Main Engine Cut Off

An engine on its way to the test stand, 2 customers signed on for 6 launches, a factory well underway in Florida—things are progressing well for New Glenn.

Marcia Smith of SpacePolicyOnline.com with an extensive rundown of the upcoming busy week.

It’s somewhat of a lackluster response to all the excitement this past week to say “Oh yeah? Well we’re lobbying for the obvious next step of Commercial Cargo!”

To me this reads a lot like Blue Origin isn’t quite ready to talk about any additional plans, but wanted to make their voice heard alongside SpaceX. As I said on this week’s podcast, none of the old insiders (Boeing, Lockheed, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Orbital ATK, …) are going to invite SpaceX and Blue Origin into their club. They have to insert themselves into these conversations, and will inevitably ruffle some feathers doing it.

Architectures like these could flourish with the budget levels that SLS and Orion receive. Things are coming to a head now with the NASA exploration program, and it’s hard to say where it will go. No matter what, the next few years are going to be thrilling.

Aerojet Rocketdyne announced their plans to produce the AR1 in Huntsville. Though, as of right now, they don’t actually have anything to produce the engines for.

Orbital ATK fights for government subsidies when it comes to commercial usage of retired ICBMs, but against them when it comes to satellite servicing.

Thanks to sghill over on the NASASpaceFlight forums who uploaded the Supplemental Environmental Assessment for SpaceX’s LZ-1 expansion plans. There are some really nice details hidden among a lot of boring details. Head over to the post if you want to download the full PDF.

Thanks to my producers and supporters for the month of December, and throughout 2016. 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.