Main Engine Cut Off

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.

I don’t envy the people making the call on which launch vehicle to go forward with, or making the call on when that decision is appropriate. From where I sit, it’s too early to narrow the options down to only SLS.

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

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.

In response to this, I saw a lot of people scoffing and saying “Only 10 percent? They had said 30!” The sentiment seemed to be that SpaceX missed their mark and can’t offer a 30 percent reduction right now, rather than realizing that they are making a sensible decision.

If the endgame here is to be used as the engines for the SLS advanced boosters, I would not be surprised in the slightest.

Today, Jeff Bezos gave us a nice preview of their next launch vehicle: New Glenn.