Podcast Episodes

T+278: Firefly Alpha’s New Launch Sites, ISS News Blitz (Deorbit Vehicle, Collins Spacesuits, and Starliner)

Episode 278

Firefly added launch sites in Virginia and Sweden for its Alpha vehicle. NASA has selected SpaceX to build the ISS US Deorbit Vehicle, closed out their task orders to Collins for ISS spacesuits, and …

Published on 1 year, 5 months ago

T+277: SabreSat, VLEO, and DARPA’s Otter Program (with Spence Wise, SVP of Missions and Platforms at Redwire)

Episode 277

Redwire announced today that it has been awarded a contract from DARPA to serve as the prime mission integrator for its Otter program. For the program, and for the industry beyond that, they’ll be de…

Published on 1 year, 6 months ago

T+276: Mars Sample Return Studies, NSSL Phase 3 Lane 1 Selections

Episode 276

NASA selected the organizations who will be carrying out mission design studies for the Mars Sample Return rethink, and the US Space Force selected the first 3 bidders for the National Security Space…

Published on 1 year, 6 months ago

T+275: Starliner’s First Crew, Starship’s Fourth Flight

Episode 275

Starliner flew its first crew, Starship flew its fourth flight, Chang’e-6 collected its first samples, and Agnikul Cosmos flew its first mission.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you …

Published on 1 year, 6 months ago

T+274: The Vulcan and Artemis Roadmaps

Episode 274

United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan debut went smoothly, but sluggish hardware integration raises doubts about meeting commitments, while Orion faces heat shield issues, potentially shaking up the Artemi…

Published on 1 year, 7 months ago

T+273: Mars Sample Return

Episode 273

NASA is heading back to the drawing board for a Mars Sample Return architecture, and is accepting proposals for mission studies by May. I talk about a few takeaways from the communication of that pla…

Published on 1 year, 7 months ago

T+272: Moon Rovers, Space Stations, and Starships

Episode 272

NASA selected 3 teams to work on unpressurized rovers for Artemis, while Japan signed on officially to provide a pressurized rover in exchange for seats on Artemis landers. Elsewhere, Mitsubishi took…

Published on 1 year, 8 months ago

T+271: Checking in on the Chinese Space Industry (with Andrew Jones)

Episode 271

Andrew Jones returns to the show to catch up on the Chinese space industry—Tiangong, reusable launchers, constellations, and the Moon.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 35 execu…

Published on 1 year, 8 months ago

T+270: K2 Space (with Neel Kunjur, Co-Founder and CTO)

Episode 270

Neel Kunjur, Co-Founder and CTO of K2 Space, joins me to talk about their vision for the future of satellites and the wider space industry, what they’ve been up to lately, and what their roadmap to t…

Published on 1 year, 9 months ago

T+269: IM-1 and Beyond (with Tim Crain, Co-Founder and CTO of Intuitive Machines)

Episode 269

Tim Crain, Co-Founder and CTO of Intuitive Machines, joins me to talk about their recent IM-1 mission to land Odysseus on the Moon as part of NASA’s CLPS program.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off i…

Published on 1 year, 9 months ago