I think the value proposition is more about national pride and security, so they can keep launching things if they have a falling out with other countries. Like when Russia decided to start a war and take Oneweb satellites hostage. Imagine a world where the US elected a crazy nationalist who wanted out of NATO…

Suni is about 20 days from hitting a year total in space, which would be a cool milestone.

I wonder what its main purpose is. I’m pretty sure all Gateway modules and visiting vehicles dock together, so they don’t need an arm to help berth them the way ISS modules, Cygnus, and Dreamchaser do. So this is mainly for moving external payloads around? And holding astronauts during EVAs?

compact coupe SUV

I hate these. It’s a big vehicle without better storage space. Or better visibility, because of how huge the hood is and how small the windows are. It’s just big for the sake of being big.

I brought up Northrop because I’m guessing they bid a Cygnus derived deorbit vehicle.

How is this a handout? They bid for a contract and won it vs competitors.

I’m hoping we get a source selection statement soon where they spell out why companies like Northrop and Blue didn’t win.

They just announced Wallops, too. They must be getting ready to really scale up.

Luckily this was already in a low orbit and these pieces will come down within a year or two. I do still want to see some debris bounties for deorbiting big dead stuff.

Underrated shout-out to the DOD for getting satellites built and ready faster than Amazon and Sierra Space?

ULA’s manufacturing pictures of Atlas and Vulcan have been cool to see. “It’s in the high tens of millions” isn’t great, but hopefully that comes down.

Copa Cabana

Or the mythical Dragon XL?

They want to control the descent and not risk a bunch of huge chunks crashing through people’s houses. Or worse.

The ISS is too low to cause Kessler syndrome.

Part of why the commercial stations won’t be ready is because the ISS won’t commit to a deorbit date, so they can’t predict the market!

2030 should be the absolute latest, or the leaks on the Russian side will take the whole thing down.

They’ll still prop up a domestic launcher for national security and pride reasons. It would be cool to see a cheaper startup break into the market and unseat Ariane and Vega.

NASA should let private companies do the “easy” stuff so they can focus on bigger and better things. And use the flow of private development money coming from venture capital or share offerings as a multiplier for their budget.

The numbers for Falcon and Dragon don’t back up what you’re saying. They were developed for less money than it would have taken NASA and are cheaper than other options. They’re also sold to non-NASA customers, which means a reduced unit cost from increased volume.

• Cargo Dragon is cheaper than Cygnus
• Crew Dragon is cheaper than Starliner
• Falcon 9 is cheaper than Atlas V or Vulcan
• Falcon Heavy is cheaper than Delta IV Heavy

There’s also the issue of availability and readiness for all of those, where SpaceX wins handily.

Another example is the CLPS providers, which are expected to cover some of the development money and find more customers to make up that difference. They’re doing entire Lunar lander missions for less than the cost of an Atlas V launch.

Just when I thought I was going to bed… Thanks for the link!

I think my next campaign needs a pawn shop that’ll consider buying anything but will seriously low-ball it if they can’t move it easily. And maybe need to talk to an expert they know.

This has some great shots (boosters in the megabay, tons of engines, and the scale in the factory) but the interview questions didn’t really feel worth the time. I’m sure they had to cut some good stuff, but there was a lot of the usual reusability talk and too much of Tim’s “joke” ideas. The nuggets about their manufacturing philosophy, icing, and Raptor 3 upgrades were cool, though. Post-flight part 2 coming soon?

Imagine if they didn’t have to play political games and spend $5 billion (20% of their budget) on SLS+Orion. That’s TEN Discovery Class missions per year.

I think NASA should focus on scientific research and exploration, then buy commercial when it makes sense. Rockets are “solved” and they don’t need their own. Space suits… they really should have finished xEMU.