Main Engine Cut Off

Chris Gebhardt for NASASpaceflight.com with a ton of Falcon Heavy updates, including SLC-40 work, the Falcon Heavy engine start sequence, and the final Falcon Heavy flow leading to its launch date in late December.

Getting through the bureaucratic red tape was one of the more recent goal post movements by reusability doubters. There goes that. The biggest piece of work left for SpaceX is to get Falcon 9 Block 5 flying, and with it, prove out minimal refurbishment between flights.

SpaceX’s Gwynne Shotwell gave a talk at Stanford last night, and several redditors were in attendance. They’ve posted their notes over at r/spacex, and there are some really interesting tidbits in there, specifically regarding BFR, its launch site, and its production.

Plain and simple: missions to the Moon are hamstrung by Orion—specifically by the European Service Module and its pitifully-small delta-V budget.

Great breakdown of yesterday’s meeting and the work and decisions that lie ahead for the National Space Council, NASA, and the elephant in the room: Congress.​​

I speculated last week that there is potential for schedule tension between Falcon Heavy and Dragon 2 with the former seemingly slipping into 2018. This two month slip gives Falcon Heavy some breathing room.

However odd the announcement, this would (will?) be great. It adds a massive amount of storage space and opens up a ton of room for work on the ISS. Coupled with the increased crew size that Commercial Crew will bring, this sets the stage for a very productive next few years on the ISS.

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?

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.