Main Engine Cut Off

Our old friend u/Death_Cog_unit posted some photos over on r/spacex of the ITS composite tank back in port after its most recent test outing. This time, it came back in pieces.

Exactly the kinds of projects NASA should be putting attention towards. Help push the development of new and improved technologies that are critical to the missions we—collectively—are on the verge of undertaking. These are also the kinds of projects that show the value in having a testbed like the ISS active and nearby.

Representative Jim Bridenstine posted the full video of his talk at the Commercial Space Transportation Conference, and it’s absolutely worth your time to give it a listen. He speaks passionately and intelligently about spaceflight, exploration, technology, and policy, and shows a true understanding of the issues at hand. You don’t often see a member of Congress speak about these topics with such confidence and fire.

A Falcon Heavy side booster was seen outside SpaceX HQ wrapped and ready to hit the road. On the ITS front, the composite tank was seen on the move in Anacortes, WA.

It took a while for this to be announced officially. I talked with Mike Johnson, Chief Designer at NanoRacks, back in September about the airlock project (among a lot of other very interesting topics) and he said on the podcast that they were all set on the NASA side and were about to start finding a launch slot.

Thanks to my patrons for the month of January. 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.

I’m not sure how well their strategy for Prometheus will work out, long-term, but I do admire the cautious-yet-curious attitude towards reusability rather than the fingers-in-ears attitude of Arianespace CEO Stephane Israel.

If you remove the historical link to the success of the Soviets in space, what does Russia have going for itself today? All of the bright spots one could point to are holdovers or descendants from a previous era.

A Florida budget proposal for the 2017-18 fiscal year includes a $17 million investment in Launch Complex 36, which Blue Origin will match.

I previously thought that SLS was more cancellation-prone, but I’m beginning to think Orion holds that title.