Main Engine Cut OffAn update on this strange saga: Boeing backed out due to Global IP being behind on their payments. That’s almost certainly a half-truth at best, and it’s not a good look to say something to the effect of “We would have continued to take their money if they had any.”
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This story is so crazy that it nearly sounds like an entrapment scheme—not that something like that has happened before.
The 2020/2021 New Launch Vehicle sales cycle continues—New Glenn, Ariane 6, and now H3 all have commercial customers. Still waiting on those first Vulcan and Omega contracts.
They are in need of a good example of their flight safety procedures, and while the event will surely be used by some to criticize SpaceX and their operations, anyone looking to give an honest assessment of the situation will come away impressed with the flight operations yesterday.
Well, that was quick.
“We stopped giving dates! Here’s a date!”
This award isn’t a ton of money—especially for Aerojet Rocketdyne—but it’s good to see continued development on this front.
InSight landed with incredible accuracy and just two degrees of tilt, and both MarCO-A and -B relayed all telemetry back to Earth in real time.
Read the entire article by Foust, and you’ll likely be struck with the same feelings I have: appreciation that NASA has to figure out how to make an exploration program out of what fits in the budget, and the utter disbelief that a piecemeal effort as disjointed and dysfunctional as this is something anyone can believe in.