Main Engine Cut Off

This week I talked to Logan Kamperschroer, a Graduate Research Assistant at the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University. Logan’s research focuses on hypergolic rocket fuels—specifically the push to move away from the toxic storable propellants (hydrazine and its derivatives) to “greener” alternatives. We talked about the current state of storable propellants, and where things are going in the near future.

The ExoMars 2020 rover received a funding boost and a reassessed schedule, the 2016 orbiter/lander set its sights on Mars, NASA and ESA coordinated a practice communication session, and China opens up to the international space community.

Masten Space Systems released a video of test flights of their two latest vehicles. Blue Origin was awarded a NASA Flight Opportunities contract, is planning the 4th flight of New Shepard, and began clearing land for their factory just outside Kennedy Space Center.

Some interesting tidbits emerged from interviews with [Jeff Bezos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guVxubbQQKE) and [Elon Musk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsixsRI-Sz4) at Code Conference. And a hard look at the economics of [United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan](http://www.ulalaunch.com/Products_Vulcan.aspx).

Orbital ATK [shared some more details](http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/05/27/details-of-orbital-atks-proposed-heavy-launcher-revealed) about their next-generation launch vehicle, SpaceX is working out their [certification process](http://spacenews.com/spacex-to-brief-underwriters-on-the-road-to-falcon-9-reusability/) for [reflown stages](http://www.spacenewsmag.com/feature/first-stage-the-air-force-looks-at-reusability/), and how these events affect the industry and other competitors in the near future.

Orbital ATK and Lockheed Martin unveiled proposals for space stations around the [Moon by 2020](https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/05/orbital-atk-cislunar-habitat-missions-sls-orion), and [Mars by 2028](http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/lockheed-martin-organizations/lockheed-martin-outlines-plan-to-send-humans-to-mars-orbit-by-2028/). ExoMars 2016 completed a [functionality analysis test](https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/worldwide/space/press-release/thales-alenia-space-built-exomars-spacecraft-completes-functionality) ahead of its October arrival at Mars. China revealed plans for [its third space station](http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/missions/human-spaceflight/china-reveals-design-planned-tiangong-3-space-station/), and is set to [launch a new rocket](http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/05/18/china-to-debut-new-rocket-and-spaceport-next-month), with a new spacecraft, from a new launch site in June.

Boeing announced [a 6 month delay](http://spacenews.com/boeing-delays-first-crewed-cst-100-flight-to-2018/) in the schedule for their CST-100 crew vehicle. SpaceX’s Dragon 2 is in the lead to be the first Commercial Crew vehicle to fly. The most recently-returned Falcon 9 took [a ton of damage on its way back to the drone ship](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/731984739012251648) and won’t fly again, but will provide a ton of data for SpaceX to use to make improvements to future Falcon 9 stages.

SpaceX [landed another Falcon 9 first stage](https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/05/falcon-9-jcsat-14-launch/) on their drone ship—this time on a GTO launch, which is a major milestone on their way to full reusability and [Falcon Heavy flights](http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/05/03/spacex-undecided-on-payload-for-first-falcon-heavy-flight/). Orbital ATK’s Antares launch vehicle is set for [an early July return to flight](http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/05/09/key-return-to-flight-milestone-looms-for-antares-rocket/), and they’re in the planning stages of [a new heavy-launch vehicle](https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/04/orbital-atk-eye-vab-mlp-potential-eelv-rocket/).

SpaceX officially announced their [first Red Dragon mission to Mars](https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/04/spacex-debut-red-dragon-2018-mars-mission/), which will pave the way for future missions. They also posted [new performance metrics](http://www.spacex.com/about/capabilities) for Falcon 9 and Heavy, which position the launch vehicles very differently in the market. And a brief discussion of the [potential political fallout](http://spacenews.com/the-rd-180-amendment-was-one-of-two-launch-related-provisions-that-made-it-into-the-national-defense-authorization-act-of-2017-by-the-time-the-committee-voted-60-to-2-to-send-the-bill-to-the-full/) over the [OA-6 launch anomaly](https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/04/oa-6-atlas-v-booster-mrcv-anomoly/).

An analysis of NASA’s human spaceflight programs, [Orion](http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/orion/index.html) and the [Space Launch System](http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/rocket.html). How we got here, where we’re going, and how things could shake out with an eventful November in US politics coming up.