Space, Craig from SpaceHappyHour.com, Stealth Julian, Joel, Fred, Simon, Theo and Violet, David, Pat from KC, The Astrogators at SEE, Tyler, Jan, Joonas, Chris, Steve, Matt, Warren, SmallSpark Space Systems, Donald, Ryan, Lee, and four anonymous—and 831 other supporters.

Topics

• Adrian Beil (@BCCarCounters) / Twitter
• Adrian Beil, Author at NASASpaceFlight.com
• Off-Nominal
• Rocket Factory Augsburg
• Isar Aerospace
• HyImpulse
• Rocket Factory Augsburg on Twitter: “Four days since we wrote history in Europe – and (of course) we still get goosebumps when watching the video! Now we want to share with you again four moments from our most exciting 280 seconds ever!”
• The biggest Meet & Greet of the European space community! - Space Creator Day

The Show

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• Artwork photo by Global Times
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NASA selected Blue Moon as the second human lunar lander for Artemis—which is awesome!—yet the budget outlook for the next few years is…not good. I think through what NASA can, should, and might do in the face of a grim budget reality.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 36 executive producers—Tyler, Pat from KC, Brad, Theo and Violet, Matt, Fred, Robb, Simon, Dawn Aerospace, SmallSpark Space Systems, Moritz, Donald, Frank, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut), Kris, Harrison, Chris, Joel, Jan, Russell, Pat, Benjamin, David, Lee, Bob, Joonas, Lars from Agile Space, Stealth Julian, Steve, The Astrogators at SEE, Warren, Ryan—and 842 other supporters.

Topics

• NASA Selects Blue Origin as Second Artemis Lunar Lander Provider | NASA
• NASA awards Blue Origin $3.4 billion Artemis moon lander contract – Spaceflight Now
• NASA selects Blue Origin to develop second Artemis lunar lander - SpaceNews
• NASA’s Artemis program may face a budget crunch as costs continue to rise | Ars Technica
• A new report finds NASA has spent an obscene amount of money on SLS propulsion | Ars Technica
• At long last, the glorious future we were promised in space is on the way | Ars Technica
• NASA’s Selection of the Blue Moon Lander for Artemis V | Selenian Boondocks

The Show

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• Music by Max Justus
• Artwork photo by SpaceX
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Live from the Redwire booth at Space Symposium 2023! I discuss the business and finance side of spaceflight, with Caleb Henry (Quilty Space), Peter Beck (Rocket Lab), and Jonathan Baliff (CFO, Redwire).

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 36 executive producers—Pat, Fred, Robb, Steve, Dawn Aerospace, Matt, Theo and Violet, Bob, Benjamin, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut), Donald, Lee, Pat from KC, Warren, Tyler, David, Jan, Chris, Stealth Julian, The Astrogators at SEE, SmallSpark Space Systems, Kris, Ryan, Moritz, Russell, Harrison, Lars from Agile Space, Simon, Frank, Brad, Joel, Joonas—and 845 other supporters.

Topics

• Finance and Business Strategy - YouTube
• Caleb Henry (@ChenrySpace) / Twitter
• Quilty Space (@QuiltySpace) / Twitter
• Peter Beck (@Peter_J_Beck) / Twitter

The Show

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• Music by Max Justus
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Live from the Redwire booth at Space Symposium 2023! I discuss the commercialization effort of LEO and the Moon with Angela T. Hart (Manager, Commercial Low Earth Orbit Program Office, NASA), Dr. Molly Mulligan (Business Development, Redwire), Jana Spruce (VP of Spacecraft, Firefly), and Kevin Foley (Program Director, Commercial Space Projects, Boeing).

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 36 executive producers—Bob, Frank, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut), Harrison, Russell, Robb, Joel, Benjamin, Donald, Kris, Brad, Tyler, Simon, Jan, Moritz, Ryan, Dawn Aerospace, Pat, Lee, Fred, Matt, David, Warren, Theo and Violet, Lars from Agile Space, Pat from KC, Steve, Joonas, Chris, SmallSpark Space Systems, Stealth Julian, The Astrogators at SEE—and 845 other supporters.

Topics

• Commercialization of LEO and Lunar - YouTube

The Show

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• Music by Max Justus
• Artwork photo by SpaceX
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