Off-Nominal

Jake and Anthony run through the news to talk about MMX and its Phobos sample return, the return of Venus missions, and the always-talked-about-dearth-of-launch-vehicles.

Topics

• Off-Nominal - YouTube
• Episode 262 - Barely Moons - YouTube
• Japan launches mission to bring home a piece of the Martian moon Phobos - Ars Technica
• Things are finally looking up for NASA's first missions to Venus in a generation - Ars Technica
• Blue Origin is going all in on the New Glenn rocket - Ars Technica
• Does anyone actually want to win the medium-lift race in the United States? - Ars Technica
• SpaceX to attempt Starship catch on next flight, with eye on rapid cadence increase - Ars Technica

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• Off-Nominal (@offnom) / Twitter
• Off-Nominal (@[email protected]) - Spacey Space

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• WeMartians Podcast (@We_Martians) | Twitter
• Jake Robins (@JakeOnOrbit) | Twitter
• Jake Robins (@[email protected]) - Spacey Space

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• Main Engine Cut Off (@WeHaveMECO) | Twitter
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• Anthony Colangelo (@acolangelo) | Twitter
• Anthony Colangelo (@[email protected]) - jawns.club 🐘

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Jake and Anthony are joined by Eric Berger, Senior Space Editor at Ars Technica, to talk about the latest Starliner situation, LEO beyond Dragon, and NASA’s commercial LEO policy.

Topics

• Off-Nominal - YouTube
• Episode 261 - I am the LEO Economy (with Eric Berger) - YouTube
• NASA issues long-awaited call to industry for private space stations - Ars Technica
• NASA has a Dragon dilemma, and there appear to be no good answers - Ars Technica
• Boeing "incredibly excited" to serve as nation's only astronaut transportation - Ars Technica
• Eric Berger on X: "The next spacecraft to land humans on the Moon will be:" / X
• The Commercial LEO Roast During Ignition

Follow Eric

• Author: Eric Berger - Ars Technica
• Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) / X
• Reentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets that Launched a Second Space Age | West Houston's Neighborhood Bookshop

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• Off-Nominal (@offnom) / Twitter
• Off-Nominal (@[email protected]) - Spacey Space

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• WeMartians Podcast - Follow Humanity's Journey to Mars
• WeMartians Podcast (@We_Martians) | Twitter
• Jake Robins (@JakeOnOrbit) | Twitter
• Jake Robins (@[email protected]) - Spacey Space

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• Main Engine Cut Off
• Main Engine Cut Off (@WeHaveMECO) | Twitter
• Main Engine Cut Off (@[email protected]) - Spacey Space
• Anthony Colangelo (@acolangelo) | Twitter
• Anthony Colangelo (@[email protected]) - jawns.club 🐘

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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 down as CEO - SpaceNews
• Feds who forced Ukrainian investor to sell rocket company backtrack years later - Ars Technica

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• Austin Video Production - Merit Productions

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• Off-Nominal (@offnom) / Twitter
• Off-Nominal (@[email protected]) - Spacey Space

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• WeMartians Podcast - Follow Humanity's Journey to Mars
• WeMartians Podcast (@We_Martians) | Twitter
• Jake Robins (@JakeOnOrbit) | Twitter
• Jake Robins (@[email protected]) - Spacey Space

Follow Anthony

• Main Engine Cut Off
• Main Engine Cut Off (@WeHaveMECO) | Twitter
• Main Engine Cut Off (@[email protected]) - Spacey Space
• Anthony Colangelo (@acolangelo) | Twitter
• Anthony Colangelo (@[email protected]) - jawns.club 🐘

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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 Debrief
• Astra Launches NASA's ELaNa 41 Mission - YouTube

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• Chris Kemp (@Kemp) / X

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• Off-Nominal (@offnom) / Twitter
• Off-Nominal (@[email protected]) - Spacey Space

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• WeMartians Podcast - Follow Humanity's Journey to Mars
• WeMartians Podcast (@We_Martians) | Twitter
• Jake Robins (@JakeOnOrbit) | Twitter
• Jake Robins (@[email protected]) - Spacey Space

Follow Anthony

• Main Engine Cut Off
• Main Engine Cut Off (@WeHaveMECO) | Twitter
• Main Engine Cut Off (@[email protected]) - Spacey Space
• Anthony Colangelo (@acolangelo) | Twitter
• Anthony Colangelo (@[email protected]) - jawns.club 🐘

Off-Nominal Merchandise

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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's surface - YouTube
• Oryctes rhinoceros - Wikipedia
• Spotted lanternfly - Wikipedia
• Spotted Lanternfly Alert | Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
• Here’s Why You Should Kill Spotted Lanternflies - The New York Times

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• Daniel S. Drew - University of Hawaii
• The Drew Research Lab

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• Off-Nominal (@offnom) / Twitter
• Off-Nominal (@[email protected]) - Spacey Space

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• WeMartians Podcast - Follow Humanity's Journey to Mars
• WeMartians Podcast (@We_Martians) | Twitter
• Jake Robins (@JakeOnOrbit) | Twitter
• Jake Robins (@[email protected]) - Spacey Space

Follow Anthony

• Main Engine Cut Off
• Main Engine Cut Off (@WeHaveMECO) | Twitter
• Main Engine Cut Off (@[email protected]) - Spacey Space
• Anthony Colangelo (@acolangelo) | Twitter
• Anthony Colangelo (@[email protected]) - jawns.club 🐘

Off-Nominal Merchandise

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• WeMartians Shop | MECO Shop

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 Industries
• Varda Space Storefront: Hawaiian Shirt
• The Definitive Winnebago Man - YouTube (…language warning)
• Winnebago Man | Full Documentary Movie | Jack Rebney - YouTube (…also language warning)
• Could this be the moment that drug manufacturing takes off in orbit? - Ars Technica

Follow Nick

• Nicholas Cialdella | LinkedIn

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• Off-Nominal (@offnom) / Twitter
• Off-Nominal (@[email protected]) - Spacey Space

Follow Jake

• WeMartians Podcast - Follow Humanity's Journey to Mars
• WeMartians Podcast (@We_Martians) | Twitter
• Jake Robins (@JakeOnOrbit) | Twitter
• Jake Robins (@[email protected]) - Spacey Space

Follow Anthony

• Main Engine Cut Off
• Main Engine Cut Off (@WeHaveMECO) | Twitter
• Main Engine Cut Off (@[email protected]) - Spacey Space
• Anthony Colangelo (@acolangelo) | Twitter
• Anthony Colangelo (@[email protected]) - jawns.club 🐘

Off-Nominal Merchandise

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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 | Stoke Space
• Nova Block 2 | Stoke Space
• With another huge infusion of cash, Stoke Space goes even bigger - Ars Technica
• Trump White House just tossed a grenade into international space relations - Ars Technica
• German company becomes first in Europe to launch fully commercial orbital rocket - Ars Technica
• The Exploration Company (TEC) secures $450 million in the largest-ever Series C by a European space company
• Europe may finally have found a space entrepreneur who is meeting the moment - Ars Technica
• NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on X: “@NASAWatch Few thoughts in response: 1) NASA has not given up on LEO. Within weeks of being on the job, I publicly addressed the Starliner situation and the role NASA played in it, and we have since taken a very active role with Boeing in implementing the investigation recommendations and…”
• Fetterman Has a Surprise Cameo at Trump’s Convention - The New York Times
• NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on X: “NASA is heading to the @NFL. @NASA operates a fleet of aircraft for astronaut training and cutting-edge high-speed and high-altitude research. In celebration of America’s 250th birthday, to showcase our technology and inspire the next generation, we are taking some of those…”

Follow Off-Nominal

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• Off-Nominal (@offnom) / Twitter
• Off-Nominal (@[email protected]) - Spacey Space

Follow Jake

• WeMartians Podcast - Follow Humanity's Journey to Mars
• WeMartians Podcast (@We_Martians) | Twitter
• Jake Robins (@JakeOnOrbit) | Twitter
• Jake Robins (@[email protected]) - Spacey Space

Follow Anthony

• Main Engine Cut Off
• Main Engine Cut Off (@WeHaveMECO) | Twitter
• Main Engine Cut Off (@[email protected]) - Spacey Space
• Anthony Colangelo (@acolangelo) | Twitter
• Anthony Colangelo (@[email protected]) - jawns.club 🐘

Off-Nominal Merchandise

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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 Skills for Leading Technical Teams That Solve Big Problems: 9781774587270: Gjertsen, Matt: Books
• Against all odds, SpaceX finally tugs Starship into port after 24 days at sea - Ars Technica
• Photos by SpaceX (@SpaceX) / X
• SpaceX intends to invest up to $100 billion in massive Louisiana spaceport - Ars Technica
• US12234039B2 - Repeating ground track orbits for a reusable launch vehicle - Google Patents

Follow Matt

• Built Leaders
• Easily listen to Leadership Launchpad – Team Development, & Performance Improvement for Aerospace & Technology Managers in your podcast app of choice
• Easily listen to A VC, a Headhunter, and a Trainer Walk into a Bar in your podcast app of choice

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• Off-Nominal (@offnom) / Twitter
• Off-Nominal (@[email protected]) - Spacey Space

Follow Jake

• WeMartians Podcast - Follow Humanity's Journey to Mars
• WeMartians Podcast (@We_Martians) | Twitter
• Jake Robins (@JakeOnOrbit) | Twitter
• Jake Robins (@[email protected]) - Spacey Space

Follow Anthony

• Main Engine Cut Off
• Main Engine Cut Off (@WeHaveMECO) | Twitter
• Main Engine Cut Off (@[email protected]) - Spacey Space
• Anthony Colangelo (@acolangelo) | Twitter
• Anthony Colangelo (@[email protected]) - jawns.club 🐘

Off-Nominal Merchandise

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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 the state of science missions at NASA.

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It’s time for actual stock tips. Jake and Anthony draft competing $100,000 space portfolios and lock them in for a year.

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