Main Engine Cut Off

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

Marcia Smith of SpacePolicyOnline.com got her hands on a draft of the upcoming NASA authorization act.

I know, Schiaparelli wasn’t the primary mission. I know, you have to work hard to inform the public and those who hold the purse strings that ExoMars 2016 as a whole is still a success (so far).

My baseline expectation is a scaled-up Dragon 2. But maybe that’s not the best layout for a much larger spacecraft like we’ll see next Tuesday. There might be a way to design the spacecraft that would lead to a better layout, better functionality for payload, and better performance for atmospheric entry.

By the sounds of it, Blue Origin is late on something, and it may be pushing their engine test back a bit. I imagine that Aerojet Rocketdyne and the Congress members that are to thank for the AR1 are a little bit excited.

Absolutely fascinating read about the work done by the 45th last week in response to the Amos-6 incident.

Aside from this being an election year plea to avoid cancellation of a struggling program, I’m not sure where the idea comes from that SLS will be rid of development in the 2020s.

There are a few interesting bits in NASA’s latest release about the Mars 2020 rover—tighter landing ellipses, better site selection, and better imagery during EDL.

Our political system is increasingly incapable of supporting a thriving national space program. Congress battling the executive branch tooth and nail for Orion/SLS and the Europa mission is only the tip of the iceberg. Factor in the massive amounts of pork and governmental overhead…it runs away from you quickly.