Main Engine Cut OffA major bummer, but not much of a surprise, honestly. NSF had dropped funding levels for Arecibo significantly in past years, and it had effectively been saved by a consortium led by the University of Central Florida.
I had not heard of The Launch Company previously, but I probably should have. Their site lists Relativity, Firefly, and Virgin Orbit among their customers.
Chang’e-5 culminates with the samples returned to Earth sometime around December 16–17. I’ll be happily surprised if we get official coverage of the mission, but I wouldn’t count on it.
Very special thanks to the 463 of you out there supporting Main Engine Cut Off for the month of October. MECO is entirely listener- and reader-supported, so your support keeps this blog and podcast going, growing, and improving, and most importantly, it keeps it independent.
Big slip for Ariane 6, and 5% growth of development cost—bringing the total development cost to €3.8 billion. Disappointing yet unsurprising news. This news has dredged up another round of Ariane 6 takes that misunderstand the program entirely, though.
Jake and Anthony are joined by Caleb Henry, formerly of SpaceNews and now of Quilty Analytics. We talk about SpaceX’s new satellite contract, OneWeb’s new lease on life, Caleb’s new gig at Quilty, and what it’s like transitioning away from capital-J journalism.
Exciting news! My son was born a few days ago, and we’re all home and healthy. I’ll be going offline for a few weeks to spend some time with him and settle into life as a parent. Feels like a good breakpoint in 2020, anyway!
Jake and Anthony are joined by Loren Grush to catch up on a wild few weeks—from VR tours of spaceships, the Doug Loverro situation, Mars mayhem, Starship hops, and of course, the DM-2 boating fiasco.
Very special thanks to the 437 of you out there supporting Main Engine Cut Off for the month of July. MECO is entirely listener- and reader-supported, so your support keeps this blog and podcast going, growing, and improving, and most importantly, it keeps it independent.
Yesterday evening, Starship SN5 took a glorious flight up to 150 meters and down to its landing pad. It was a joy to watch, and other than a small engine fire that probably isn’t much to worry about, looked like a wonderfully successful test, complete with off-axis thrust, attitude control, and great sound. I figured now is as good a time as any to check in on some predictions Tim Dodd and I made back in February.