Main Engine Cut Off

As 2017 begins to look less and less likely, my mind starts to wander into 2018. How close will SpaceX be comfortable running the Falcon Heavy schedule up to Dragon 2 demo missions—with or without crew?

Very special thanks to the 102 of you out there supporting Main Engine Cut Off on Patreon for the month of September. Your support keeps this blog and podcast going, and most importantly, it keeps it independent.

Elon Musk’s long-awaited IAC update is coming up next week. Interestingly, his session has a moderator. And that moderator is none other than Jean-Yves Le Gall.

Formerly of Honeywell, United Space Alliance, and The Aerospace Corporation, Smith has a ton of experience and a very interesting background to bring to Blue Origin.

Not quite what I would call an unexpected first customer for Ariane 6, but this at least gives us 3 launches to put on the calendar. The first launch has the surprisingly-specific date of July 16, 2020, with these two to follow shortly thereafter.

This is a very smart move for OneWeb. I could very much see the ~200 kilogram satellite becoming to the next decade what the ~5,000 kilogram satellite has been to the last few.

With every step taken towards the launchpad, Blue Origin gets more confident, they open up, and they let the industry know just what’s coming its way.

I’ve added a new tier to the MECO Patreon: at $3 per month (or above!), you’ll get access to the weekly MECO Headlines podcast. Each Friday, I’ll be recording and publishing a show where I sit down, run through the headlines of the week’s space news, and discuss some of those smaller-yet-still-great stories.

Thanks to the supporters of Main Engine Cut Off for the month of August. If you’re getting some value out of what I do here and want to send a little value back to help support Main Engine Cut Off, head over to Patreon and donate as little as $1 a month—every little bit helps.

Caleb Henry, for SpaceNews, on the breakup of Telkom-1 and the continuing saga of what I will now refer to as The Summer of Lost Satellites.