NASA made a series of announcements about their ISS commercialization effort and the first Commercial Lunar Payload Services missions , and Firefly unveiled their Orbital Transfer Vehicle . And there’s a really interesting connection between all three stories. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 40 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Mike, David...
Jun 10, 2019•25 min•Ep. 123
NSSL, LSA, OMG! Last week, SpaceX filed a lawsuit against the US Air Force over the Launch Service Agreement development contracts. We’re mere months away from bids being due for the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 launch contracts , so I figured now would be a good time to take a step back to explain what these programs are, why they matter, and why SpaceX is filing this lawsuit at this moment in time. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 40 executive producers—Kris, ...
May 28, 2019•28 min•Ep. 122
NASA and the White House released a summary of the FY2020 budget amendment this week , alongside the new name: Project Artemis . I talk through some political fallout, what the future may hold, and the chaos elements that are Blue Moon and Starship . This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 40 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Mike, David, Mints, J...
May 17, 2019•27 min•Ep. 121
Dr. Mike Baine, Chief Engineer of Axiom Space , joins us to talk through Axiom’s plans for commercial low Earth orbit space stations. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 40 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Mike, David, Mints, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd the Everyday Astronaut, Frank, Rui, Julian, Lars, Heather, Tommy, and six anonymous—and 243 oth...
May 07, 2019•48 min•Ep. 120
Dr. John Charles spent nearly 33 years at NASA—most recently as Chief Scientist of the Human Research Program—working on human spaceflight through Shuttle, Mir, ISS, and beyond. He lead missions such as STS-95 (John Glenn’s Shuttle flight), STS-107, and the Twins Study with Scott and Mark Kelly. He retired from NASA in February 2018 and is now the Scientist in Resident at Space Center Houston. We talk about his career, the human spaceflight issues he worked and solved in his time at NASA, and th...
Apr 18, 2019•53 min•Ep. 119
Last week, the US Air Force announced and expounded on the Rapid Agile Launch Initiative . Along with the new initiative, the new era of small launch is finally here, so it’s worth discussing a bit. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 39 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Mike, David, Mints, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd the Everyday Astronaut, Frank,...
Apr 08, 2019•24 min•Ep. 118
This month we talk EM-1, Moon by 2024, the commercialization of LEO, and more. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 38 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Mike, David, Mints, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd the Everyday Astronaut, Frank, Rui, Julian, Lars, and six anonymous—and 239 other supporters on Patreon . Email your thoughts, comments, and questions...
Apr 02, 2019•28 min•Ep. 117
The National Space Council met this week and Vice President Pence announced the administration’s intentions to see humans land on the moon by 2024. I break down my thoughts and observations coming out of the meeting. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 38 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Mike, David, Mints, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd the Everyday...
Mar 28, 2019•22 min•Ep. 116
Caleb Henry of SpaceNews joins me live in studio to talk about his trip to Kourou for the first OneWeb launch , more affordable antennas , the current spectrum wars , and more from the world of satellites. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 37 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Mike, David, Mints, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd the Everyday Astronaut,...
Mar 18, 2019•47 min•Ep. 115
Eric Berger of Ars Technica joins me to talk about the latest in SLS Hot Drama: the 2020 budget request and a Bridenstine appearance in the Senate that might just go down in history. This week, NASA has proposed flying the three prime missions of SLS on commercial vehicles, setting the stage for an interesting few months of politics and engineering, and introducing some serious questions about the future of SLS. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 37 executive producers—Kris...
Mar 13, 2019•47 min•Ep. 114
This month, we talk the GEO slowdown, the LEO boom, and as always, take on some fun launch vehicle questions. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 35 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Mike, David, Mints, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd the Everyday Astronaut, Frank, and six anonymous—and 223 other supporters on Patreon . Email your thoughts, comments, a...
Mar 01, 2019•32 min•Ep. 113
Firefly Aerospace is taking over Space Launch Complex 20 , President Trump signed Space Policy Directive-4 , and NASA is looking to buy more Soyuz seats, even though they always say it’s too late to do that . This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 35 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Mike, David, Mints, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd the Everyday Astrona...
Feb 27, 2019•15 min•Ep. 112
A tale of politics , protests , and contracts tells the story of how SpaceX is in transition—and maybe has already transitioned—from a scrappy upstart to an established launch provider. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 35 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Mike, David, Mints, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd the Everyday Astronaut, Frank, and six anon...
Feb 21, 2019•31 min•Ep. 111
ABL Space Systems announced some changes to RS1 , Blue Origin broke ground in Huntsville and signed a new customer , and SpaceX has been making steady progress on Starship . This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 35 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Mike, David, Mints, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd the Everyday Astronaut, Frank, and six anonymous—and 21...
Feb 11, 2019•22 min•Ep. 110
We cover a lot of ground in this round of questions, nearly all focused on the future—ISS crew scheduling, ISS facilities, ISRO human spaceflight, science missions, and launch vehicles. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 35 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Mike, David, Mints, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd the Everyday Astronaut, Frank, and six anon...
Feb 02, 2019•40 min•Ep. 109
I wanted to spend some time breaking down a few news items from last week that may be leading indicators of trends for 2019: layoffs at Stratolaunch , Tethers Unlimited , and SpaceX , and Relativity signed a lease for Launch Complex 16 at Cape Canaveral. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 35 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Mike, David, Mint...
Jan 21, 2019•28 min•Ep. 108
Chris Gebhardt of NASASpaceflight joins me to talk all things SpaceX: Starship and its upcoming hopper tests , DM-1 and the government shutdown , and more. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 34 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Mike, David, Mints, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd the Everyday Astronaut, and six anonymous—and 213 other supporters on Pat...
Jan 15, 2019•58 min•Ep. 107
This month I tackle questions on future space architectures, companies working in space right now, and finish with a 2018 Top 10 ranking. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 34 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Mike, David, Mints, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd the Everyday Astronaut, and six anonymous—and 208 other supporters on Patreon . Episode T+8...
Jan 01, 2019•43 min•Ep. 106
Jonathan McDowell joins me to talk about his recent paper proposing 80 kilometers, rather than 100, as a more appropriate boundary of the edge of space. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 34 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Mike, David, Mints, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd the Everyday Astronaut, and six anonymous—and 205 other supporters on Patreo...
Dec 29, 2018•35 min•Ep. 105
Jake Robins of WeMartians joins me to talk InSight , Mars EDL , and Mars 2020 . This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 33 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Mike, David, Mints, Joonas, Robb, and six anonymous—and 203 other supporters on Patreon . Jake Robins (@JakeOnOrbit) | Twitter WeMartians Podcast 51 - Entry, Descent, and Landing - WeMartians ...
Dec 11, 2018•28 min•Ep. 104
NASA announced the nine companies that will be competing for Commercial Lunar Payload Services missions. I share some thoughts on the program overall, and discuss what we know about each company. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 34 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Mike, David, Mints, Joonas, Robb, and seven anonymous—and 200 other supporte...
Dec 04, 2018•33 min•Ep. 103
This month for Q&A, we try to figure out what the hell is up with DM-1, hit a few questions about launch, and talk through a few space development topics. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 33 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Mike, David, Mints, Joonas, and seven anonymous—and 201 other supporters on Patreon . NASA program to send astron...
Nov 30, 2018•42 min•Ep. 102
As I was recording yesterday’s show about Starlink , SpaceX filed an application with the FCC for some changes to the Starlink plan. I read through the report and it confirms some of what I talked about yesterday, so thought it was worth an update. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 34 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Mike, David, Mints, Joo...
Nov 09, 2018•9 min•Ep. 101
I share some space-focused takeaways from the US midterm elections and a thought that I had about recent Starlink reports . This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 34 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Mike, David, Mints, Joonas, and eight anonymous—and 194 other supporters on Patreon . Midterms and Space - Main Engine Cut Off What the 2018 midterm...
Nov 08, 2018•24 min•Ep. 100
This month, I take on questions about small launch, future space ventures, and the Boeing/SLS saga/drama. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 34 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Mike, David, Mints, Joonas, and eight anonymous—and 191 other supporters on Patreon . ISS schedule slips Dragon launch to May 19 - future manifest outlook - NASASpace...
Nov 01, 2018•41 min•Ep. 99
NASA released a request for information this week about cargo services to the Gateway —big news for the future of NASA and the Gateway. I break down the technical and non-technical bits of that announcement, as well as some updates on Space Force and the Soyuz situation . This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 34 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, David, Grant,...
Oct 26, 2018•27 min•Ep. 98
I share some thoughts on the two rocket drama stories from last week: a brutal OIG report on Boeing’s work on SLS stages, and the Air Force selected three new launch vehicles to receive development funding . This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 35 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Tyler, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Mike, David, Mints, Joonas, and eight anonymous—and 186 o...
Oct 15, 2018•26 min•Ep. 97
Blue Origin and Harris announced an interesting partnership last week that’s worth discussing: Harris will be producing 5-meter fixed mesh reflector antennas that can only fit (for now) inside of New Glenn’s big fairing. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 35 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Tyler, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Mike, David, Mints, Joonas, and eight anonym...
Oct 10, 2018•16 min•Ep. 96
This month, I take on questions about BE-4 and Vulcan, small launch, BFR, and human spaceflight. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 36 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Tyler, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Barbara, Mike, David, Mints, Joonas, and eight anonymous—and 187 other supporters on Patreon . United Launch Alliance Building Rocket of the Future with Industry-Leadin...
Oct 01, 2018•36 min•Ep. 95
Some thoughts on the #dearMoon project , SpaceX’s announcement , and the essence of SpaceX’s strategy—bringing us along for the ride. This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 36 executive producers—Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Jasper, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Tyler, Joel, Jan, David, Grant, Barbara, Mike, David, Mints, Joonas, and eight anonymous—and 186 other supporters on Patreon . #dearMoon First Private Passenger on...
Sep 24, 2018•20 min•Ep. 94
