Main Engine Cut Off

This makes me so happy. I absolutely adore the NASA worm and it looks so damn good on SpaceX hardware. I wish it were the main logo for the agency.

Really nice work by Virgin Orbit. However, it’s an odd time for Virgin Orbit to take this on. They are in for a tough stretch in terms of funding.

Where OneWeb goes from here is going to be a hell of a story. By some estimates, they need at least $4 billion to finish off their constellation.

Bummer for everyone there, but for years it has been known that Bigelow was a hot mess internally. So much potential in what they could have done if they had the right mix of leadership and vision and drive.

Bummer to hear that they’ve lost the vehicle as well as some equipment on the ground. Good thing they have 2 more following closely in the pipeline.

Great news for all involved. Sinclair becomes part of what has to be one of the most exciting space companies operating today, and Rocket Lab gets a jump up the timeline of their work on Photon.

Cool read on a very cool development.

If it wasn’t clear in my post yesterday, I’m annoyed at California’s overly-broad definition of aerospace manufacturers that allows Virgin Orbit to keep its facilities open in any capacity.

With all due respect to anyone reading this who works at Virgin Orbit, this is quite frankly bullshit. I’m fine with designating high-visibility, time-sensitive launch campaigns like Mars 2020 (Perseverance), Commercial Crew, or even AEHF-6 as essential services. But a company still in the development and testing phase of a launch vehicle that has been delayed for several years now with the only government flight being a Space Test Program launch?

Andrew Jones, far and away my favorite source (and podcast guest!) for Chinese space news, has a great rundown on SpaceNews on Long March 7A and the impacts its failure could have.