I wonder if we’ll ever see a 100% commercial (i.e. 0 gov money) debris removal mission, like from a constellation operator who wants to clean up their orbit.

2027! Holy shit!

At least that would buy the Artemis 3 lander and suits some time. And the Artemis 4 EUS and ML.

There’s another hint of delays in the new interstage contract:

https://spacenews.com/sls-contract-extension-hints-at-additional-artemis-delays/

These damaged stages were for flights 2 and 3, so they don’t necessarily push back 1.

Putting SLS on the list couldn’t be any more out of touch. Most of these companies are building Falcon competitors while SpaceX is pushing to the next gen with Starship. Other than Stoke, none of them are trying full reuse.

Blue Origin finally achieves orbit

Uh I would just move the goalposts again? Not that hard

“Blue hasn’t reflown a booster”

“Blue hasn’t caught a fairing”

“Blue hasn’t made 500 Raptors”

“Planet Labs”

I feel like most people reading SpaceNews would probably know, but yeah, it’s too generic.

“The Exploration Company” is another super generic one. “Launcher”, too.

An ID GTI and a clapped out off-roader are probably my perfect 2 car solution right now.

Gemini and Apollo both did spacewalks by venting the crew capsule. Hardening the electronics for vacuum is also really helpful in case of an emergency depressurization. I have no idea if Dragon was originally designed with that in mind, but Orion was. The flexibility to spacewalk in the same suits and without an extra airlock could also come in handy for future planned or emergency servicing missions.

I always love seeing the Transporter payload stacks.

They effectively removed themselves from the commercial market by stealing a batch of Oneweb satellites.

This makes the timing of LM buying Terran a little more interesting. They’re in a weird place. I would not be happy if my bus supplier bid and won as a prime, but I guess Lockheed wins in the end. Weird.

Vulcan and New Glenn probably overlap more than Vulcan and Neutron, but it still seems out of character for Rocket Lab. I guess I don’t fault them for kicking the tires.

Sierra Space out of nowhere! This could make sense for saving some money on Dreamchaser launches, buying the backlog, and offering truly end-to-end services for their satellite business.

Burying a bit of a lede here, too:

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Cerberus Capital Management had placed bids in early 2023 for the company, according to people familiar with the negotiations. Rocket Lab had also expressed interest, two people said.

Rocket Lab could have had a similar motivation to BO and wanted the backlog and contracts. The Vulcan and Neutron overlap aren’t ideal, though.

But why? OSAM-1 is cool conceptually (so was OSAM-2), but if it’s overly complicated, behind schedule, over budget, and has no real commercial demand or applications, then what’s the point? It seems like “jetpacks” are the answer for old SVs not designed to be refueled or repaired, and refueling technology is gaining momentum. The complexity of OSAM-1 doesn’t fit in that picture.

Great job by Rocket Lab. Those satellites look great. Hopefully their ride shows up in time!

The SPAC legacy in space has not been great.

It seems like Lockheed has enough riding on Terran that they need to do this to keep them afloat and not mess up some giant contracts.

How did Mazda settle on the Femur Shatterer as the shape of their hood?

I’m still holding out hope for an electric Miata. One day.

Press X to doubt

first flight

They have a lot of work to do before they even get to that point. We’ll see if ESCAPADE actually makes its launch window.

It’s cool to see private missions that expand Dragon’s capabilities and push out a little bit further. Some more than others, but Inspiration4, Polaris Dawn, Fram2, and Vast-1 all have cool new milestones.